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Actually, I would not anymore recommend talcum powder, as the powder may contain asbestos particles that can harm the lungs. It’s better to use corn starch instead. https://www.asbestos.com/products/talcum-powder/ SeaRat

I always wear my dive knife on my right leg. I’ve been doing that for over 60 years now, and it has served me well over the years. It is a BFK, if that’s what you call it now, but when I started out, it was simply the dive knife. It is a tool, with a serrated edge for cutting large rope, a...

When I was diving with Virginia Taylor for golf balls in Florida near Orlando, it was 1970. We had not thought about either octopus regulators, or bailout bottles. But, I survived. SeaRat

We used to use corn starch to get into our skin inside suits (open cell inside). SeaRat

Okay, there is a new term for wetsuits, "open cell." Open cell used to mean neoprene that was not "closed cell," in other words, had no buoyancy because it absorbed water as the cells were open to the water. I found out just last year that "open cell," is now a term used to describe what we...

Concerning the heritage, and instinctively holding one’s breath, that only holds for a sudden submergence into deep water if the water is warm. If it is cold, or icy, there is an immediate and instinctive inhalation reflex, which can be life threatening. Okay, you can actually measure my...

I'm now 78, and plan to continue diving until I feel I shouldn't...at least until 80. SeaRat

Actually, that is not true, as the surface-supplied line is actually a low pressure line used now in hookah diving. This means that it contains pressurized air at somewhere around 120-140 psig. So no, current surface-supplied air cannot have the hazards of hard hat diving. Hard hat diving...

NW Dive Dawg, I’ve been thinking about this, and the more I think about it, the more I agree with you. There are two dry suit squeezes that I’ve been schooled in, and I did dive a dry suit in the post. I dove the Aquala rubber dry suit. The two types of dry suit squeezes were: —An ear...

No, you are not correct. The wetsuit compresses, and in fact a wetsuit at about 45 feet of freshwater looses its buoyancy completely (I know, as I took off my weight belt in Clear Lake, Oregon at 45 feet and swam around an neutral buoyancy). So the material compresses, but not against the...

Here is another thread by a “prepper” about use of scuba gear in a Nuclear, Chemical, Biological terrorist attack; https://scubaboard.com/community/threads/scuba-prep-gear-question.507980/ I now have masks on my scuba units upstairs. ;) SeaRat

I actually started snorkeling in the mid-1950s, both in the YMCA pool and in local lakes and streams. It was cold though. So in either 1958 or 1959 I started picking strawberries and beans for money, and purchased a 39 cubic foot tank with a K-valve, and a Healthways Scuba regulator (with a...

I don't over think "Special Problems and Solutions." It can be anything that interfered with the dive in some way. Years ago, I noted in my dive logs "I got cold," and "I'm freezing," on several dives. I finally decided that I needed a dry suit. On 6-11-2011 I wrote up a dive. It is...

Yes, they can, but SCBAs of the older type, with the regulator on the belt and a hose to the mask, will free flow if the rescuer is not almost horizontal in the water. The mask with a curved lens will give a very wide-view, and that can be disorienting. This distortion can also cause vertigo...

We have masks in the area, but I like your idea. That will happen tonight. SeaRat

Waterbury, I have confirmed this event: This is quite a story, and pretty much verified my evaluation that scuba equipment can be used as an escape from an IDLH environment. He did it, although this article doesn’t name the person. That would be nice to know. SeaRat

I have been in touch with another person, Scott who posts here, and in one thread described that I have two scuba units upstairs for use in case of a fire that would cut my wife and I off from exiting downstairs in our house. It would give time for us to access and deploy the emergency ladder we...

I have decades of experience in the occupational health and safety field, and a MSPH degree in Industrial Hygiene. There is one way that a sample could be gained, but it would require a new way of tracking diving and logging the diving experience. Years ago, I started hand writing my dive...

For those who don’t know, the “Bruce” in this case is Bruce Higgins, who single-handedly created the Edmonds Underwater Park, and has been improving it each weekend since the 1970s. I think that Bruce did write the rules, including the rule about underwater scooters. Visibility is sometimes...

When I was in the U.S. Air Force, we made our “jump tanks” out of used 20 man life raft CO2 bottles. We had to remove the wire wrapping, and used bands the USAF had made for this purpose. This we simply put a military harness on the tanks, and for parascuba jumps we put a modified parachute...