Cave gear?

[atlas750]

anyone know a good site for listing the gear needed to take the intro to cave and get started in cave diving? Rec for actual brand names not just gear. Thanks

 

[theskull]

Best to select an instructor first and get his (or her) recommendations. Second choice is to make friends with some cave divers and discuss equipment selection with them.

theskull

 

[H2Andy]

atlas, here's a site put together (partly) by my cave instructor, Johnny Richards. he's
got some good info

http://www.cavediving.com/nfl_cave/index.htm

here's a page re/ equipment:

http://www.cavediving.com/nfl_cave/training/equip.htm

as theskull said, the bottom line is to discuss this with an instructor

here are the minimum equipment requirements from the Ginny site for both
cavern and cave (scroll down a little):

http://www.ginniespringsoutdoors.com/learncave.htm#Cavern Diving

 

[Jason B]

To add to what others have said, if you took 'cavern' (which I assume you did if you are going for 'intro', your workbook (if NSS/CDS or NACD) lists all the gear required for 'intro'. As Andy pointed out, most of it is listed on Johnny Richards website (good instructor!).

Jason

 

[Mark Vlahos]

anyone know a good site for listing the gear needed to take the intro to cave and get started in cave diving? Rec for actual brand names not just gear. Thanks

This is an incredibly difficult question, one that by answering will invite criticsm.

Having said that here I go.

For fins a good solid, not split, fin design. Jetfins, turtles, or similar designs are often seen. Spring straps are common but you can tape the rubber straps to help to prevent entanglements.

Regulators, Apeks, ScubaPro, DiveRite, Zeagle, as well as other high quality brands and models. The thing to remember here is high quality, deep in a cave is not the place you want to be breathing on the discount regulator. Your backup needs to be just as good as your primary, again this is not the place to save a few bucks by picking the one with cheaper parts or inferior designs. Of course you will be diving with double tanks so this means double first stages properly configured. DIN valves are definitely the standard.

Lights, HID lights of at least 10 watts are good for primary lights. Halcyon, DiveRite, Sartek, and others are good choices. Remember you will be looking at separate cannister battery packs and small light heads. This is not the place you want that light cannon. Backup lights should be long lasting and rugged, somthing streamlined and easily deployable is important. A small body with a large reflector and lens will make getting the light out a little more trouble. I like the SL4 and SL6 designs myself, but there are lots of others out there that are shaped a little differently that work just as well if not better. LED lights are extremely rugged and have long burn times, both excellent criteria for a backup light.

Reels, get reels that are simple designs that don't have large protruding handles or bolts. It is nice it you can disassemble the primary reel underwater if you turn it into a rats nest, of course if it is completely tangled up you can just end the dive. For a safety reel again keep it simple, and have a finger spool as a backup safety.

One of those curved multi page forearm slates is good, but still have a wetnotes pad as backup.

For tanks you will be most likely be moving into doubles with an isolation manifold. A backplate and separate wing are standard. Lots of divers use single bladder wings even in a wetsuit but you might consider a double bladder wing if diving wet. 50 or better pounds of lift is probably fine, but 80 to 100 pounds is probably more than you will need, and could present more of a liability than benefit. A one piece Hogarthian harness on your plate is a good idea, here is one place where less is more.

For Intro you should not be doing any decompression dives so at least you don't need either the training or equipment for that, but it would be a good set of skills for full cave.

Two cutting devices like a "Z" knife and shears are needed, keep the cases small and streamlined while still easily reachable.

If you don't have pockets on your wet or dry suit X-Shorts make a nice option for adding pockets, this keeps things like the spare mask and wetnotes pad off of the harness.

You are looking at dropping some serious cash if you don't have any of this yet. Some things like tanks are easily rentable, regulator sets can also be found for rent as can primary lights. Reels, cutting devices, and things like that will need to be purchased.

Good luck, the list above is not complete and leaves lots of room for choices about specifics.

As others have said, your BEST advice is to contact the instructor you will be using and talk with him or her about the details. Some instructors have almost all of the gear you will need for rent (privately) from them. This can help to stave off the sticker shock for a while.

Have fun,

Mark Vlahos

 

[atlas750]

Thanks for all the info.

 

[JDostal]

Mark's response is just about perfect. You can set up a cave rig w/ any brand of gear really. It's more HOW you configure it. Talk to your instructor - I called mine a LOT before taking my course. We were still kind of oddballs down in Florida with all of our Poseidons....apparently you don't see them in Florida much anymore, but we love them...and use them a LOT

 

[Mark Vlahos]

Mark's response is just about perfect. You can set up a cave rig w/ any brand of gear really. It's more HOW you configure it. Talk to your instructor - I called mine a LOT before taking my course. We were still kind of oddballs down in Florida with all of our Poseidons....apparently you don't see them in Florida much anymore, but we love them...and use them a LOT

I have seen Poseidons in Cave Country, but with current exchange rates new ones are quite pricey.

Mark Vlahos

 

[JDostal]

Yeah...they are definitely not cheap. The 7 foot hoses are pretty expensive as well. But, for the diving we do up here, they are great. I've got some photos of our regs covered in a half inch of ice after diving in frozen rivers in winter - and they just keep on going

 

[OneBrightGator]

At that point it wouldn't be the reg I'd worry about!!!

On Topic... Atlas, I'll echo the others in saying your best bet is to talk to your instructor and find a couple local cave divers (if possible) to help you out. Feel free to PM me if you specific recommendations, I've outfitted a few divers in my time