Still Kicking
Contributor
It's in the shop's interest to keep ocean gear (and sand) out of the pool.
Question Separate pool equipment for DMs/instructors?
- Thread starter rverma
- Start date
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Pool work is what he was asking about.
I don't understand working for free, but if that is what you want to do, enjoy.
If I'm not making money teaching, then I would much rather be fun diving.
Teaching is work. Even if you enjoy it, it is still work and should be compensated.
Scared Silly
Contributor
When I was playing DM, the only gear I brought from home was a cheap wet suit I bought, my rx mask and booties/fins. I used the class pool gear otherwise. That was good for multiple reasons, namely students saw us in the exact same gear. The neoprene was trashed after a couple of years.
Pools have different temperatures, and even warm ones feel cold after a while.
When I taught for a shop that had its own pool heated to 87° F, we used 3mm shorties, and we were getting cold at the end of a 4 hour session.
When I taught for a shop that rented time at a local recreation center, it was considerably colder. We used 3mm full suits, and in mid session, we would take a break in the hot tub to recover some BTUs.
As the then owner of SSI explained in a marketing workshop I attended, the SSI philosophy is that the purpose of instruction is to help the shop sell gear, so they do not allow independent instruction. SSI has since been sold, but the former owner still directs things.
That SSI owner was previously the owner of NASDS, which merged with SSI, after which he bought out the old SSI owners. In the 1960s, NASDS was the National Association of Skin Diving Stores, a trade organization dedicated to selling scuba gear. Then it realized that the best way to sell scuba gear was to offer instruction through the store, and it changed its name to the National Association of Skin Diving Schools.
i think you may have tagged the wrong person.
all true. but yes, i am aware. i was originally nasds certified actually, back in 90 or 91. still have the card around here somewhere. the one with the microfiche in it. (the young farts won't know what that is lol)
No, I tagged the right person. I was just adding information to what you had written.i think you may have tagged the wrong person.
all true. but yes, i am aware. i was originally nasds certified actually, back in 90 or 91. still have the card around here somewhere. the one with the microfiche in it. (the young farts won't know what that is lol)
CaptainChris
Contributor
I use the shop rental gear for pool training so their kit can get knackered and not mine, plus I'm demonstrating skills etc in the same kit as clients. Use my own gear for sea dives unless I do confined water training in the sea and then use shop bcd for demo of skills. If you can't use shop gear then I would buy cheap kit for a pool. 
In reference to an earlier post (which I shan't search for) that said it was not possible to use the same pool rental equipment as the students because all the available equipment gets used by the students....
Seriously? The shop has exactly the right number of wetsuits and BCDs for each class and no more? And they are all exactly the right sizes for the students in every class? Every class has the same number of students in each of the sizes in inventory?
That truly is remarkable. The shops I worked for could not plan that well, so they had a large inventory of wetsuits and BCDs in a range of sizes so they were sure to be able to outfit whoever showed up for class. There were a few times I had to wear a BCD that was a bit big for me, but I could handle that.
Seriously? The shop has exactly the right number of wetsuits and BCDs for each class and no more? And they are all exactly the right sizes for the students in every class? Every class has the same number of students in each of the sizes in inventory?
That truly is remarkable. The shops I worked for could not plan that well, so they had a large inventory of wetsuits and BCDs in a range of sizes so they were sure to be able to outfit whoever showed up for class. There were a few times I had to wear a BCD that was a bit big for me, but I could handle that.
It's not that it's impossible, but it doesn't seem guaranteed they'd have enough kit for a large class as well as instructor and DM. The two courses I've DM'd for so far with this shop had 6 and 8 students and when I went digging for a rental BCD my size (large) there were none to be found. I think they do have around 8 larges, but 6 of the students were wearing larges. I'm not sure where the other 2 might have been. Realistically, I could probably get a hold of a rental from the shop if I tried a little harder.
When I help teach at a different club, they have all their equipment right at the pool and I do use that stuff. They're jacket style BCDs and I don't like them much, so I wondered just how badly the pool chemicals would affect my back inflate BCD and if it may be worth keeping an eye out for a cheap back inflate BCD or jacket I liked to extend the life of my "main" gear which I'd use in the ocean.
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