DIR Fundamentals class questions

[Peter Guy]

ucf asked

Just curious-- why pay $500+ for fundies to learn about a system if you're not going to follow the system?

While this is the DIR Forum, I hope I'm allowed to give an answer to this question since it is sort of a "non-DIR" question. [Mods, if you want to ban this, go ahead!]

Simple answer to UCF -- there is a LOT more to "DIR Diving" than the Hog rig -- at least to this "DIR Diver" the Hog rig is the least important part of "DIR Diving."

Thus even if you don't go to a Hog rig, by taking Fundies you should learn:

a. Unified Team Diving and how it makes diving more fun and safer;
b. Gas Management and how it makes it possible to actually "plan your dive and dive your plan;"
c. Non-silting kicks which may be much more efficient and thus allows you to have a more efficient air consumption rate which may mean more fun (more BT) diving;
d. Effective use of a light which makes diving safer and perhaps more fun;
e. How to balance yourself (you and your rig) in the water which results in better trim which results in better efficiency which results in more fun underwater;
f. How to do the "basic five" while maintaining buoyancy control which results in better control in all one's diving which means more fun; and on and on.

I think the biggest fallacy in "DIR" is that it is the gear that is important as opposed to the physical skills taught and learned and the mental skills and attitudes instilled in successful graduates. The gear is just the icing on the cake.

 

[black1]

I use a 3mm full body in summer and the same 3mm full body with a 3mm tank top with hood in winter. It sounds like a SS plate might be the best choice for my single tank as well as double AL down the road, will ask the instructor. As far as trim in a SS plate it might not be a problem for me, im 6'2 and 210 with broad shoulders, well see.

 

[rjack321]

If you only need 2lbs of lead with that tank+exposure combo along with the transpac, the SS plate will have more mass than you need. You won't be "overweighted" by much, but you will be overweighted and have no way to lighten the rig.

The AL plate is a better choice.

 

[black1]

Thank you Rjack i think that is the best choice for my diving and the tanks i have and will have in the future, and as Peter Guy said it is those fundamentals which i really want to learn most of all, yes the gear is important but only a part of what i will be learning im sure. I think like Rjack said an AL backplate in conjunction with my heavy steel tanks is good and when i use an AL tank or doubles in the future i can compensate with my weight belt that is ditchable in case of an emergency.

 

[TSandM]

There are two issues: total ballast required, and distribution of ballast to allow effortless horizontal trim.

In a 3 mil wetsuit, with an Al80, I use two pounds of ballast in addition to my SS plate. If I used a steel tank that was 6 lbs negative empty, I would be 4 lbs overweighted with the SS plate. So add up your total ballast at present (and you may want to submerge your Transpac and see if it's positive, because you may be carrying lead to sink that) and figure out whether the combination of tank and SS backplate will be more than you need (which it might well be, in a 3 mil suit).

It may be quite possible to construct a well-balanced and useful system with those negative tanks and an Al backplate -- it might give you the freedom to move some ballast up or down your body, where you might need it for optimal trim. If your instructor has an Al backplate you can use for class, that might be the best option, although Fundies is less stressful if you do it in gear that you know.

The bottom line is that you can always add ballast, but you can't always subtract it, so choosing the setup that allows you the flexibility to add is the better choice.