Diving with way too much gear

[scubadude79]

It was actually an AquaLung S.O.S.
It attaches to the back dump valve and uses the air in the BC to inflate.
He accidentally pulled the cord which has now been shortened to prevent this in the future.

Nice thing is that it can be accidentally deployed at depth without having too much of a problem, but it would be in the way. The draw back is that it requires extra air to be added to the BC on the surface if the vest is not almost fully inflated.

I noticed that he had it installed and I discouraged it because 1. There were not any boats in this restricted area of the lake. 2. We were only going to be about 100 yards from the shore. and 3. He was not familiar with the operation of it which is the last thing you need on a training dive.

Thanks everyone!

 

[DandyDon]

I noticed that he had it installed and I discouraged it because 1. There were not any boats in this restricted area of the lake. 2. We were only going to be about 100 yards from the shore. and 3. He was not familiar with the operation of it which is the last thing you need on a training dive.

I carry my sausage and other safety devices on every dive, including practices dives in a spring fed hole with 60 ft diameter as I consider them a dress rehearsal for the real deal. But yeah, I want to be familiar with all devices before diving them.

5 mil gloves have a lot of buoyancy? I bet you can sink a pair with a 2# weight. You can test that in a sink.

I don't know the rating on my neoprene gloves. They're thick, keep my hands warm below 50F, but I bought them at a cowboy supply store.

 

[BGF]

Thanks TSandM,

Probably need to clarify how we fixed the rolling.

His buoyancy issues were greatly improved after he removed his 5 mil gloves from the opposite pocket of his stashed gear and put them on. They seemed to be causing the biggest part of the roll problem because they float quite well.

if a single pair of 5mm gloves caused him to roll that significantly there are much bigger issues going on. As noted a few times above I find it very hard to believe since I too have stuffed a 5lb weight, spools, knife, smb, light, reel, etc into 1 pocket and have no affect on trim or buoyancy! AOW at this point needs to be second guessed!

 

[DandyDon]

Pool buoyancy practice, with lifeguard on duty....?

 

[bleeb]

His other non-essential gear weighed about 6 lbs with the batteries and all so I would say there was about a total of 10 lbs buoyancy difference.

As you're working things out in your head about how to resolve things, just a gentle reminder that we're talking buoyancy, and not weight. The extra gear may have weighed 6 lbs, but making a WAG, they might have displaced a volume equivalent to 2-4 lbs of water which means a positive buoyancy of possibly as little as 2 lbs. As others have pointed out, this much (or little) gear shouldn't have been an issue.

 

[Deefstes]

What accessories do you really NEED on a dive?

A knife (small and sharp and rust proof)
A line (15-30m finger reel sufficient for most divers not doing penetrations)
A DSMB (size/capacity appropriate for the diving environment)
A whistle
A small slate (even better, wet notes) and pencil.
A torch (many excellent small LED torches available now)

Interesting. Of the 6 items that you list here I (and just about every other diver I regularly encounter) have none, except perhaps for the whistle which comes standard with many BC's.

Sure, the DM will have a buoy and a reel which marks the groups position throughout the dive and on night dives divers will have torches (and cylumes etc.) but on the standard dives I don't see any of those items being carried. I think I've seen a slate once.

I guess it all depends on where and how you dive.

 

[Nemrod]

tank
harness for tank
twin hose single stage regulator, Voit 50 Fathom or USD Mistral
flippers
mask
knife, large and sharp
watch/dg/computer/compass as required
spg
swimsuit/exposure gear/weight belt as required

Why complicate things with all that extra fluff?

What is missing, well for starters, no BC, no back plate, no snorkel, no bouy or sausage, no reel, no gloves, no, octopus, no Spare Air, no pony, no redundancy, no transmitters, no extra mask, no extra knife, no tank clacker, no flashlight or can light, no slate, no retractors, no flare gun, no kitchen sink, no training wheels. All of that simply is not needed for most dives.

Sometimes I think diving is an overly complicated sport, maybe I should carry less gear.

N

Minimalism, the future is a return to the past, all the cool kids are doing it

 

[DandyDon]

Interesting. Of the 6 items that you list here I (and just about every other diver I regularly encounter) have none, except perhaps for the whistle which comes standard with many BC's.

Sure, the DM will have a buoy and a reel which marks the groups position throughout the dive and on night dives divers will have torches (and cylumes etc.) but on the standard dives I don't see any of those items being carried. I think I've seen a slate once.

I guess it all depends on where and how you dive.

Lordie, you go to sea without a sausage?! I know some do, but scary. And the whistle that comes with most BCs is a wimp. Get a Storm Whistle and a Dive Alert.

And something that cuts fishing line.

 

[Web Monkey]

Interesting. Of the 6 items that you list here I (and just about every other diver I regularly encounter) have none, except perhaps for the whistle which comes standard with many BC's.

What you carry depends on what you plan on doing when you surface and find no boat, or if you do any drift dives or if there's any chance you'll blown off a wreck or swept away by the current.

For rec dives I carry:

• Dive-alert (surface air horn)
• 9' SMB & spool
• 6' SMB & spool
• EMT shears
• Line cutter
• Emergency Strobe
• Whistle

For deco dives I also carry a spare mask.

However the thought of a self-inflating anything scares the **** out of me.

Also, you have no way of knowing how many people carry what equipment. All the above items except the large SMB are stowed in pockets. You would never know I had them.

Terry

 

[TSandM]

What you need to carry depends in large part on where you dive.

I wouldn't do a dive off a boat without some kind of surface signaling device. I've surfaced well away from the boat before, and been very glad of an SMB to get the crew's attention (drift dives in Indonesia and in Puget Sound). In addition, having a deployed SMB makes a free water ascent much easier for me. But for a shallow shore dive, as in Maui, I don't take one.

If I don't take an SMB, I don't take a spool, unless I anticipate the need to search for something.

I ALWAYS wear a cutting device, because entanglement is potentially lethal, and even in Puget Sound, there are nets.

On local dives, I always take a light, because it's a safety and communications device. In clear, sunlit tropical water, I sometimes don't.

You make decisions about what is needed and what is useful. But I'm with several other posters -- I don't think the maldistribution of gear was the issue here, since I easily dove the other day with two additional TANKS attached to one side of me, and hardly noticed the asymmetry. It sounds as though this diver was marginally stable to begin with, and unable to cope with any stress in the water, which should be a red flag that more training and experience in very benign surroundings is seriously needed.