ScubaPro Service Tech Training

[buckeye_jeff]

Last week I completed my Intro Tech and Pro Tech ScubaPro Service Tech classes in Chicago. The Instructor, René Dupré, Technical Serivce Manager does a fantastic job with the classes! I have been to several other training classes and they just basically teach you how to replace old part with new part. René goes into great detail teaching you the how and why regulators work which I find very useful. When I was in college I always felt that it was better knowing the theory behind something than just memorizing a bunch of facts. If you know the theory it is much easier to trouble shoot since you have a clue what might be wrong.

He also explains why ScubaPro uses the materials they use for various reasons. I always thought that they replaced the metal orifice in the 2nd stage to save money. Boy was I wrong. What I thought was ordinary plastic is actually some fancy polymer that costs north of $50 a pound. The reason they went away from metal was because ice crystals don't form on the polymer whereas they can form on metal. This polymer actually is a better choice for those of us that dive in cold water. Other parts they engineer out of other materials because one material may lesson the disturbance of the air making the regulator breath better. I never knew such thought went into each and every part.

If you every have a chance to take one of these classes jump at it, you won't be disappointed.

Thanks to René I have a much better appreciation of what goes into the design and manufacture of regulators.

 

[tstormdiver]

I had the same instructor at DEMA last Nov. Yes, he is fantatstic! I really like the part he taught about testing the HP portion of a Diaphragm regulator, before putting it all together, then using the process of elimination to find the problem. Saves a ton of time.The technique works on any diaphragm regulator.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

I would love to take this class! Where is it available for me to take it?

 

[tstormdiver]

I would love to take this class! Where is it available for me to take it?

Any of the big dive shows. However you must be employed or sponsored by a ScubaPro dealer to enroll.

 

[zf2nt]

I've been to 4 or 5 courses with Rene and will enthusiastically second all the positive comments made above. One interesting exchange during one of his courses has always stuck with me. Rene asked the class how many times people thought they needed to service a particular regulator model before they became really proficient at it. Immediately people started throwing out numbers like 2 or 3. With a shocked expression, I said, "at least 20". I got a whole bunch of looks of disbelief from the other students in the class. Then Rene said he thought the answer was about 200. That ended the discussion!

By the way, there are more courses conducted at just the dive shows. The first time I did it, I caught a plane up to Seattle and lived out of some grungy airport motel in the winter.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

Any of the big dive shows. However you must be employed or sponsored by a ScubaPro dealer to enroll.

Oh ya, that's the reason I have stopped spending my hard earned money on ScubaPro products. They insist they restrict part sales to the customer "for your own good" and liability reasons. You can purchase brakes for you car, screw up the repair and kill a family of seven in the minivan you just t-boned. Yet you can't do a repair on your regs that affects you and only you. ScubaPro claims "liability reasons", but I have never heard of a parts store being sued over auto part sales to the consumer. Last time I checked the auto industry is much larger than the SCUBA industry so we should be hearing all sorts of litigation going on. It would be nice if SCUBA manufacturers came right out and said the real reasons why they restrict part sales and repair manual access and stopped feeding us this line of BS about liability. I will not do business with a company that has no problem lying to to it's customers.

 

[tplyons]

I'm signed up to take the course at Beneath the Sea later this month... super excited! I'll be working part time for my LDS rebuilding regs that I'm getting my DM through. Ever since the previous manager left, the owner has been doing all the service work between himself and one other part-time tech. Looking forward to being able to help out!