Gear choices/critique and comment please!

[Agility]

I dive a Faber 15l steel tank rated for 232bar (that amounts to 122cft)
What makes it a little akward is the diameter which moves the center of gravity far back.
I still need the volume of air but if I ever use less air i might change to a long 12l steel tank.

Free fills are nice but driving 1 hour through town jusat is not worth it. The cost of air fills is negligible when time is the limiting factor :blinking:

 

[Them]

To the OP -- it is a good question as to whether your gear, if you buy what we are suggesting, will be well accepted in any shop you go to. It may well not be. However, if you can find a shop that offers technical classes or an instructor with technical or cave training, you shouldn't have a problem with this setup, as it is pretty standard for technical and cave diving. As far as buddies go, in my experience, it's rare for a buddy even to NOTICE that your gear is any different from his -- and it's actually quite important that you go over the differences in equipment and procedures before the dive. But most buddies will just shrug and say, "Whatever . . . "

I'm really lucky in that i got the BP/W from what is to me a local shop. The guys in the scubatoys.com retail store helped me pick out various bits and components and rigged the Hogarthian harness, assembled everything, and did a pretty decent dry eyeball fit to me while I waited in the store. They kept going a bit past their closing time without blinking even. So I have one local shop that can obviously help me. As I was paying them one of their instructors was checking out my rig a fairly approving way so it obviously isn't quite as alien to them as to the folks who did my OW. The OW folks (1 instructor, 2 DMs) were accepting but I could tell it was their first time really caring about a rig of this style. One of the DMs especially wanted me to go over it with him in in detail just in case he needed to assist me. Of course that was using their regulators in the usual recreational way. A 7' hose may have pushed them over the top.

Side note while I remember it... We had to do air sharing at the lake obviously. So I signaled out of air, took out my reg to swap and suddenly my buddy realized he had offered the reg to me with the hose around the buoy line we were next to and it wouldn't actually reach my mouth. I suspect the instructor was glad I straightened it out by myself. A long hose would have made that a non-issue.

I haven't figured out the whole cartel system but that shop seems to be in the NAUI branch, vs the PADI branch that I went with for the OW. I assume they have all agreed to a certain level of reciprocity at least as far as gas sales. I don't know if it is common/accepted/reasonable to do OW through a PADI shop, then AOW through a NAUI school, etc., but I am planning to ask.

I had a preview of the buddy issue in briefing my fellow-student buddy on my gear so he could do the BWRAF check before dive 4 of the OW course. In that context I think it was good (learning experience for him) but folks blowing it off doesn't surprise me.

 

[Them]

Are you serious? you are talking about air temp right? Even Hawaii water doesn't get up to 89F in summer. And what is "well short of ice" temperature? 50Fs or 40Fs?

I double anywhere in the world that ocean temperature can change from 89F to "well short of ice" kind of temperature. Unless it is not open water.

Yes serious, no not air temperature (i didn't see official stats on that but my jeep reported 109f and it's usually within a few degrees of the weather reports). This ain't Hawaii. I've been told water temperature reaches lows of around 40f where we dove.

As for open water or not, personally I agree it wasn't really, but then I think the Gulf of Mexico is iffy in that regard. As someone who grew up within spitting distance of the Pacific my standards are skewed.

It was a fresh water "lake" (ex mine of some sort I think) in Texas, 1000 miles from the nearest real ocean.

 

[Them]

Free fills are nice but driving 1 hour through town jusat is not worth it. The cost of air fills is negligible when time is the limiting factor :blinking:

In my case getting to the shop is literally a matter of turning into a driveway I pass a couple times a day getting to/from work. Otherwise yeah, textbook false economy.

 

[Colliam7]

Al80 is 26" long. . . .LP80 is 24" long. . . . HP100 is too. . . . Hey! So is this HP119! Fat at 8" diameter, but short at 24".

OK, gotcha, you were thinking of a 119, which is a very different animal than a 120. Shorter, more compact.

