Exactly what supplies do you dive with?

[Kryssa]

We are newly certified divers starting to look at buying our own gear. I've read a lot of threads and it seems that many divers diver with a lot of stuff- safety sausage and line, knife, whistle, slate, spare mask, light, and more.

I like the idea of a minimalist back-inflate BC but most don't seem to have any pockets. I also read about the huge bp/w following and again, no pockets on those.

So exactly what do you dive with and where do you put it?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

You put the pockets on your suit. Most bc pockets suck anyway. They are poorly designed, hard to access, and don't hold much any way. Use suit pockets on the thighs of your suits and the drings on BPW's are for holding things. What you actually see when it comes to what divers carry the smart ones take time to analyze their dives, what they may need, and take just those items. Your instructor should have discussed this with you as part of the equipment lecture and also the dive planning discussion. If this was not covered you kind of got shorted in your training. I discuss all of this in OW classes. It is also why we use different types of bc's and how to accessorize.

 

[spectrum]

In addition to what Jim said some items can hold themselves. A knife may be strapped to your calf, a slate wraps to your wrist. Lights usually stay out on D rings. Safety sausages come in many flavors and may be clipped off or stowed in a pocket.

A spare mask isn't that common in basic OW buddy diving.

There is sometimes a tightrope in deciding what to bring on a dive. One school of though stresses a consistent configuration. However in some cases an item is absolutely useless or even a liability.

It really isn't that much stuff once you consider the different storage locations.

When you buy accessories make sure you have a plan for where it will be. Some are best suited to mount in specific manner.

Pete

 

[scubafanatic]

Halcyon makes some very nice, roomy BC pockets...I've installed a pair of them on each of my custom BC's.

 

[TSandM]

What I bring with me depends on the dive. If I'm shore diving in the daytime, I have my canister light and one backup, which is clipped to a d-ring and secured to my harness in an inner tube loop. In my dry suit pockets (or X-short pockets, rather, as I have a Fusion) I always carry my wetnotes (for those marital moments underwater ). If I am going somewhere where there is boat traffic, I carry an SMB and spool. If I'm diving off a boat, I add a DiveAlert and mirror. In caves or for deeper dives, especially at night, I add a spare mask, because I need bifocals to read my gauges.

My knife sits in a small sheath at my waist. Spools and markers go in my pockets, and a reel is clipped to my right hip d-ring (where it won't be for very long, as it's used early in the dive).

Pockets on exposure protection just rock. If you dive wet and don't want to go through the process of gluing pockets to your wetsuit, pick up a pair of X-shorts (or the XS Scuba equivalent). You'll be glad you did.

 

[Tanked]

Dive rite makes a pretty sweet thigh pocket.

 

[highlandfarmwv]

I happen to like the pockets on both my Seaquest BCs. I attatched a huge loop of cable tie, and put a clip on each thing I carry in the pockets and clip them to the main cable tie. Cause I have found that if i have anything loose in a pocket, it is gonna come out and be lost. I carry a pocket flashlight, small slate with pencil, safedty sausage, snorkel (a normal snorkel that is limber enough to fold into thirds), scissors, water dye if diving in ocean offshore. I tie whistle to alternate air; put an air alert on it, knife in the grommet, gloves (with small hole in them to attatch to carabiner; otherwise I will forget my gloves till I get on a wreck!) retractor that is inside pocket with only string hanging out for computer. sound like a lot, but you don't see much cause most is inside out of site and out of the way.

 

[kanonfodr]

Dive rite makes a pretty sweet thigh pocket.

I used that pocket for a while and then made the transition to X Shorts. Roomier, easier to doff, don, and wear, holds more stuff.

OP: Well I tend to dive with a consistent configuration: 2 backup lights clipped off and secured on my BP/W harness using inner tube loops, knife of the left waist band, shears on the right waist band. In my X-Shorts I carry a slate, SMB, and spool in the left pocket and a spare mask in the right pocket, with room for treasures found mid dive. Pretty clean, IMO, and provided I practice everything is easily obtained.

I highly recommend the X Shorts as they can be used on multiple different exposure suits with no changing of the contents from suit to suit, which increases the risk of forgetting stuff.

Peace,
Greg

 

[AndrewA]

On a normal dive I use a simple BP wing set up. I carry a small knife hose mounted on my spg hose. a pair of sheers on my waist strap,a small spool clipped to my right hip D-ring a SMB clipped to my left hip D-ring, a small torch clipped to my left shoulder strap D-ring (and with a loop of bungie to hold it streamlined) and a set of wet notes in a small patch pocket on my right thigh (which is where I also carry my spare mask).

 

[Thalassamania]

Here's an old picture of my safety kit:

Everything in my emergency kit is "standard." It goes on every dive with me.

Currently I use the same pouch and it contains: strobe, small flashlight, 2 x red rocket flare, 2 x hand flare, 2 x red smoke, 2 x dye packs, signal mirror, safety sausage, and whistle.

The pouch is about 8 x 4 inches that I hang on the bottom of backpack. I currently have two Skyblazer Diver's Flares

I've wrapped them top and bottom with 3M Self Vulcanizing Tape, an arrangement that I've tested down to 200 feet. I also have two similarly packaged hand held flares and smokes. I also use dye packs. I keep them in doubled up heavy duty ziplocks. Add a compass, two glowsticks, a little flashlight, a strobe, a whistle, a mirror and a thin safety sausage finishes it out.