Advanced/Technical diving and mechanical aptitude

[Scott L]

This is a great resource. In layman's terms, it can get you started servicing your regs. Even if you decide that DIY is not for you, it still give you a great understanding of how your regs work.

SCUBA REGULATOR MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR by Vance Harlow

Great. Thank you! I do not anticipate servicing my own gear but a sound working knowledge of the equipment is of interest to me...

 

[Cave Diver]

This is a great resource. In layman's terms, it can get you started servicing your regs. Even if you decide that DIY is not for you, it still give you a great understanding of how your regs work.

SCUBA REGULATOR MAINTENANCE AND REPAIR by Vance Harlow

Yep, thats the one I was thinking of in my earlier post.

 

[wedivebc]

I got a phone call the other day from a LDS to ask me a question about a reg he was servicing so I guess its OK if I service my own gear.
If I were getting my gear serviced by someone else I would be a difficult customer as I seem to have trust issues with other touching my stuff.

 

[divad]

Great book, but it can't impart aptitude. Facilitate yes.

 

[TSandM]

I've learned bit by bit. I can still remember the first time I was brave enough to take a hose off a regulator where it was leaking, and see if I could put it back together and have it not leak. Somewhere in the back of my brain, I was sure I was supposed to take the whole thing to the dive shop and have them check it afterwards.

Over time, I've learned to service inflators, dry suit inflate and dump valves, replace wing bladders, find and solve leaks in dry suits, replace wrist seals, and do some second stage adjustments. I have an IP gauge and o-ring picks and a bunch of o-rings, most of which seem to belong on gear I have never owned. I have a transfill whip.

I've acquired useful reference books, like the Airspeed Press books.

But I still don't do my own regs. I wish I had the money to sell all the regs I own, buy HOG regs, and go take their class, but I don't. And unless we had all the same sort, I really wouldn't get an opportunity to do enough service to get good at it, I don't think.

 

[drydiver]

I am a rec diver with curiosity, so, against warranty recommendations, I have torn apart my reg. Although I am mechanically inclined, I have had an o ring burst unexpectedly on a night dive 20 ft under, too new of a diver to have wing fail. I have the benefit of hanging around shop techs on a personal level and they teach me alot. To summarize here, IF you are mechanically inclined, there is absolutely no reason in the world not to become more intimate with your life sustaining equipment

D

 

[fnfalman]

I can put a razor sharp edge on my diving knives. That's pretty mechanical, isn't it?

 

[DwayneJ]

I can put a razor sharp edge on my diving knives. That's pretty mechanical, isn't it?

... and I can make them as dull as a butter knife - Sounds like we would make a great team?

 

[Doc Harry]

I've always assumed that tech divers maintain their own gear.

As I moved into the tech realm, I started inspecting/servicing my own cylinders, operating my own compressor, pumping/mixing my own gas, and inspecting/repair my own gear, valves, etc.

The only thing I haven't done yet is regulator servicing. But I'm working on that.

 

[SelkieDVM]

I also think a basic course in differential equations would benefit the technical diver. That way you could understand all the deco algorithms much more easily.

I'm sorry but I had to laugh when I read this. I did well enough in basic calculus and statistics to get into vet school, but the thought having to go back and take "diffy-q" 15 years later sends cold chills down my spine. Please tell me there's a place for the right brained in the tech diving world. More power to you if that stuff comes naturally to you.