Cost per Dive?

[Storker]

What are you including in the $12-15K? Even with your own equipment, the costs of the PADI IDC plus DM course and prerequisites for it are maybe 75% less than that (or more). And this is Canada......

I've taken a bunch of classes. Very few of them are vital for my diving. Should I include those in my cost-per-dive calculation, or should I only write off what was vital for me being able to dive (i.e. my OW class?)

For my diving gear, should I depreciate the cost I paid or the difference between what I paid for my (used) gear and what I expect to get back when I sell my gear for more or less what I paid for it? What about my camera gear (which from a prudent POV is depreciated the moment I get it in house)?

Screw it. Diving is one of my hobbies. My wife doesn't depreciate her acquisitions over her shopping time. Who calculates the cost of one downhill trip on a skiing range if they're an ardent downhill skier?

 

[V1P3R]

Tis exactly why I became a PRO. Couldn't afford the expenses so I work Diving so that I can pay for my "HOBBY".

 

[Bubble99]

Instead of adding everything up I try to calculate the other way round and also always look on bargains. For example Ibought a 5mm wetsuit last winter which was a special offer at only 100 Euro and since we spent more time than planned in France this summer, used it for nearly 40 dives. If I would rent one it would cost mostly 5 Euro per dive which would be 200 so I saved 100...and feel good ;-)

 

[ATJ]

I haven't gone through the exercise to work out the total cost per dive here in Sydney but I reckon it is $50-100 per dive and that is considering:

• I drive an EV (mostly charged from solar but still way cheaper than an ICE even when charged from the grid)
• I have my own compressor and all my own tanks

One of my biggest cost is tolls! It costs me $13 each way just to get to my favourite dive site!

 

[TMHeimer]

I've taken a bunch of classes. Very few of them are vital for my diving. Should I include those in my cost-per-dive calculation, or should I only write off what was vital for me being able to dive (i.e. my OW class?)

For my diving gear, should I depreciate the cost I paid or the difference between what I paid for my (used) gear and what I expect to get back when I sell my gear for more or less what I paid for it? What about my camera gear (which from a prudent POV is depreciated the moment I get it in house)?

Screw it. Diving is one of my hobbies. My wife doesn't depreciate her acquisitions over her shopping time. Who calculates the cost of one downhill trip on a skiing range if they're an ardent downhill skier?

I agree. The OP did ask for "the whole picture" if you want-- as long as you explain it all. 2 years ago I lost my dive watch on a dive, then after buying a new one got into my first real car accident in 47 years of diving. For me, those 2 things are independent of what the dives cost that day.

 

[RobPNW]

I was just going to post a thread asking about this, because I was looking at a couple livaboards for later in the year. They do cost more than an analogous hotel dive trip but considering the number of dives, the cost per dive is about the same, or slightly less actually. I think I could make an argument either way because on one hand, staying at a hotel, you get to walk around town at night or do some sight seeing. On the other hand, a livaboard eliminates lugging gear back and forth to the boat, boating to the dive site and back etc. All of that is time overhead. I am considering doing a back to back livaboard so I can do double the dives and have one plane flight round trip. I may actually call and see if they would do a discount for back to back.

 

[Damselfish]

I was just going to post a thread asking about this, because I was looking at a couple livaboards for later in the year. They do cost more than an analogous hotel dive trip but considering the number of dives, the cost per dive is about the same, or slightly less actually. I think I could make an argument either way because on one hand, staying at a hotel, you get to walk around town at night or do some sight seeing. On the other hand, a livaboard eliminates lugging gear back and forth to the boat, boating to the dive site and back etc. All of that is time overhead. I am considering doing a back to back livaboard so I can do double the dives and have one plane flight round trip. I may actually call and see if they would do a discount for back to back.

Our favorite way is to combine a LOB with some time on land and get best of both.

 

[pauldw]

READ the OP’s first paragraph. Most of y’all aren’t addressing his question at all.

 

[CT-Rich]

Week long trip : $3,500
Hydros. $ 250
Shearwater. $. 500
Fills. $. 160
Gasoline. $. 400

Probably works out to be $60 per dive (~100 / dive day). I do mostly shore diving, so the gas adds up. I also own all my own stuff, so if you amortize things like the BCD and regulator over years they are costing just a couple of dollars a dive, bought used and regularly serviced.

If you want to rationalize gear purchase to yourself compared to rental, this works. I would not show your wife the same math.

I buy/service or upgrade one or two things a year and try not to think about it too much. Once you start doing that, you will start cutting corners you shouldn’t.

 

[pauldw]

What does the cost-per-dive comparison look like...

If I’m getting OW certification because I want to poke around the ocean near my house, my 1st monthly local dive might cost $500 for OW training, and $1,500 for a full set of basic gear, and $10 for a fill, and $20 for gasoline and some fast food, costing $2,030 for the dive. That's a lot for a dive.

The 2nd dive is going to require another fill, and more gasoline and fast food, so maybe $30 dollars for that dive, but it really isn’t $30 for the dive. It’s that plus splitting the cost of the training and gear between the two dives. So the actual cost of this dive isn’t $30, it’s that plus half the amount of training and equipment. The cost of the second dive is actually a little over 1K.

The third dive costs the $30, plus 1/3 the cost of the training and the gear, so now it's in the hundreds of dollars for the dive. After several months, the cost of each dive will be changing only a few dollars at a time, edging ever downward but in narrowing amounts, but it’s still going to be more than the cost of gear rental.

If you’re local diving monthly, then after a couple of dozen dives each dive will work out to maybe twice the cost of rental gear. However, since it may be worth it to have gear you know and trust, that is sized and tweaked to your exact needs, and that is ready to go regardless of whether a dive shop is open, it may well be worth it to buy your own gear early on if you can afford it. If you're going to dive a lot.

If one redoes these numbers to count OW training, and then just an annual dive vacation, the splitting up of training per dive and then adding it in to the cost of each dive does not make a lot of difference in dive costs. The bulk of the cost of diving ends up being pretty close to the annual vacation cost divided by dives. And by that measure, renting probably makes a lot more sense than buying gear. The financial calculation is just whether you want to pay for the dive vacation.

If you're going to keep buying gear, and especially if you're going to go into technical diving, then the cost per dive will be horrendous, and you're paying it because you like an expensive hobby, and have more money than brains. Or you just have a lot and lots of money.