Building a under water diving platform

[boulderjohn]

PADI instruction?

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[lowwall]

PADI instruction?

Exactly, how are you going to do fin pivots without a platform?

21 years after my OW class and the memory of the fin pivot "skill" still annoys me.

 

[boulderjohn]

Exactly, how are you going to do fin pivots without a platform?

21 years after my OW class and the memory of the fin pivot "skill" still annoys me.

The fin pivot was removed from the OW course a decade or so ago.

 

[Fishdip]

It seems to me that the cheapest, easiest, and best way to practice skills without silting out the bottom would be to practice the skills while neutrally buoyant at least several feet above the bottom.

What skills do you need to practice that require you do be on a surface?

Removing and replacing BCD Is one I have not been able to replicate and stay off the bottom. I also like to practice things such as tieing knots and some times taking a knee is nice to do it. Also it be nice to have a place to set down and watch the fish swim past. Its easier on the neck for me.

 

[lowwall]

Removing and replacing BCD Is one I have not been able to replicate and stay off the bottom.

What are you planning on doing if you need to do it for real and the bottom isn't available?

Your location says Montana, so I'm guessing it's because you are too buoyant without your BCD. If this is the case, you should consider splitting your weight between your BCD and a belt or harness that stays attached to you.

 

[Ben_3]

Get some wood pallets, often discarded at construction sites or hardware stores. You can sink them with ciment blocs.. I’v seen that a few times.

We tried putting a huge tarp on a given section at a quarry. It did not work as good as we thought.

 

[boulderjohn]

Removing and replacing BCD Is one I have not been able to replicate and stay off the bottom.

It would be good to learn this. When I was still teaching OW classes, in the pool sessions, I gave the students the option of doing it on the bottom if they wished or in mid water, as I demonstrated it. About 80% did it mid water. The rest could have done it mid water. Once you start getting the feel of buoyancy, it isn't hard at all.

 

[sea_ledford]

Neutrally buoyant BC removal and replacement is much easier to do if you use the over the head method of removal and replacement rather than jacket style. It is certainly more challenging initially, but once you figure it out, it is way easier.

It is also more useful in a situation where you actually need to remove your gear underwater because your bc is laid out right in front of you to address whatever the issue is.

 

[boulderjohn]

Exactly, how are you going to do fin pivots without a platform?

21 years after my OW class and the memory of the fin pivot "skill" still annoys me.

As an interesting sidenote, the fin pivot, as you probably learned it and I was taught to teach it, was not what agencies had in mind when they created it as a teaching tool. the entire purpose of the exercise was simple--teach students that inhaling increases buoyancy and exhaling decreases buoyancy. That's it.

What then happened is the exercise took on a life of its own, with instructors (including me until I knew better) requiring very precise form. No bending the knees! No touching the floor with the chest or hands! Fin tips only on the floor! A simple exercise that should take no more than a minute or so became the hardest part of the course, taking up the most time of any of the skills. None of that was ever intended. PADI removed the phrase "fin pivot" because of that. Instructors are still supposed to teach the effects of breathing on buoyancy, but there is no specified process for doing so.

 

[lowwall]

As an interesting sidenote, the fin pivot, as you probably learned it and I was taught to teach it, was not what agencies had in mind when they created it as a teaching tool. the entire purpose of the exercise was simple--teach students that inhaling increases buoyancy and exhaling decreases buoyancy. That's it.

What then happened is the exercise took on a life of its own, with instructors (including me until I knew better) requiring very precise form. No bending the knees! No touching the floor with the chest or hands! Fin tips only on the floor! A simple exercise that should take no more than a minute or so became the hardest part of the course, taking up the most time of any of the skills. None of that was ever intended. PADI removed the phrase "fin pivot" because of that. Instructors are still supposed to teach the effects of breathing on buoyancy, but there is no specified process for doing so.

It drove me nuts. With the 16 pounds of weights the instructor gave me lying on the bottom was easy, but when I inhaled all of me went up and when I exhaled all of me went down. The idea of pivoting on the fin tips made no sense to me even as a student. I eventually muddled through it somehow, but some of my classmates required ankle weights.

It was pretty much the only issue I had with the class, but it was big. We spent more time on it than any other skill and it was the only one I couldn't do "properly". I have to say that it left me with a distrust of PADI that has never quite gone away.

Do you know how it became part of the course in the first place? Were early divers all foot heavy and thus the fin pivot was inevitable if you were only using breath control to get off the bottom? I guess it's possible with a doublehose reg which positions the steel tank fairly low, weight belt and rubber fins.