Equipment for Wreck Diving

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vinsanity

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Location
Portland, Oregon
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This last weekend I dove to my first wreck in HI, and I'm hooked. On my next vacation, I'm seriously considering taking the PADI wreck diving specialty so that I have the training necessary to penetrate my next wreck.

Is there any special equipment advised for wreck diving (100 ft and shallower)? Especially since I primarily dive while travelling, if I'm unlikely to want to invest in tech-style equip like a 2 tank isolatable rig with a long hose octo or something. I'll save myself the cost of the wreck class and admire the boat from outside.

Thanks
 
This last weekend I dove to my first wreck in HI, and I'm hooked. On my next vacation, I'm seriously considering taking the PADI wreck diving specialty so that I have the training necessary to penetrate my next wreck.

Is there any special equipment advised for wreck diving (100 ft and shallower)? Especially since I primarily dive while travelling, if I'm unlikely to want to invest in tech-style equip like a 2 tank isolatable rig with a long hose octo or something. I'll save myself the cost of the wreck class and admire the boat from outside.

Thanks
This is somewhat of a contradiction If your hooked on wreck diving then going down the tech route is inevitable if you want to do penetration dives then your going to have to get more gear- whatever you buy re dive gear makes sure its going to meet your needs in a years time e.g. if you buy a reel get a damn good one.
standard rec gear will not be enough- if you are going to penetrate then you need training and redundant gas/set up- you will need to change a lot of things including your mental approach to diving -situational awareness, trim and buoyancy a larger repertoire of finning techniques, a thorough understanding or gas planning etc. wreck penetration is not an addition to reef diving its a whole new beast
swimming through a wreck with more holes than a swiss cheese is not the same as diving in a complex no light silty corridor on a large wreck
 
Wreck diving today is often more of a curated tour than what it used to be. The "wrecks" are often sterilized sips put down intentionally, and if that's what you have access to, you can take tours dockside and save a bundle on equipment. If you have access to real wrecks, vessels that sank and you can view as you want, then your choice of equipment and expenses is YOUR OWN. Regardless of what PADI recommends. As a minimum you'd want a wreck reel and two good dive lights, at least one primary and one backup. (Which is mainly a tradition from tungsten bulbs, now that lights use LEDs that just don't burn out...that's not necessarily the same.)
 
BRed, can you say more about what "dockside tour" means? I will likely always hire a local company rather than going it on my own, if for no other reason than my wife is not a diver so when travelling, I will not have a diver buddy unless I join a dive company. In general though, I'd much prefer to go down with a local for my own comfort anyways.

I'm cool with buying items that I might classify as "necessary dive accessories." I'm more concerned about what lermontov was referring to like redundant gas systems.

I do understand that wreck diving is a slippery slope to tech diving though, if for no reason than it creates motivation for going deeper and for longer. For now, I'm enrolling in AOW and only ~20 dives, so there is LOTS of time between me and tech diving. My hope is that there is some interesting lesser wreck dives that can be accessible to someone with 25-50 dives if they invest in the right education and some small items.
 
The PADI wreck specialty class is pretty basic and you don't need any special gear. Whatever BC, regulator, etc you have is fine, and when you're on a guided vacation dive, chances are you won't be the first group of divers to penetrate a wreck. When I took the PADI wreck class, I had a jacket style BC, borrowed a reel, took my existing light and did fine.

If you're going to do more wreck dives on vacation, presumably warmer water, good gloves and a hood to protect your head from bumps are essential. Followed by a decent light, which doesn't have to be expensive, and then some functional cutting device (which you should have anyway). Lightweight surfer hoods work fine in warm water, Hammerhead dyneema spearfishing gloves are great, and any decent LED light with rechargeable 18650 batteries are always good to have no matter what kind of diving you're doing

Taking an advanced wreck class, like the TDI one, is quite a bit more involved and gear intensive. But it's a good idea to get a lot more wreck diving experience first

Which wreck in Hawaii turned you on to the wonderful world of wreck diving?
 
A recreational wreck diving course doesn't really prepare you to "penetrate" wrecks as most of us think of it. My understanding is that although it is an option to do a "limited penetration" during the course, the bulk of the course is about the exterior of wrecks and the hazards that wrecks present. See WRECK DIVER. A PADI instructor can correct my misconceptions here, but from what I have read, it sounds to me like a typical outcome of the course is to better prepare divers to do what most of us think of as swim-throughs. If it's more than a swim-through, then it's really a tech dive. An Advanced Wreck course can help bridge the gap, though.
 
A recreational wreck diving course doesn't really prepare you to "penetrate" wrecks as most of us think of it...
Depends on the instructor and the location of the wreck(s) for the course. Reel work is definitely practiced. Penetrations are usually guided. The PADI standard is penetration distance plus depth not to exceed 130 ft. Which doesn't give much room for penetration on a 100 ft deep wreck. We did multiple penetrations around 100 ft when I did the PADI wreck class and stayed within standards, but the penetrations were follow-the-leader with the instructor in front (on the Yukon in San Diego). Of course it helped that I was a recreational student and everyone else was an instructor getting their wreck instructor certification

Lots more for advanced wreck, including doubles, navigation, technique, blackout mask work, and a whole lot more fun! But certainly not advised until someone has a lot more dive experience and experience on wrecks
 
"what "dockside tour" means?"
Sure. I can go to NYC and take a wreck dive on an aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid. Tied up at the dockside, some other vessels tied alongside. Or to Fall River (MA) where the USS Massachusetts is. And you can actually open and close a 12" thick armored bulkhead door, because it hasn't been welded into position by some nanny-staters. yet. Lots of ships, big ships, available to tour, either with a tourguide or alone.
Poking around in a real wreck used to be fun, you never knew what you might find, and you could always keep it. (Want a bottle of prohibition era rum? I've got one.) These days, in the curated wrecks? Yeah, I know, take only pictures, let the ocean reclaim the rest. Unless the State takes it first. Eh, not so much the same.
 
@geoff w , did you run a reel on your penetrations? Does the course teach that running a reel is required for "penetrations"? I have long wondered what, as a practical matter, one would do differently after taking a recreational wreck course when diving a wreck as part of a typical rec-diving vacation trip, where a DM is leading your group. For instance, it's not like you're going to run a reel through what the rest of the group considers to be a (advanced though it may be) swim-through. Also, in those kinds of dives, you're going to be with other divers who don't have wreck training, and they could very well silt up the place or otherwise throw a wrench into all of your good wreck diving habits. I can see the Yukon being a little different, as San Diego diving isn't typically DM-led. But for those of us who dive a wreck as part of a non-tech DM-led group, I don't really see what practical benefit something like PADI Wreck would give, beyond just generally helping the diver be better prepared, more knowledgeable, etc.
 
So, I will admit that I have taken no wreck training above a single dive as part of PADI's AOW. There are many wrecks/actually, artificial reefs, that allow long swim throughs without violating the cavern definition. This would include many popular locations such as the Spiegel Grove, the Duane, the Vandenberg... and the Yukon. I have dived several times from the bow to the stern of the Yukon without losing sight of a direct exit (Burma Road).
 

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