Gear Recommendations

[ghostsquad]

I'm looking to get some good used gear in the next couple months.. college student so funds are small. The things I need are BC, I'd like to get either an al80 or high pressure steel (smaller is better), some good fins, weight belt and Reg.

Oh, and the drysuit I have is good, they have built-in boots, (not the ones with a flimsy sleeve and you put a roc boot over). But they are too big, and my feet fall out of them every once in a while. I had an interesting experience in Alki a couple weeks ago @ 30ft, (no deco dive), flipped upside down, couldn't get any air out of my drysuit/bc, shot to the surface.. and well the dive was over, had to be towed back, lost a fin.. guh.. need to know if anyone has any ideas on how to prevent that from happening again.. (thank god I was at a shallow depth!)

Thanks!

 

[TSandM]

For the boot problem, try fin keepers! They're elastic bands that fit around the boots and collapse them down on your feet. I had terrible problems with kicking out of my boots until a friend recommended them. They're inexpensive, and all the dive shops I've been in have them.

The cheapest way to do a weight belt is to buy a length of webbing and a buckle, and some hard weights. After that, try the XS Scuba belt with the weight pockets that can take soft weights.

Watch e-bay for used Jetfins. You can sometimes get them for very little money.

I just bought brand new Zeagle DSV regs for my husband from Scubatoys for the Leisurepro price, which was an amazingly good deal on a good quality regulator.

 

[airsix]

Wes,
Dive shops rotate out their rental gear and this is often a great way to get set up with a full kit that isn't too old, and has been maintained on a schedule. They usually sell the rental gear as a ready-to-go package (BC, Reg, weights). Call the shops and you'll probably get a good deal.

TS&M has good advice on the fin keepers. Also make sure you're not keeping too much air in your suit. Boots popping off is usually a result of too much air in the suit. It should always have a bit of a grip on you (squeeze). Too much air in your suit is usually a sign that you aren't insulated well enough and are using more air in your suit to compensate & keep you warmer. Are you cold and adding air to stay warm? You might need better insulation. Keeping less air in your suit (a slight squeeze) will help you in many ways - less tendency for your legs to float, easier to adjust trim, and easier to maintain control of buoyancy (It's easy to get air into a suit. It's much harder to get it back out). I usually don't start adding air until around 20ft of depth. In other words the way it feels at 15-20ft with no air added is the feeling I try to maintain regardless of depth. If you try that and are cold, it's time to get better undies. Don't worry, you can get good undies on a budget too. Let us know if you need any leads.

-Ben