Equipment for Solo Diving

[Jim Lapenta]

It's actually not depending on the dives. I will do any dive solo that I'd do with a buddy including deco and penetrations. And some I'd do alone but not with a buddy. Like the pond inspection I did a few weeks ago. Actual zero vis gathering the needed info by feel. I would not have wanted to be distracted by another diver on something like that.

And compared to some new OW divers that the shop saw coming, I'm not nearly carrying as much stuff. And all of mine is tucked and stowed. The average new diver wouldn't see most of what I'm carrying. It's where it needs to be for me.

And I'm trusting in my skills to effectively use the gear I carry.

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[drrich2]

Of coarse I two independent tanks (sidemount), fins, mask and etc.

I have a surface maker with flag that can be towed.

Since I'm doing a lake with max depth of less than 25 feet I'm going to skip the extra mask since my mast are prescription mask and expensive and I have no problem swimming without mask on. I'm carrying three cutting devices - knife on the waist, scissors in the pocket and line cutter on the shoulder. I have two reels - one 50 foot in my pocket and 100 foot on my d-ring and lot times carry a 200 foot to practice laying cave line. I'm carrying a large DAN SMB in the pocket. Two lights but my dives are during the daylight hours, if doing night I would carry 3 lights. A set of dive tables, not really needed since this area of the lake is max depth of 30 feet. Compass on my wrist and small slate with compass in my pocket.

Maybe some specifics would be helpful. Especially to keep it simple starting out solo diving.

1.) Why do you need a slate when there's no one to communicate with & you already have another compass?

2.) Do you really need to carry a dive light? If so, why 2? Is it that big a deal if one quits on you on a shallow daylight dive?

3.) How about leaving that 200 foot reel home? I can understand having a spool or reel to tow a dive float. Is it really necessary to also have a separate reel to send up an SMB from depth? Are conditions such that just surfacing at your dive float & inflating your SMB at the surface (in the unlikely event you need it) isn't workable? I'm thinking one reel to pull your dive float, and that's it.

4.) Why bother carrying dive tables (assuming you meant on you)? Stuff them under a vehicle seat if you want them around, but are you really doing to pull them out of a BCD pocket underwater & start plotting out NDL limits?

I'm hoping to get solo-certified this summer, and with an extra tank & 3 cutting implements, plus my pockets stuffed with an extra mask & and SMB, plus a finger spool clipped to a D-ring, I've kinda picked up the 'Christmas Tree look' myself.

Richard.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

For me a slate or wetnotes, usually the latter, is essential. Kept in a pocket, I use it to make note of features on the site, navigation points, times, distances, etc. I do this during the dive quite often. A wrist slate will have my contingency plans on it for quick reference.
Two lights because they are always on my harness anyway and do not get in the way as the are clipped and bungeed down. Spare mask in one thigh pocket with shears and smb/liftbag with spool in the other. The small reel is clipped off to the right d ring and is notted at five foot intervals for more precise measuring.

My basic set up remains the same for all my diving to this point. If I went sidemount I would have to make some changes but much would remain the same for one reason. Muscle memory. I never have to look for anything on me underwater. Every piece of gear's location is known by touch. I am also of the "every dive is a skills dive" camp. Solo even more so. Recreation for me and fun for me is practicing skills, reinforcing them, and improving on their level of proficiency under water. So other than my can light, multiple.stages, etc. it only makes sense to dive the same configuration regardless of the dive. Switching things up too much from dive to dive is not a wise move for any diver. It leads to forgetting items that may be needed at crucial times, fumbling for items, and on a solo dive that could be problematic. And possibly dangerous.

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[GrumpyOldGuy]

For my type of solo diving, no deco, no overhead, no penetration I go light on the redundant gear. (WARNING: Even though I solo dive all the time and have for year, I am not an instructor and my methods probably are not endorsed by any agency, it just what works for me).

What I do instead is use my basic gear like my SMB and extend its use by tying knots in the line at known depths. I then practice ascent with my eyes closed (and my son as a safety diver). Thus this simple piece of gear can then function as a spare mask, spare computer/depth gauge, spare light, etc.. It does take practice to have the confidence to do this, but it also allows me to comfortably ascend in zero vis, mid water if needed (not all that uncommon in Texas lakes)

Same with my cutting gear. At one time I was carrying multiple tools and in some places its probably smart. For me the problem though was the though of dropping the cutting tool with thick gloves. Adding a retaining lines eliminated this issue, although I do really like those new Trilobite tools (nice design).

 

[undrwater]

I also have a signal mirror that comes in real handy for doing a bubble check and gear check under water. My solo instructor recommended it and it struck how simple and common sense it was to have one.

I carry a mirror too, but it is wrapped up in the SMB and tied off. Can you describe your mirror and where you keep it mounted / stowed? I think having it available for a bubble check would be great.

 

[Doc Harry]

I have the about the same setup.

But I solo in 25 feet of water with twin steel HP-130s and carry one or two stage cylinders.

I can stay in the water for a long time.

 

[rx7diver]

For my type of solo diving, no deco, no overhead, no penetration I go light on the redundant gear.

This has been my approach, also. I would add, though, "... no deco, no overhead, no penetration, relatively shallow, good visibility, relatively calm conditions, minimal threat of overhead boat traffic ..."

Just because we have the gear doesn't mean we have to always dive the gear. We need to be careful, lest we "techy-fy" ourselves into absurdity, and then further compound the absurdity by convincing ourselves that we're not being absurd.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[KD8NPB]

I'd ditch the slate, since I can't think of a use for it myself?

Be careful with the reels too, make sure you utilize them in a fashion that does not represent a tangle hazard.

 

[Hatul]

For solo recreational diving I take a pony bottle. That's all that's extra. I leave behind the dive slate. Everything else is the same.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I carry a mirror too, but it is wrapped up in the SMB and tied off. Can you describe your mirror and where you keep it mounted / stowed? I think having it available for a bubble check would be great.

They are from Trident and I get them from my own Solo course instructor. They come with a small pouch that will slide on 2 inch webbing but I am going to modify it or use another type since the one that comes with it is a little unsecure for some of the solo braille type diving I do. I was wearing it on the strap of my computer with my trilobite cutter but after giving it what I consider to be a fair trial am going to move it to my harnesses. One on the singles harness that can be removed kinda easy since I switch between al, steel, and my Express Tech for single tanks and a permanent one on my doubles set up. The ones I have are plastic and very rugged and have two colors. Clear/white on one side and red on the other. He recommends these since on a choppy day a white flash could be mistaken for a reflection off a wave. A red one will not be.

For those who say they leave it, I really don't understand not having a slate or wetnotes though. How do you keep records of the dive? What you see, waypoints, distances, info for depth averaging or multilevel profiles, etc.? Where do you keep your alternate plan?