DIR Article - Gear Configuration

[edparris]

A data point for the discussion....

I got lucky early on and was pointed in the right direction (started in a BP/W etc.). I just took a look through my equipment lists and of the ~$13,000 in gear I now own I don't use about $575 of it on a regular basis. The unused items are:
7mm Wetsuit
Snorkel
Force-fins

At about the $2500 mark I had a perfectly acceptable DIR/Hog rig for mild exposures (40min @ 50', 55F ) with about $175 of waste.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

[SparticleBrane]

I was trained in a bp/w; didn't know anything else existed. Unfortunately had to do ~12 dives in a jacket before I bought my Eclipse. Never looked back.

 

[rjack321]

exactly my point, the BP/W trim characteristics would be lost on them anyway

Personally I think getting good trim in a jacket is more difficult. (assuming this is even moderately true for many divers) having more people in BP/W to start with would mean they find it less difficult to have good trim. Less difficult = more fun = more regular divers.

I wonder how much cr#p gear leads to laziness, sloppy habits and a high dropout rate.

There are some good non-plate BCs. But they are lots in a sea of mediocrity.

 

[do it easy]

BP/Ws are fine and well, but it's really not about the gear. Sure it helps (a lot), but I've seen great divers in jackets and split fins. No I don't expect to see them pushing line in a cave, but for the environment they dive in, their gear configuration is suitable. and it won't drown them on the surface

I would rather dive with Ace, with 200 dives in a jacket and split fins then, a cyber diver with an attitude who just bought his BP/W last night. Ace beats a Jack!

 

[Meng_Tze]

.. Less difficult = more fun = more regular divers.

This sums me up in a nutshell. When I started diving, what did I know? Nothing and I just wore anything, bought stuff I really didn't need... I saw it with others and it made sense in my 'then' view. Then I met DIR and went to less cumbersome gear, protocols and basic rules and attitude of safety...... it was less difficult, made more sense and I started really enjoying- even got hooked to the extend that I had my company transplant me to FL- the diving.

The gear is not new, the protocols are not new.... they are just well organized and fine tuned.

 

[rjack321]

BP/Ws are fine and well, but it's really not about the gear. Sure it helps (a lot), but I've seen great divers in jackets and split fins. No I don't expect to see them pushing line in a cave, but for the environment they dive in, their gear configuration is suitable. and it won't drown them on the surface

I would rather dive with Ace, with 200 dives in a jacket and split fins then, a cyber diver with an attitude who just bought his BP/W last night. Ace beats a Jack!

Since when has plate with wing drowned anyone? I have about 300-350 dives in my BP/W, Tech1 and Cave1 in them too. So no I didn't get it last night.

And yes, I do still dive with people using jacket BCs and splits. And I see them with awkward trim and flutter kicking up a storm. For some reason they always seem less than 100% enthusiastic about diving. Its just another thing for them, not much inspiration. I still suspect if good trim and non-silting techniques were more a natural outcome of the gear design if they'd be more motivated.

Its not impossible to trim out well in a jacket, but a big air cell around the waist sure doesn't make it easy.

ps. No need to half hide your pseudo-slams in white.

 

[TSandM]

What's funny here is that the two of you (rjack and DIE) would love diving together. You're both beautiful, careful, attentive and systematic divers.

Going back to what Jeff was saying at the beginning of the thread . . . It isn't that a BP/W is ridiculously superior to all other diving gear. It's that, if you want to do 18,000 feet back in Wakulla, you're going to need one. And why start with something you're going to have to replace if you develop ambitions, when you can start with something that works perfectly well for you in simple recreational dives, but WILL work for you if you go on?

I had no clue when I started diving that I would be working my tail off to get cave certified. Shoot, when I started, I didn't even know people DOVE in caves. But it's pretty cool that the gear I own doesn't have to be edited one whit to go on to cave diving. I just have to add one more backup light, a reel and some line markers. Everything else is familiar and well worn. It would still be comfortable if I never did a dive below 60 feet on a reef, but it will work for me in a cave, too. Seems like a simple and pretty compelling concept. Buy once and use it forever.

 

[JeffG]

BP/Ws are fine and well

Just another bag of gas. Nothing special.

I would rather dive with Ace, with 200 dives in a jacket and split fins then, a cyber diver with an attitude who just bought his BP/W last night.

as would I, but....but...


To backtrack just a bit.

In this thread I wanted to point out that the DIR configuration was never meant to be the "best".

Its not a "best of breed" configuration. Its a best of "entire dive life" configuration.

We could argue that at any given point in a diver's progression that a DIR configuration might not be the number 1 choice.

But at the same token...it will always be close to the top.

 

[jeckyll]

Jeff: I would say it is one of the most flexible configs.

Changing from single to doubles takes hardly any time. Adding a slung bottle, same thing. Going somewhere warm, somewhere cold, maybe change the BP material. 7' hose works in everything from wrecks to caves to 20' reefs. (Not that I've done wrecks or caves, but all the cool kids say it works).

IMO, it's not that there are huge upsides, it's just that there are so few downsides.

Except for the dayuumn can light. It's expensive and fragile (at times).

 

[do it easy]

ps. No need to half hide your pseudo-slams in white.

I put those in frivolously and they certainly weren't directed at you, although, after re-reading the thread, it certainly appears that way. I offer my apologies for my misstep.