Search results

As long as the tank is in hydro and viz, you should have no problems getting it filled. Be careful how you repaint the tank though; heat curing paints tends to mess up the heat treating of the Al alloy which can lead to more excitement than desirable.... don't be surprised if the shop asks you...

I have absolutely no familiarity with your agency specifically or Fire/Rescue in SA in general, but if you would find it helpful I can give you a few reasons which would be pertinent in the US. 1. Training. Recreational buddy rescue and Public Safety Diving are very different animals. Without...

For the gauges... do you want/need to check the pressure of your pony throughout the dive? Personally, using the pony as bail-out, if I switch to my pony the dive is over. Since I'll be making an immediate ascent, and in the dive plan I've made sure my pony will provide enough gas to get me...

+1 on the shears I tend to dive around a lot of line and prefer to carry 2-4 cutting devices. Overkill? A little for recreational, but standard for PSD and I try to keep some consistency in my set-ups. When doing searches we come up with line more times than not, and, for that, shears are my...

Not to derail the always amusing Spare Air rant, but back to the OP's question. senseiern, you ask about adding gear to "improve your risk management". Risk management is a vital and constantly evolving requirement of diving... but adding gear is only one component. Managing risk, to me, is...

A sidemount tank is somewhat similar to a slung tank, but higher and tighter. The valve and first stages are tight under one's armpit, generally held there by a bungee, and the tail of the tank is clipped to either a waist D ring or a butt-plate. My recreational rig is sidemounted LP72s and it...

Thanks for the comprehensive reply Blades, I really appreciate the combination of real-world experience and statistics. This thread (like many on here) has given me a lot more to think about something I thought I had thought about.

I'm still a baby PSD, but here's what we do and, to the best of my knowledge, why we do it. We clip the tether/comm cable to a separate harness beneath the BC with a locking 'biner. Our response area is primarily ponds, lakes, and reservoirs; with a very few exceptions our rivers are not...

Something that you'll die if you don't use..... at least according to a few threads. A BP/W, or backplate and wing, is a modular, minimalistic BC composed of a plate (often steel or aluminum), air cell (or wing), and harness (either a "hog rig" or simple 2" webbing, or a more complex padded...

A P-weight, soft or hard, should work very well and will trim out almost exactly like a weighted STA, but without the added bulk. You'll also see a fair number of tail-heavy sidemounters add hard weights to their shoulder straps... either directly onto the web or onto a piece of webbing that's...

Another vote for a BP/W. SS plate + weighted STA ~ 10 lbs P-weight (channel weight) 13 lbs Ankle weights 4 lbs Tobin's bolt on plates 8-10 lbs Added up you're down to 5-10 lbs on your belt.... a very manageable amount. Steel tanks also tend to help as well. Most...

Most PSD courses require that you be associated with a team, so finding and getting in contact with a local team (usually independent [Columbia River Dive Rescue] or associated with the local police [Port of Seattle PD], fire, or rescue squad) is the second thing you want to do. The first is...

While it's possible to SM a single tank.... it makes trim much, much, much more interesting. I'd highly recommend starting SM in twins rather than single tank; you can treat the second tank purely as your octopus reg until you get comfortable with the [very slightly] increased task management of...

I wouldn't worry about the gear you got not working, that set-up is perfectly adequate for rec diving. The reason most people recommend waiting and renting for a while before purchasing, as well as the reason you will likely replace most of the gear within the next 6 months to a year, is not...

The vast majority of my FFM experience has been with the AGA, so some of this may not be applicable to other mask designs. 1)While there are a few tricks (mostly in getting the mask seated properly and equalizing), a FFM isn't terribly different than diving a mask/reg. Between a quick tutorial...

numerical placards; each digit costs $1.50

From the PSD side, you're looking at 8-16 lbs negative buoyancy for a recovery (Teather, Encyclopedia of Underwater Investigation). Even if you can't swim that much up to the surface, a 30 lb singles wing on a balanced rig will still give you victim [16 lbs] + suit compression [essentially 0...

This may not be the answer you're looking for.... but your most important piece of safety equipment is your brain. Use the money that you'd spend on more equipment and take classes and go diving (with the most experienced folks you can find). When you find that you need a certain piece of...

Ah, my mistake; I guess I shouldn't write posts at 2 am. Wish I could help and best of luck.

Not sure exactly what size port you have, but a number of places sell adapters that will run 7/16, 1/2, or 9/16 in to 3/8 in. Try Piranha Dive Manufacturing (http://www.piranhadivemfg.com/products.html); 1/2 in to 3/8 is under hoses&fittings/hose adapters, others under adapters/1st stage...