Bad scuba advice you've received

[stretchthepenn]

This gem just appeared in the in "Lessons for Life" column in the August 16 Scuba Diving Magazine:

Tec divers rely on their suits for buoyancy control, not their BCDs. The BCD is instead used only for positive buoyancy on the surface.

No, no, nooooooooo! Jeez-a-pete, PADI... Not only is this statement factually wrong, if an inexperienced diver takes the implied advice seriously, then they could end up bent, embolized, or worse.

It makes me think, though... There's lots of bad scuba advice out there, ranging from statements by reputable sources to folklore from experienced divers to suggestions by sketchy instructors to wild ideas from folks who reeeeeally should've known better.

What bad scuba advice have you received? (Please omit watercooler talk found here on SB; let's focus on actual suggestions found in the wild.)

 

[boulderjohn]

BTW, the PADI drysuit course says the opposite.

 

[Wibble]

That's an often mentioned thing.

Actually some people do dive with their drysuit for buoyancy; many others don't. It's generally something that people who do deeper, longer dives might do.

Personally I tend to use the BCD for course buoyancy adjustments and the drysuit for fine adjustments as it's easy to dump a little out of the shoulder.


But agree with your main point; it seems illogical to use the suit for anything other than insulation.


Oh, I had a wing dump fall off once. Obviously that means no BCD, but the drysuit worked fine as a secondary buoyancy source.

 

[boulderjohn]

That's an often mentioned thing.

Actually some people do dive with their drysuit for buoyancy; many others don't

That is true, but tech divers will need both throughout the dive.

If you are a single tank recreational diver and are properly weighted, you can dive with just the air in your drysuit for buoyancy. Tech divers have too much weight for that.

 

[boulderjohn]

I am going to list two examples of truly bad advice that are actually taught by some instructors.

1. If you see an OOA diver going for your primary regulator, cover it with your hand to prevent it while you reach for your alternate to donate. Yep. That's what we want--a hand fight with a panicked diver over one of the two working regulators.
2. When you begin your ascent, dump all the air from the BCD before ascending. That works just fine for a properly weighted diver in a 3mm suit. A diver in a 7mm suit, even if properly weighted, will immediately begin to plummet to the depths below.

 

[boulderjohn]

I encountered a young woman whose OW instructor taught students to use 20% of their body weight for weighting in fresh water and to add more for saltwater. At 100 pounds, she wore 20 pounds of lead with a 3mm suit in a pool. When I said I could not believe they could do the required buoyancy skills (like hovering) with that much weight, she said no one in the class could do them. The instructor told them that they were automatically excused from those requirements because those were advanced skills that could only be done by highly experienced divers.

 

[rhwestfall]

 

[inquis]

To start your ascent to the surface, hit the BCD inflation button.

 

[Dark Wolf]

A buddy of mine did his drysuit cert through PADI, and was told through the class to use suit only for buoyancy. He has not used it in that fashion since he finished the class.

DW

 

[johndiver999]

To start your ascent to the surface, hit the BCD inflation button.

That’s what I generally do. But it is deep, only a little and I maintain control, not good advice for people who need advice for how to do basic scuba diving, for sure.