How much redundancy is too much?

[SoCalMike]

There is always quite a bit of discussion of how much spare or back up equipment one should carry. For instance I would say most every diver caries a spare regulator, but thats more or less for an out of air situation.

Some people have mentioned carrying a spare computer, spare 1st or 2nd stage, a spare mask.....Etc.

My question is, where do you draw the line? How much is too much?

I personally carry a spare mask, and a spare computer. Why? Well the mask I won in a raffle, and the computer was an eBay auction that was super cheap.

I guess if we wanted to be 100% safe, wouldn't we carry it all along underwater as well? And why we are at it, wouldn't it also be wise to tow a spare boat behind the one we ride on?

 

[in_cavediver]

Its easy, you back up your primary life support equipment. If you have to have the gas for the dive, you get a redundant source. If you have to know your BT/depth, you get a redundant source. If you have to see, you carry a spare mask. Tanks to heavy, use a drysuit or dual wing. Going to an overhead, need a couple redundant lights etc.

The real challenge is to understand how you should determine what you truly need.

 

[mobster75]

I'm not so sure that every diver carries a spare reg.... I actually do happen to carry a spare reg set (2 second stages, spg) that was my very first (cheapo) set but it works. Last summer at the usual Sat. morning meet-up, a chap showed up who had a badly blown O-ring on his SPG and did not have either extra o-rings nor spare SPG - even worse no one else had either as well.. I lent him the SPG off my spare set for the day and he was grateful he didn't have to spend the day on the shore.

Second point, I don't understand how you say every diver carries a spare regulator but thats more or less for an out of air situation? A spare regulator is likely just sitting in your dive bag in case of massive reg. failure so between dives you can change them up. But if you were out of air, the only thing that would make a difference is a pony setup.. Otherwise, your dive is over, and either your breathing your buddy's octo, buddy-breathing or CESA'ing with oral BC inflation at the top.

There is always quite a bit of discussion of how much spare or back up equipment one should carry. For instance I would say most every diver caries a spare regulator, but thats more or less for an out of air situation.

Some people have mentioned carrying a spare computer, spare 1st or 2nd stage, a spare mask.....Etc.

My question is, where do you draw the line? How much is too much?

I personally carry a spare mask, and a spare computer. Why? Well the mask I won in a raffle, and the computer was an eBay auction that was super cheap.

I guess if we wanted to be 100% safe, wouldn't we carry it all along underwater as well? And why we are at it, wouldn't it also be wise to tow a spare boat behind the one we ride on?

 

[Rainer]

I'm not so sure that every diver carries a spare reg.... I actually do happen to carry a spare reg set (2 second stages, spg) that was my very first (cheapo) set but it works. Last summer at the usual Sat. morning meet-up, a chap showed up who had a badly blown O-ring on his SPG and did not have either extra o-rings nor spare SPG - even worse no one else had either as well.. I lent him the SPG off my spare set for the day and he was grateful he didn't have to spend the day on the shore.

Second point, I don't understand how you say every diver carries a spare regulator but thats more or less for an out of air situation? A spare regulator is likely just sitting in your dive bag in case of massive reg. failure so between dives you can change them up. But if you were out of air, the only thing that would make a difference is a pony setup.. Otherwise, your dive is over, and either your breathing your buddy's octo, buddy-breathing or CESA'ing with oral BC inflation at the top.

He obviously meant most divers carry TWO second stage REGULATORS.

 

[mobster75]

He obviously meant most divers carry TWO second stage REGULATORS.

Oh... Well I didn't think about that since he didn't mention CAVE divers (and I'm obviously not one....) Wouldn't cave divers be a small subset of the overall dive population anyways?

 

[Soggy]

Ask yourself, could you get yourself safely out of the situation if you lost a particular piece of gear. If the answer is no, you need two. Lights in an overhead means you need 3.

Since brains have a relatively high probability of failure, I tend to bring two or three of those, too.

 

[Rainer]

Oh... Well I didn't think about that since he didn't mention CAVE divers (and I'm obviously not one....) Wouldn't cave divers be a small subset of the overall dive population anyways?

What does this have to do with cave diving? Again, most divers today carry two second stage regs (primary and "octo"/secondary). How many do you have?

 

[Gary D.]

All the back-up equipment in the world means absolutely nothing if you aren’t proficient in the original equipment to begin with.

I’ve seen people carry enough stuff that they didn’t need a weight belt. But they would have two if they could and the best part is they didn’t know which way to connect the reg to the tank. That’s like carrying 4 spare tires with no jack or lug wrench.

Gary D.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I wasn't clear on what you meant by "spare" stuff either ... in my car I carry basically a "spare" everything. But that's out of the habit of being an instructor, and not being able to stop a class for any type of gear failure.

In the water it depends on the dive. I carry more backup gear with me if I'm doing a dive that involves a deco obligation (backup BT, mask, spool or reel, DSMB), or if I'm teaching (spare weights). For a simple rec dive, about the only "backup" gear I carry is a spare light.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[in_cavediver]

Oh... Well I didn't think about that since he didn't mention CAVE divers (and I'm obviously not one....) Wouldn't cave divers be a small subset of the overall dive population anyways?

I believe you are confusing the 'regulator' with first stages and second stages. Most rec divers have a single first stage with two second stages to breathe from. This was what the OP was referring to. I wouldn't really call that redundant though.

Some divers, (tec mostly) use two first stages and two second stages coupled with a tank system to allow isolating one gas supply from the other in case of a failure. This is done with a pony, independent doubles or manifolded doubles. This does bring redundancy.