My journey into tech

[Marie13]

SDI SM class was this weekend. Classroom session for gear assembly yesterday (Sat) morning, pool session in the afternoon. At the quarry today. We did 2x 66 minute dives (stayed on the shallow side).

Instructor was just excellent.

I was very happy we had a pool session. I was glad to be starting class out in the pool, rather than at the quarry. I wore my 3mm in the pool and at the quarry today (water temps in mid-70s on the shallow side). I was seriously overweighted with 2 HP80s in a 3mm, but these are the tanks I have, so I dealt with it. Of course, more tweaks to be made to gear!

Class was challenging, but fun and interesting. Other student was another gal, and it seems I have a new dive buddy. Man, were there a ton of bluegill out today! Wore my hood (as always) to protect my ears from the wannabe piranha of the Midwest.

Perdix AI with 2 transmitters is worth every freaking penny I spent.

Alpena/Thunder Bay wreck diving this coming weekend, then I'm out at the quarry in my 5mm to see about weighting and for plenty of practice.

 

[Doby45]

I was seriously overweighted with 2 HP80s in a 3mm, but these are the tanks I have, so I dealt with it. Of course, more tweaks to be made to gear!

With steel tanks and a 3mm, you will always be overweighted. (Loving having my tanks as ballast ) I dive HP100s in a drysuit and use no weight at all.

 

[Marie13]

With steel tanks and a 3mm, you will always be overweighted. (Loving having my tanks as ballast ) I dive HP100s in a drysuit and use no weight at all.

That leads me to the question: at what point do tanks become too much for your size and you just can't dive them because you're too overweighted? I remember some tech diver gal posting in a FB group a while back that she was overweighted with an aluminum BP, HP100 doubles, and an AL40 deco bottle.

I hope to replace my drysuit next spring. I'd like to eventually move up to HP100s for SM (I hope to get some over the winter for single tank BM deeper dives), but now I'm beginning to wonder. At least the shop has some I can rent to see how I do with them.

 

[Lorenzoid]

That leads me to the question: at what point do tanks become too much for your size and you just can't dive them because you're too overweighted? I remember some tech diver gal posting in a FB group a while back that she was overweighted with an aluminum BP, HP100 doubles, and an AL40 deco bottle.

When talking about diving with double steel tanks, "overweighted" is a relative term. You'll almost always need to rely on the drysuit for redundant buoyancy.

 

[Marie13]

Did my first SM boat dives yesterday. 4 dives - I was both morning and afternoon charters. I’d been out at the quarry the day before to tweak SM weighting with drysuit (need 6lbs).

Getting off the boat wasn’t too bad - sat on the back of the boat, tanks were brought over to me. To get me into the water quicker (dive buddy and I were the last ones in), captain helped more than he would have otherwise in getting tanks on and inflator hoses attached. I then swung my legs around, walked through transom holding onto swim platform railing, and went in. I was surprised the short walk with 2 tanks on wasn’t more difficult, even with the 2-3ft chop we had in the afternoon. A giant stride with all that stuff on was not a pretty sight!

Needed a lot of help getting tanks off. Had a hard time getting my bottom boltsnaps undone. The chop didn’t help as I was hanging onto the ladder while being bounced around. Got them undone with the help of buddy who was still in the water and captain unclipped the top and pulled tanks up. For the afternoon charter, we were fortunate to have a DM who dives SM with the same rig I have. Getting out from afternoon dives was a bit better as we had a system down, but the 2-3ft chop made it more difficult. M

Wonderfully stable in the water and really contributed towards very good trimmat times, per buddy’s observations.

I already knew I really need to work on upper and lower body strength over the winter, but yesterday confirmed it.

I did the boat dives with only about 12 SM dives total under my belt. Needed to do these now so I could see how it was. Back to single tank BM for the next 3 weekends of boat diving (last day is Oct 15), then SM under quarry closes the last Sunday in October. Will be at a regional quarry with friends for deep work in November. Shop will have winter pool practice sessions once a month during the winter so I’ll be doing those SM, too.

