What is your gear configuration for solo dives less that 50’

[johndiver999]

Just seems irresponsible and dangerous even for 50’….it’s not like it’s even that much more gear to carry..

Can you explain specifically what is irresponsible and "dangerous". Is your concern primarily the solo aspect, the depth or perhaps the failure to carry a back up second stage?

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Can you explain specifically what is irresponsible and "dangerous". Is your concern primarily the solo aspect, the depth or perhaps the failure to carry a back up second stage?

Not carrying an alternate air source like a pony, and yes not carrying another second stage. Wouldn’t care about the second stage if he had a pony though.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Another second stage is technically another failure point. A MK 2 is an unbalanced very simple 1st stage with a small secured HP seat that is solid (no hole) so probability of seat failure (IP spike) is almost nil. The 108 is a basic unbalanced poppet design all metal second stage and it’s slightly tuned down so probability of a freeflow is very minimal. If a freeflow was to somehow occur it would be when tank pressure is highest at the beginning of the dive. As tank pressure drops so does IP so the incidence of freeflow would go down as the dive went on.

Stop with the BS failure point argument. Maintain your gear and that will mitigate the amount of failures you have…

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Wow... Big accusing words.
Warm water, hard bottom, close to shore, little to no entanglement risk, down to about 60-70 maybe a bit more momentarily.
One can take whatever gear one wants ...but in reality the gear described by the OP seems sufficient.
In fact that's similar to what I use pretty much every single weekend. Different fins, not that many cutting devices, and my tanks are HP 100's, also i don't do the necklace thing.

Because no one has ever drowned in warm shallow-ish water right? Never said he couldn’t take whatever he wanted…stop putting words in my mouth. I don’t care what he does, he asked for our input though right? If he drowns, Don will make a post about him and we’ll all move on with our lives. If he doesn’t, great.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

Oh and do you have a secondary form of buoyancy?

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I'm responding to this post to address one's level of comfort while solo diving. Given a maximum depth of 50 feet, the least amount of equipment I'd be comfortable wearing would be a snorkel. Current freediving training makes solo freediving out to be an absolute foolhardy no-no to solo freedive. I used to do 200-footers solo on constant ballast when I lived in the Caribbean. Honestly, that was stupid and foolhardy. Today, I would have safety divers. But I would be comfortable diving to 50 feet alone while breath-hold diving because I subscribe to the one-minute rule proposed by Capt. Dr. Frank Butler, Jr., USN (ret.).

Dr. Butler had been a UDT frogman, then a SEAL in Vietnam, then a general practitioner after medical school, and finally an ophthalmologist. Both while serving in the military. Army and navy, I believe. Anyway, he did research on breath-hold diving and proposed we limit breath-hold times to 1-minute due to blood gas analysis of apnea divers including the Japanese and Korean Ama women.

When I wrote my second freediving book, it was a manual for PSAI. In the manual, I suggested divers remember the AMA: A Minute... Always. No more.

Turning back to the intended topic of SCUBA, I normally just wear doubles or a single configured DIR even when diving alone. That's just the way I assemble stuff and never need to change it. I am comfortable with a single cylinder down to 50 feet. After that, I'd prefer doubles.

Why? Having been bent, I'm no longer comfortable with the idea of making an emergency ascent. Sure, I could do a CESA and a blow-and-go. I once was solo diving in a drysuit with one of those Italian FFMs for ice diving when the mask was no longer sealing to the outside of the hood against an intended layer designed to seat a FFM. It flooded at 70 feet, and I had to rip it off and do a blow-and-go like a submariner escaping from a sunken sub.

After having suffered DCS 4 years ago today, which required 3 years to recover and resulted in permanent nerve damage to my right eye, I want extra gas and the ability to isolate after 50 feet. AND a buddy bottle. I'd be comfortable with a short trip to deeper depths without a buddy bottle, but if the dive were planned to be deeper than 50, I'd want a separate gas source.

I wear AL80s with a single bladder wing.

 

[Bob DBF]

Just seems irresponsible and dangerous even for 50’….it’s not like it’s even that much more gear to carry..

It's the way I was initially trained, and I am comfortable with it, as it is not particularly dangerous. It's not about how much gear one is carrying.

Stop with the BS failure point argument. Maintain your gear and that will mitigate the amount of failures you have…

Well, if it's just maintainance of gear that determines failure, I should have no problem without the extra gear, and as a matter of fact, I haven't.


Initially I was drawn to SCUBA because freediving/snorkeling severely limited my time underwater, I found that bringing along more redundant gear limited where l could go and the enjoyment of the dive. The freedom of a minimal rig is something I have enjoyed from my first dive. I don't casually recommend it to everyone, because the SCUBA instruction no longer holds watermanship skills as necessary.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

It's the way I was initially trained, and I am comfortable with it, as it is not particularly dangerous. It's not about how much gear one is carrying.



Well, if it's just maintainance of gear that determines failure, I should have no problem without the extra gear, and as a matter of fact, I haven't.


Initially I was drawn to SCUBA because freediving/snorkeling severely limited my time underwater, I found that bringing along more redundant gear limited where l could go and the enjoyment of the dive. The freedom of a minimal rig is something I have enjoyed from my first dive. I don't casually recommend it to everyone, because the SCUBA instruction no longer holds watermanship skills as necessary.

I said it mitigates, not prevents… still happens….just because that’s how you were initially trained doesn’t means it’s correct or safe, but whatever. I’m a minimalist as well…but if I’m going solo, I’m bringing an extra air source and some type of redundant buoyancy….because happens…

 

[Bob DBF]

I said it mitigates, not prevents… still happens….just because that’s how you were initially trained doesn’t means it’s correct or safe, but whatever. I’m a minimalist as well…but if I’m going solo, I’m bringing an extra air source and some type of redundant buoyancy….because happens…

Your choice, I don't really care what any solo diver decides take on their dives. I kit up differently depending on the dive, so it isn't that I oppose adding gear when appropriate. To be fair, where I dive, one uses a 7mm wetsuit, so redundant buoyancy is not an issue, and as mentioned before, a snorkel vest will work if no wetsuit. The surface is unlimited redundant air.

Sh!t happens, and when it does, it is more important to have a plan and skill than more gear and none.

 

[Ana]

Stop with the BS failure point argument. Maintain your gear and that will mitigate the amount of failures you have…

100% agree that's what husband and I do.
Keep the gear working properly.

By the way, it is the same thing we do with our vehicles and we drive I-95 without any redundancy, we even take solo showers.

Things happen, yes they do.