A busted dive

[Creed]

Well, Ks Bob and I tried to go out to Wilson Lake, KS, today. We had quite a few problems, and neither of us were comfortable continuing the attempt. We hadn't got enough weight, Bob had problems with his BC hose, and we forgot dive lights. I was both pretty quickly worn out from the attempt to descend. We even forgot to bring a bouy for the flag, but Bob's duct tape and my spare BC quickly yielded a perfectly good dive bouy.

So, in hindsight:
1) bring more weight than we think we need next time.
2) dive lights are critical in a mud pit.
3) always check the rental gear in the store.

 

[Ber Rabbit]

Welcome to the world of diving Glad to see you had the guts to call the dive instead of risking the possibility of turning a few annoyances into an accident. Accidents are made of small problems that compound themselves into bigger ones. Looks like you've learned quite a bit from the experience too and I'll give you one more tip. Make sure your gear check includes the tank o-rings, hook that puppy up to a regulator and make sure it doesn't leak. Your "save-a-dive" kit probably has o-rings in it but why give them away to the shop when you can tell them you want an o-ring that doesn't leak before you take possession of the gear.

Safe diving to you!
Ber :lilbunny:

 

[MgicTwnger]

1) bring more weight than we think we need next time.
2) dive lights are critical in a mud pit.
3) always check the rental gear in the store.

Here's a little unsolicited advice:

1) Get you weight figured out in a pool before the dive trip.
2) Dive lights are critical on most any dive.
3) Buy your own gear if you can afford it. You will be familiar with it, it will fit right, and it beats rental crap hands-down.

 

[Creed]

Here's a little unsolicited advice:

1) Get you weight figured out in a pool before the dive trip.
2) Dive lights are critical on most any dive.
3) Buy your own gear if you can afford it. You will be familiar with it, it will fit right, and it beats rental crap hands-down.

We didn't have a chance to figure the weight out. I asked for the same amount of weight that I used before in Wilson, and simply didn't put enough on for my first attempt. However, we ran out of weights for Bob.

I am now in complete agreement about the dive lights. I will treat it like a dive knife from now on(always be prepared).

I actually have my own equipment, but it needs an overhaul.

 

[Ks Bob]

The problem I had in figuring weights was I needed much more than I used in the pool and didn't know how much to compensate for the added thickness of the wet suit. In the pool with a 3mm shortie, I used 8lbs. At the lake, I was in a 7mm farmer john with a shortie (long sleeve) over the top. At 14lbs, I wasn't even close to descending. How do you know how much to add for increased wet suit?

 

[Ks Bob]

Welcome to the world of diving Glad to see you had the guts to call the dive instead of risking the possibility of turning a few annoyances into an accident. Accidents are made of small problems that compound themselves into bigger ones. Looks like you've learned quite a bit from the experience too and I'll give you one more tip. Make sure your gear check includes the tank o-rings, hook that puppy up to a regulator and make sure it doesn't leak. Your "save-a-dive" kit probably has o-rings in it but why give them away to the shop when you can tell them you want an o-ring that doesn't leak before you take possession of the gear.

Safe diving to you!
Ber :lilbunny:

I did remember to check the o-rings (I remembered that from my OW class), just didn't think to hook up the regs to the BCs. It was frustrating calling the dive , but Creed & I agreed that looking at the problems we were facing, it was a disaster waiting to happen. Better to call the dive & live to dive another day.

 

[Tabasco1955]

This know this is easy to say owning my own equipment and not so practical when you rent, but I take every item of diving equipment I own when I leave for a dive, if I don't need it, it stays in the vehicle, if I do need it, it's there and I don't have my dive ruined because of something trivial! If you rent your equipment, I would say that very meticulous planning would be the order of the day.

 

[Creed]

This know this is easy to say owning my own equipment and not so practical when you rent, but I take every item of diving equipment I own when I leave for a dive, if I don't need it, it stays in the vehicle, if I do need it, it's there and I don't have my dive ruined because of something trivial! If you rent your equipment, I would say that very meticulous planning would be the order of the day.

I did
And it did save the day in one way. We didn't have a dive bouy, and quickly made one up out of my spare BC, a dive flag and some duct tape.

 

[Tabasco1955]

I did
And it did save the day in one way. We didn't have a dive bouy, and quickly made one up out of my spare BC, a dive flag and some duct tape.

I actually have a checklist that I made, and I check off each item as I load it when getting ready to leave for a dive. HEY, you gave me an idea, maybe I need to throw a hammer and duct tape in there also, everyone knows you can fix anything with that!

 

[Ks Bob]

I actually have a checklist that I made, and I check off each item as I load it when getting ready to leave for a dive. HEY, you gave me an idea, maybe I need to throw a hammer and duct tape in there also, everyone knows you can fix anything with that!

Duct Tape, I never leave home without it.