The frog kick I thought I had went to heck in a hand basket, so that’s a major winter project, too.

I did 6 dives in all this weekend. I’m tired and sore, but it’s a good sore. I was shocked when I realized I have 168 dives now.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

 

[kelemvor]

Did my first SM boat dives yesterday. 4 dives - I was both morning and afternoon charters. I’d been out at the quarry the day before to tweak SM weighting with drysuit (need 6lbs).

Getting off the boat wasn’t too bad - sat on the back of the boat, tanks were brought over to me. To get me into the water quicker (dive buddy and I were the last ones in), captain helped more than he would have otherwise in getting tanks on and inflator hoses attached. I then swung my legs around, walked through transom holding onto swim platform railing, and went in. I was surprised the short walk with 2 tanks on wasn’t more difficult, even with the 2-3ft chop we had in the afternoon. A giant stride with all that stuff on was not a pretty sight!

Needed a lot of help getting tanks off. Had a hard time getting my bottom boltsnaps undone. The chop didn’t help as I was hanging onto the ladder while being bounced around. Got them undone with the help of buddy who was still in the water and captain unclipped the top and pulled tanks up. For the afternoon charter, we were fortunate to have a DM who dives SM with the same rig I have. Getting out from afternoon dives was a bit better as we had a system down, but the 2-3ft chop made it more difficult. M

Wonderfully stable in the water and really contributed towards very good trimmat times, per buddy’s observations.

I already knew I really need to work on upper and lower body strength over the winter, but yesterday confirmed it.

I did the boat dives with only about 12 SM dives total under my belt. Needed to do these now so I could see how it was. Back to single tank BM for the next 3 weekends of boat diving (last day is Oct 15), then SM under quarry closes the last Sunday in October. Will be at a regional quarry with friends for deep work in November. Shop will have winter pool practice sessions once a month during the winter so I’ll be doing those SM, too.

The frog kick I thought I had went to heck in a hand basket, so that’s a major winter project, too.

I did 6 dives in all this weekend. I’m tired and sore, but it’s a good sore. I was shocked when I realized I have 168 dives now.

When I end SM boat dives, I usually keep my tanks attached until I get to a seat. Then I take everything off. I prefer that vs taking the tanks off in the water or at the back of the boat.

 

[Marie13]

When I end SM boat dives, I usually keep my tanks attached until I get to a seat. Then I take everything off. I prefer that vs taking the tanks off in the water or at the back of the boat.

That works well if one can climb the ladder with both tanks on. I cannot right now. Need more help than last year even with a single tank due to lingering issues from shingles attack in March. Will be working my arse off over the winter to build up lower and upper body strength.

 

[rjack321]

In a 3mm you are going to be seriously overweighted in any hp steel tank. I would use al80s in that thin of a wetsuit. Steel hp tanks almost always require a drysuit to counteract reasonably. Some of the lighter lp steel tanks can be 'ok' with wetsuits, but wetsuit compression at tech depths and then being overweighted is a serious issue. And its cold down there and offgassing is really bad when cold, so really for deco dives in anything less than tropical conditions you want a drysuit. And for tropical tech diving you'll be in al80s (which is frequently all that's available anyway)

 

[Marie13]

In a 3mm you are going to be seriously overweighted in any hp steel tank. I would use al80s in that thin of a wetsuit. Steel hp tanks almost always require a drysuit to counteract reasonably. Some of the lighter lp steel tanks can be 'ok' with wetsuits, but wetsuit compression at tech depths and then being overweighted is a serious issue. And its cold down there and offgassing is really bad when cold, so really for deco dives in anything less than tropical conditions you want a drysuit. And for tropical tech diving you'll be in al80s (which is frequently all that's available anyway)

This is not an issue anymore since I’m back to diving dry. I had 6lbs of lead on me Sunday diving Lake Michigan. 4 lbs at the quarry Saturday meant I had a ton of trouble getting down. 6 seemed to work pretty welll.

Tropical diving? You slay me!