GUE training and deep diving

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David Novo

Contributor
Messages
784
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Location
Porto, Portugal, Europe
# of dives
100 - 199
I am currently at 49 dives, with a bunch of PADI certifications (Advanced, Dry Suit, PPB, Nitrox), but still not 100% satisfied with my buoyancy and trim.

IMHO, these are affected by high gas consumption vs buddies, as well as cold (I do not currently own a Dry Suit - needed cert to dive Silfra in Iceland).

I am planning to do the following and would like your opinions regarding the plan:
1) Buy a dry suit;
2) Take a GUE doubles primer (so that the amount of gas I have available is significantly beyond what I need) with rented gear, to see how I fare with this setup;
3) Convert my gear to GUE setup;
4) Take fundies with doubles;

Regarding the regulator I have an Apeks XTX 200 with XTX 40 octopus: is it enough to change the hooses or I also need to change the pressure gauge to a brass one?

Any recommendations for a good BPW setup that is not Halcyon and available in EU? (importing from outside is not an option due to VAT)

Lastly, what would be the appropriate cert for 40 m after: PADI deep diving or Gue rec 3? (I have no interest in tech down the road)

Thank you.
 
Hey mate you sound like you've been hacked

Get onto Scuba Tech Philippines, blog section, buoyancy masterclass
and do some diving
 
High gas consumption is usually inexperience and over weighting. Fundies might be overkill but as above it is rarely a poor choice at any time. If you get your breathing under control and good weighting you should not need doubles for most diving. I would certainly work on the consumption aspect before adding more equipment and more stress that is likely to keep the consumption high.

If you are counting all those courses in your 50 dives then you really need to dive a whole lot more just for fun before you book into even more courses. Courses can be stressful and simply doing endless courses on after another achieves little other than costing moeny and collecting PIC cards. When you eventually tire of it or run out of money the chances are you will stop diving altogether and find something else to obsess about. I have seen so many people do that over the years.

Long shallow dives are good at getting gas consumption under control. Find something to occupy you and to stop finning and just hang out and watch the fish or whatever you enjoy.

Drysuit is good. Lots of issues round that and GUE diving, so be 100% sure before you buy.
 
That isn't true. Fundamentals does not even teach "decompression theory".

Uh, I just finished Fundies last month. We definitely covered deco theory as it pertains to minimum deco (effectively NDL diving), DCI, and other things.
 
I have c. 35 fun dives plus the cert ones.

I am not doing certs for the cards, but because I needed them (Nitrox and dry suit - a requirement for Silfra as I did not have min dry suit dives) or cheaper-than-fun-dives extension of advanced (PPB).

On dives below 20m, specially in the 25m-30m range, air is an issue and stress factor for me. Hence the doubles idea. Seemed easier to reduce stress and consumption (and focus on trim and buyoancy) by removing air limitations from the equation (with NDL becoming the critical factor).
 
Uh, I just finished Fundies last month. We definitely covered deco theory as it pertains to minimum deco (effectively NDL diving), DCI, and other things.

I was referring to actual mandatory decompression like m-values, gradient factors, etc. Something that could actually be dangerous if you fudge around with it without knowing it. Nothing in fundamentals can be characterized as "well behind the curve and may be more dangerous than useful."
 
Go diving. Find a group or club that does regular recreational dives and practice your skills outside of a formal class. Relax and enjoy plus slow down and you will find that your air will last longer. Work out your proper weighting and practice your buoyancy and trim while enjoying yourself.
 
Go diving. Find a group or club that does regular recreational dives and practice your skills outside of a formal class. Relax and enjoy plus slow down and you will find that your air will last longer. Work out your proper weighting and practice your buoyancy and trim while enjoying yourself.

This is basically what I have been doing but progress seems to be slowing down. Last weekend I was spending 130 bar (out of 200 bar in a 12L) in the first 25 min of a dive between 25 and 30 m and burned the last 70 bar on the ascent due to stress. This would not have happened (or at least would have been reduced) with extra air.

I have been diving a back-inflation BCD with integrated weights (6 kg in weight-pockets + 2 kg in the upper back of the BCD). Would a BPW setup help trim in this case?
 
This is basically what I have been doing but progress seems to be slowing down. Last weekend I was spending 130 bar (out of 200 bar in a 12L) in the first 25 min of a dive between 25 and 30 m and burned the last 70 bar on the ascent due to stress. This would not have happened (or at least would have been reduced) with extra air.

I have been diving a back-inflation BCD with integrated weights (6 kg in weight-pockets + 2 kg in the upper back of the BCD). Would a BPW setup help trim in this case?
I don't think the answer at this point is to change equipment as a back inflate BC is not that big a difference from a BP/W. Maybe the depth of your diving is adding extra stress that you do not need at this point, are there sites where you can practice that are less than 25 m and closer to say 15 m. Being stressed can significantly increase you air consumption and obviously depth has a significant effect as well. Have you done a proper weight check and have you positioned the tank to get your best horizontal trim. At this point you appear as if you are not totally comfortable and adding the increased complexity of doubles is unlikely to help. Do you have any mentors that can help you.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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