I have an O3 suit made with crushed neo. I am not sure it is still available but is a lot tougher than any trilam. Some trilams are tougher than others.
Upgrading from a Rec Kit to a Tech Kit
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I have an O3 suit made with crushed neo. I am not sure it is still available but is a lot tougher than any trilam. Some trilams are tougher than others.
I require all tech students to have their own gear and a minimum of 25 dives in the configuration you'll take the class in. AN /DP is not the time to be learning to dive doubles or sidemount as most of my students do.
That's what Intro to tech or a workshop is for (doubles). Sidemount - sidemount course and get the dives in.
As for regs, you don't have to be able to service them but once you go down the tech road, it may make sense. 3 is what I consider the minimum to have. Plus an extra 1st and second. If you have kits and can do your own, you're not waiting on a shop if they need work. I offer my customers a 48 -72 hour turnaround. 24 in some cases, and I have done it while they wait.
I have people who came to me after other places took weeks and even months to get their regs done.
You don't want to miss out on a few great dives because a shop can't get their act together and get them done in a reasonable time.
Personally, I own about 15 seconds and 12 firsts? Even before I became a dealer, I'd have gone broke getting them done by a shop.
That's what Intro to tech or a workshop is for (doubles). Sidemount - sidemount course and get the dives in.
As for regs, you don't have to be able to service them but once you go down the tech road, it may make sense. 3 is what I consider the minimum to have. Plus an extra 1st and second. If you have kits and can do your own, you're not waiting on a shop if they need work. I offer my customers a 48 -72 hour turnaround. 24 in some cases, and I have done it while they wait.
I have people who came to me after other places took weeks and even months to get their regs done.
You don't want to miss out on a few great dives because a shop can't get their act together and get them done in a reasonable time.
Personally, I own about 15 seconds and 12 firsts? Even before I became a dealer, I'd have gone broke getting them done by a shop.
This is probably the best route. I can’t imagine taking multiple ITT courses until an instructor gets it right.
The Seattle community is very active, welcoming, and supportive. As a GUE diver told me before I took fundies: “you don’t have to drink the Kool Aid, just come for the skills.”
Atlantic Explorer
Registered
Regardless of where you want to go, do yourself a favour and take a gue Fundamentals class. The instructors are highly knowledgeable and are pretty much all technical divers. They will be able to answer any questions you may have. Take the course, open your mind and if it doesn’t suit you, that’s fine, go to TDI or whatever having a good foundation (and mindset hopefully too). What’s great about gue is that their system works for the biggest dives you can imagine and is very consistent quality control with excellent instructors. Their motto is commit to excellence and they really do follow it, not because they’re elitist but because they have so much passion, they really enjoy it. GUE simplifies everything while having the highest standard of diver training.
Drysuit - trilam. You don’t need the most expensive DUI suit. Cheaper alternatives are still good. Trilam gives you much more flexibility, doesn’t compress at depth which means there is no buoyancy/ thermal insulation loss. Also lighter and self donning which is handy. Get a P- valve.
Regs- doesn’t really matter which brand/ type as long as they have good hose routing and are balanced. Most expensive doesn’t necessarily mean the best. Scubapro Mk25s/ Halcyon H75Ps first stages are great. You don’t need apeks just because it’s cold water, it’s their selling point. Get a higher performance primary second stage reg and a slightly lower performance back up so it doesn’t freeflow while not in use. If going tech, all regs should be O2 clean for ease of use and safety. Get a dedicated twinset reg set with rotating turrets preferably (extra oring as a failure point is an invalid argument) and get your aqualung reg O2 cleaned to use as a deco reg. In an ideal world, get the same brand regs for everything though.
Wing - 40lbs for D12l/ Al80s twinset. Halcyon or rofos make the best wings due to their design, vents easiest and puts air cell in the most stable way.
backplate/ harness - steel plate (if in cold water) with a simple one piece harness, once it’s set right, you’ll never go back to anything else. Shoulder straps loose, crotch/ waist snug. Arms out, neck elongated and looking horizontal, glutes slightly engaged with a slight bend of an upwards facing C in the back. Fundies instructor will help set your gear correctly to achieve this balance.