My only additional comment on a 119 (or a 120, for that matter): you may find, if you are diving iwth minimal exposure protection, that you will spend a good bit of effort and energy (and air), at least at first, in 'station-keeping' - maintaining good trim and not rolling over on your back. Yes, the 119 is short, but it is, as you noted, fat and is simply a big mass behind you. That is not necessarily bad, any more than having a HP 130 behind you is bad. Rather, it may take a bit of getting used to if most of your experience to date is with an AL80. After a while, you don;t notice it, and your 'station-keeping' becomes automatic and sub-conscious..

 

[Them]

The more I look, the more I think an HP100 is a much better first choice for steel. It's easy to upsell myself beyond what I need and even the HP100 may be that. As always, there are pluses and minuses to every "upgrade".

 

[Them]

Need a bit of additional advice.

Here's the kit so far:
* SS BP/30lb wing
* HP100 steel tank w/ din/yoke switchable valve
* Oceanic Veo 3 - I decided to hold off on the VT4 (AI widely panned, and $300 for a digital compass is too much)
* Waiting for HOG cold water reg package. 7' primary, necklace, 2" SPG.
* EMT shears (I'm a long-time emt shear fan) and a nice plastic whistle I had lying around from when I made some hiker kits for a few people.

Oh, I have some lead and a weight belt, and the start on my exposure suit collection too, but I think I have that figured, along with the mask/fins. Maybe not ideal choice across the board but ok.

Where I'm still at risk of wasting (more) money:
* Is there enough difference in compasses for me to sweat? When I switched out the compass on my sailboat I briefly became a huge compass snob - don't want to go there again. Nowadays I usually hike with a plastic suunto baseplate compass. I'm thinking wrist mount but honestly don't know how real-world compass navigation is.

* signaling sausage - I like the idea of the ones that double as lift bags, but I don't know if I am being realistic.

* storage? I don't have bcd pockets. Is there a solution that doesn't involve gluing pockets on the outside of everything that may become your outer layer exposure protection?

*Redundancy? My paranoid Luddite side says I should have back-up time (watch), depth (?), etc just in case.

Anything I'm missing? I've looked at various checklists but I appreciate your insight.

Thanks,

 

[TSandM]

Pockets without gluing? X-shorts! I'm not sure if Dive X-tras has them on their website any more or not, but they still make and sell them, I'm pretty sure. If not, XS Scuba has a similar item -- a neoprene short with cargo pockets that you can pull on over your wetsuit. It's what I use with a wetsuit, on the rare occasion I dive one, or with my Fusion that has the Sport skin with no pockets.

As far as compasses go, if you are going to dive in low viz (as I suspect any inland waters where you are would be likely to be) a compass is almost mandatory. I like the Suunto SK-7 compass, because it is the most tilt-tolerant diving compass out there, but the plastic casing isn't all that durable, and they seem to need replacing every couple of years, if you dive a lot. (I dive a LOT -- your mileage may be much better than mine.) You can get a Deep Sea Supply boot for the SK-7 module, so you can wear it on your wrist, which I prefer.

 

[Them]

That pocket shorts idea has real potential. Thanks!

Silly question: I've got a specific opportunity to get a new vt4.1 computer w/ air transponder and usb cable for $750ish all up. That's the normal price for just the computer (no air/usb), about a $350 discount over standard online pricing for the full kit.

I had decided to go for the veo 3.0 as a middle of the road unit. Now I'm second guessing.

So what does the crowd think?

 

[Lemna]

* Is there enough difference in compasses for me to sweat? When I switched out the compass on my sailboat I briefly became a huge compass snob - don't want to go there again. Nowadays I usually hike with a plastic suunto baseplate compass. I'm thinking wrist mount but honestly don't know how real-world compass navigation is.

* signaling sausage - I like the idea of the ones that double as lift bags, but I don't know if I am being realistic.

All my buddies seem to end up with a Suunto SK7 compass. It would have been the perfect dive compass if it didn't have that @$#$#@!!! wrist band - replace it by a bungee or put it in a DSS boot. Compared to hiking UW compass navigation demands less precision, but it is harder to keep a compass horizontal underwater (SK7 has 5 degree markings and allows 30 degrees tilt)

For signaling, I'd rather select a smaller DSMB that's easy to inflate instead of a huge lift bag.

Get a simple, inexpensive computer, spend the money you save on diving.