Building a Save a Dive kit

[2airishuman]

If you're an individual diver (not a DM who is trying to support other divers with dodgy gear) and your gear is serviced and has been on a dive or two since being serviced (or since new)... then you shouldn't need anything except maybe some o-rings for the valve-to-regulator connection.

If I'm going to a really remote area with no LDS I'll bring an extra wing, an extra stage bottle regulator, an extra mask, and some wrenches.

If I think that there's any chance that a hose will fail, I just replace it. If the battery in my DC is more than a year old, I just replace it. I replace the power inflator on my BC every couple of years, they're cheap. Heel straps (when I dove open heel fins), replace at the first sign of any wear. Foot pockets on full-foot fins, same.

 

[SlugLife]

If you're an individual diver (not a DM who is trying to support other divers with dodgy gear) and your gear is serviced and has been on a dive or two since being serviced (or since new)... then you shouldn't need anything except maybe some o-rings for the valve-to-regulator connection.

If I'm going to a really remote area with no LDS I'll bring an extra wing, an extra stage bottle regulator, an extra mask, and some wrenches.

If I think that there's any chance that a hose will fail, I just replace it. If the battery in my DC is more than a year old, I just replace it. I replace the power inflator on my BC every couple of years, they're cheap. Heel straps (when I dove open heel fins), replace at the first sign of any wear. Foot pockets on full-foot fins, same.

I agree with the general idea of maintaining your equipment, and that prevention is better than cure ... especially when a problem underwater is a big problem.

Out of all my dives, only a tiny percentage had any surface support with tools or other equipment, and there's only been one dive where I "needed" anything from my save-a-dive kit. Otherwise, personally, it's a lot of nice-to-haves, which improve the quality of a dive or let me tweak things. I have however saved dives for other divers semi-frequently. On a few occasions, those divers had spent hundreds of dollars, uses limited vacation time, and driven hours to be there.

Some basic tools, o-rings, zip-ties, and about 3ft of bungee is what I'd recommend at a minimum for most divers. It takes up little space, is inexpensive, and can handle the majority of common issues.