Read the fundamentals of better diving by Jarrod Jablonski for further reading, it is much better than an introduction to technical diving imo. Fundies gives you this as part of the class materials.
Good luck and remember enjoying it and having fun is the most important thing!
Drysuit - trilam. You don’t need the most expensive DUI suit. Cheaper alternatives are still good. Trilam gives you much more flexibility, doesn’t compress at depth which means there is no buoyancy/ thermal insulation loss. Also lighter and self donning which is handy. Get a P- valve.
Regs- doesn’t really matter which brand/ type as long as they have good hose routing and are balanced. Most expensive doesn’t necessarily mean the best. Scubapro Mk25s/ Halcyon H75Ps first stages are great. You don’t need apeks just because it’s cold water, it’s their selling point. Get a higher performance primary second stage reg and a slightly lower performance back up so it doesn’t freeflow while not in use. If going tech, all regs should be O2 clean for ease of use and safety. Get a dedicated twinset reg set with rotating turrets preferably (extra oring as a failure point is an invalid argument) and get your aqualung reg O2 cleaned to use as a deco reg. In an ideal world, get the same brand regs for everything though.
Wing - 40lbs for D12l/ Al80s twinset. Halcyon or rofos make the best wings due to their design, vents easiest and puts air cell in the most stable way.
backplate/ harness - steel plate (if in cold water) with a simple one piece harness, once it’s set right, you’ll never go back to anything else. Shoulder straps loose, crotch/ waist snug. Arms out, neck elongated and looking horizontal, glutes slightly engaged with a slight bend of an upwards facing C in the back. Fundies instructor will help set your gear correctly to achieve this balance.
Read the fundamentals of better diving by Jarrod Jablonski for further reading, it is much better than an introduction to technical diving imo. Fundies gives you this as part of the class materials.
Good luck and remember enjoying it and having fun is the most important thing!
I own a lot of regulators that have been down in the 300 foot range. I bet the most expensive is about half the price of what you can pay for some regulators. The regulator design is very important--you want the best possible hose routing. You instructor should go over all that with you.
Deco regulators, especially one dedicated to oxygen, do need to have oxygen parts, but that is not hard to find. They do not go deep, so you don't need super high quality.
In searching for an instructor, look for one who is gong to make you think about the diving and make decisions rather than having one who is just going to tell you how everything has to be. This is especially true about decompression theory. By the end of the class, you should know all the current thinking and be able to make a well-informed decision about your diving. My fist tech instructor told me the way things had to be. Period. I now dive as far from that profile as possible.
If the original poster (or anyone else) wants to "try before you buy", the Seattle GUE community hosts regular Wednesday evening dives where any certified diver is welcome. There is usually one or more of the local GUE instructors there. They were at Redondo but are moving to Seacrest Park - Cove 2 starting tomorrow. Meet time is 6pm for a 7pm splash.
We've had some Oregon and Eastern Washington divers make the trip for Wednesday night dives, but they normally spend the night and dive again the next day.
KevinNM
Contributor
The aqualung regs are fine, though not that popular for tech. The problem is you need din 1st stages and AL loves them some proprietary hoses. If you can’t use regular LP hoses then you’ll probably find that you can’t get the right length hoses. Din adaptors are available, but by the time you buy a DIN adaptor and the stupid lp hose adapters you can buy a new DIN reg with the right LP hoses for the same money.
runsongas
Contributor
they ditched the proprietary QD hoses and the din fittings aren't onerously expensive if you have to convert. sure you could probably get some hog or deep 6 first stages fairly cheap on black friday, but converting an aqualung reg is still cheaper than buying new from another major brand.
happy-diver
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you take some sort of wreck course with your current gear and go diving, and maybe think about
a solo course if you're feelin it, and go diving, and just go diving, it's not hollywood it's only diving
Bravo, well written and to the point...............learn from those that have the experience, not those who think they do.....There is difference between those who having been IN the wreck and those just on the wreck.
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