Advanced/Technical diving and mechanical aptitude

[AfterDark]

My Scubapro reg is serviced by a Scubapro dealer per the warranty, so I don't do it myself. Most anything else I'll handle myself. When the cars, washing machine, dryer, water heater, plumbing, lawn mower, snow blower, PC, etc... need service / repair, I'm the man. I doubt anyone would call me a tech diver. I dive, I don't collect certs. I'm a sport diver, with numerous deco dives, wreck penetrations, solo dives / night dives (afterdark) in my logs. I hold only one cert from back when there was only one to be had, other than instructor. So yes I'm mechanically inclined but, no I'm not a tech diver.

 

[Rhone Man]

My mechanical skill level is I am comfortable changing the oil on my car, but wouldn't be comfortable doing anything more technical than that on it.

When I was 19 I worked for a now-defunct dive shop. After a few weeks there, the boss showed me how to break open regulators, service, re-assemble and test. After a couple of days I had it licked. It isn't hard; you just need someone to take you through it and a bit of practice.

Sadly I can no longer service even my own regs, because new regs are manufactured to require custom tools, and they will neither sell you the tool or the parts unless you are a "certified technician".

 

[ScubaSteve]

In many cases, knowing how something works may afford you the opportunity to fix issues as they come up, however a person can still recognize a problem without knowing how each individual part functions. Just because you do not possess the skills to fix a problem, does not make you unqualified for a dive IMO. It is not as if you are going to disassemble your first stage at depth to fix a problem. As divers we train to plan a dive, plan for contingencies, see problems before they occur and to maintain the skills to overcome problems that can be encountered at various points in a dive.

Knowing how to disassemble and re-assemble a reg or scooter does not make a person a safer or better diver IMO. Nor does it qualify them for a dive or not.

Those who have the skills as mentioned, will however suffer fewer aborted dives due to equipment malfunctions and likely enjoy lower maintenance costs. Neither of these is a bad thing.

 

[jtivat]

Sadly I can no longer service even my own regs, because new regs are manufactured to require custom tools, and they will neither sell you the tool or the parts unless you are a "certified technician".

Scuba Tools

They have the tools and they will sell then to anyone.

 

[HenrikBP]

I was thinking the same thing. This is a very good question.

Here's a good starting point from some of our resident experts:

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/4320058-post14.html

Don't know why that thread was un-stickied?

I'm slowly starting reg service myself. Got the books recommended here, a few basic Scuba-specific tools (I have a garage full of "regular" tools), bought some old ScubaPro regs off eBay and have successfully rebuilt an MK5, an MK10 and a G250 second stage.

It took time to get to the point where I was comfortable going for it; lot's of reading (I actually read both books and several service diagrams first), then disassembly of the regs, which turned out to be fairly easy and showed me that there weren't a crazy number of parts. I often take pictures with a digital camera during disassembly of "stuff". Helps me remember where things go as well as the order of how the different bits go together.

I think it's key *not* to work on gear shortly (like the night before ) you need it. Also make sure you have time for a couple of easy shallow dives on your freshly serviced gear before that "Epic" trip. The SP regs were just for fun and not my main regs so I could take my time and not stress about it. I did eventually dive them on my doubles in Nov. last year. Worked great.

Henrik

 

[Cave Diver]

Keep in mind, that while some great information has come up about regs, that is just one example of the type of thing I'm talking about.

Recognizing other basic gear issues, like proper battery maintenance, fixing a stuck/leaking BCD dump valve, etc.

 

[netmage]

Keep in mind, that while some great information has come up about regs, that is just one example of the type of thing I'm talking about.

Recognizing other basic gear issues, like proper battery maintenance, fixing a stuck/leaking BCD dump valve, etc.

I do alright... I sometimes lack the proper motivation completing the rebuild, as witnessed by the 4 DS4's sitting unassembled on the cutting board in my living room for the last two months....

The recent Halcyon OPV spring recall had me open up a dump valve - simple nuff....

I'm a little fuzzy on some electrical items, having multiple chargers, batteries and HID lightheads helps eliminate points of failures, and my soldering isn't pretty - so I tap my resident EE, deepstops when I need Anderson connectors installed...

 

[jtivat]

The OP is talking about tech dives and while no you do not need a mechanical aptitude to do the dive it sure can come in handy. First by the time you get to that level you will have a ton of gear and have seen many failures and be sick of paying to have them fix. Not to mention you will find many issues and fix then before a dive. It is not much of an issue to have an inflator stuck open at 50’ but can kill you at 200’. Next you will have a lot of valves and tanks and sending in 16 tanks for a Vis and O2 cleaning is not cheap.

One 250’ dive in the Great Lakes you cost about $350 in gas and a boat ride. It really sucks to spend that kind of money and not do the dive over something that could be fixed on site.

We were doing a dive a few years back and as I turned to help someone and my double's tipped hitting the deck. The left valve post was bent but did not leak, I thought all was good. When I pressurized the valve it leaked as the stem was bent just enough to let gas pass the washer just inside the bonnet nut. I took my Argon bottle valve apart used the stem from it and fixed the left post. I then used one of my deco bottles to inflate the drysuit and saved the dive. I would not have been happy spending $350 on a boat ride.

 

[redacted]

My Scubapro reg is serviced by a Scubapro dealer per the warranty, so I don't do it myself. Most anything else I'll handle myself. When the cars, washing machine, dryer, water heater, plumbing, lawn mower, snow blower, PC, etc... need service / repair, I'm the man. I doubt anyone would call me a tech diver. I dive, I don't collect certs. I'm a sport diver, with numerous deco dives, wreck penetrations, solo dives / night dives (afterdark) in my logs. I hold only one cert from back when there was only one to be had, other than instructor. So yes I'm mechanically inclined but, no I'm not a tech diver.

Have you estimated what you have spent to service your MkV all these years?

 

[Peter Guy]

CaveDiver -- You wrote

the differences between static and dynamic o-rings

and then answered V's question with the difference in use. However, I'm still curious as to whether there is any difference in the "o-rings" like you said. Do you use different material for o-rings that are used in a dynamic setting as opposed to ones that are used in a static one?