Equipment Insanity - The Seminal Moment

[rx7diver]

This past Saturday I was in my basement assembling my gear for a Sunday day recreational dive trip, when I began surveying my collection of gear. What began this insanity, I wondered, bemused?

I finally concluded that the seminal moment was not my basic cave course taken in 1988 (see http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ca...iving-certification-question.html#post5948083). Rather, it occurred when I met the affable and knowledgeable staff of a LDS soon after I had moved in 1992 to southeast Michigan. I soon purchased a custom dry suit (to dive the Great Lakes), followed shortly thereafter by sealed, higher operating pressure, cold-water regs, larger capacity HP cylinders, doubles gear, deco gear, etc. etc. etc. Yes, indeed, that was the seminal moment!

So, when was *the* moment for you? How far has the insanity taken you? Are you still hard into it? How much further/longer do you expect you'll remain in it?

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[HBDiveGirl]

Bwhahhahaa!
There have been several steps leading to this very happy insanity!

#1, primo, apex, topmost: The beginning of a beautiful friendship when I started diving with Ken (mo2vation). He of the dry-gloves, 130s, HID, and general Hogarthiannessness. He made the gear look good. I got spoiled by the HID, popsicled into dry-gloves, and range-extended into diving an hp130...even from shore. The list is very long. It all started here with my best friend.

#2: Meeting Tobin at Deep Sea Supply and learning what really goes into excellent dive gear. Demand more. Settle for nothing.

#3: Meeting and diving with the MoCal Mob of merciless scooter junkies. The first 3 tastes were completely free....

#4: Ross-O and the freedom of 2-man diving from his small boat in the open ocean of SoCal. Every piece of gear has to work every time. Bad gear got sluiced away and replaced. I get to see things far off the beaten path of commercial dive boats and that's intensely motivating.

#4: GUE Fundies/RecTriOx with instructor Michael Kane who insisted we demand reasons and explanations for all gear suggestions that didn't make sense. I learned to listen critically, try things with an open mind, and always keep the end in mind. Walk away diving. Always come home.

I am so very NOT done.

As my diving changes, so will the gear.

If I want to hear the diving gods laugh, all I have to do is say, "Well, I think I have everything thing I could possibly need for diving."


I love this question!
Thanks for asking it.

~~~~~
Claudette


Go Kings! Stanley Cup Champions 2012!!!!

 

[Paladin]

Gear-itis is a terminal affliction for SCUBA divers. It is only cured by the death of the diver. I have tanks, wetsuits, regulators, etc. up to my eyeballs, yet I just purchased a NIB Conshelf 21 to add to my collection. I frequently sell some of my stuff but, like lopping off the heads of the Hydra, for every item I get rid of, two or three more somehow replace it.

 

[Scuba_Noob]

I decided to buy all my own gear when I did all the calculations and found that renting would cost way more in the long run than owning. And once in a while, I see something shiny that I really want.

 

[j2s]

It's an evil plot by the manufactures and all their minions [better known as 'Buddies' and LDS's]....And you thought drug dealers and the tobacco industry were bad, HA ;O !!!!!.......I fell from grace and have been hooked and a hopeless addict since childhood ;P !!!!.....Mo' gear, Mo' gear, Mo' gear ;D !!!!!......Worse than Tupperware and power tools !!!!!!......

 

[rx7diver]

I am so very NOT done. ... If I want to hear the diving gods laugh, all I have to do is say, "Well, I think I have everything thing I could possibly need for diving."

Gear-itis is a terminal affliction for SCUBA divers.

I fell from grace and have been hooked and a hopeless addict since childhood ;P !!!!.....Mo' gear, Mo' gear, Mo' gear ;D !!!!!

I was so sure I had turned the corner on my insanity. I ceased making the 16 hour drives to my favorite Michigan Underwater Preserves and to Isle Royale National Seashore about three years after I had moved to my new home far away from the Great Lakes region. Then about two years ago I finally broke apart my double HP 120's—for good, I thought. And then I traded a good-as-new Al 80 for a Steel 72 (original hydro 1970), and have been happily diving my venerable, simple rec gear ever since.

But, the reality is, I've not yet been able to entertain seriously thoughts of selling my HP 120's, Poseidon regs, deco cylinders, argon bottles, etc. And when I was reading a recent thread about the helium shortage, including a post in that thread about rebreathers, my pulse increased, and my palms became sweaty, and my breathing quickened and became shallow, and I began hallucinating about my long-ago-tabled plans for that 300 fsw tri-mix dive which, of course, would require ... more gear purchases!

Please ... somebody help me!

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[Paladin]

It's an evil plot by the manufactures and all their minions [better known as 'Buddies' and LDS's]....And you thought drug dealers and the tobacco industry were bad, HA ;O !!!!!.......I fell from grace and have been hooked and a hopeless addict since childhood ;P !!!!.....Mo' gear, Mo' gear, Mo' gear ;D !!!!!......Worse than Tupperware and power tools !!!!!!......

Don't forget EBay! All that cheap gear to tempt us with!

 

[TSandM]

I know exactly when the madness started.

It was my 20th dive, precisely. It was a "big buddy" dive set up by NW Grateful Diver. He was my buddy. He had this light . . . this awesome, amazing light that let me know where he was every minute, and that he could use to signal me with. I had can light lust from that moment on. I found out the cheapest can light I could find was $700. My husband went ballistic. I bought it anyway. It wasn't good enough. The next one was fondly known in our house as the f*&)ing $1400 FLASHLIGHT.

It went on from there, to the day when Peter was getting ready to do a tech dive off our boat, and we realized that EACH diver going into the water, was wearing/using more money in gear than the boat cost.

 

[keyshunter]

It went on from there, to the day when Peter was getting ready to do a tech dive off our boat, and we realized that EACH diver going into the water, was wearing/using more money in gear than the boat cost.

LOL It must be a very small boat. After many, many years of owning/operating boats, I have learned that nothing can suck money like a boat. I remember hoping, when I put my boat on the yard for it's annual hull cleaning and bottom painting, that I would not find anything to repair. That way I MIGHT be able to get back in the water for not much more than $1000. If I did find something wrong, it was thousands. And I did almost all of the work myself!

 

[TSandM]

Oh, yes, we are familiar with the concept of "boat unit". For the first two years we owned the boat, it seemed that every time we used it, it cost us $1000.