Going Deeper than 130'

[Kingpatzer]

Thanks Blackwood-- good things to consider!

I dive wet right now with no real problems. It's cold but not stressful for me. I suspect one day I may need to go dry, but not before I have to and I still have to get some time deeper than

I'm a newb at tech diving compared to most of the people giving your responses here. But I'd strongly advise diving dry. It's simply a better option. Tech diving is gear intensive. Thermal protection is part of that gear. Your needs are going to be different than when doing an NDL dive.

Deco divers are significantly longer than NDL dives. They also include a good deal of time hanging out doing nothing. Both of which make them significantly different in terms of taking care of your core temperature.

 

[liuk3]

+1 here on advising you get into a drysuit as soon as possible. You will eventually need to go to a drysuit if you want to pursue technical diving. IMHO, the transition to the drysuit is the toughest transition to make in terms of gear changes. While you are getting comfortable in your drysuit and learning to dive it on your recreational dives, you'll have plenty of time for more due diligence regarding a pathway to technical diving endeavors. If you decide not to pursue technical dive training, the drysuit will just make you much more comfortable diving in colder water temperatures you have locally and allow you to more comfortabley do repetitive dives.

In terms of your due diligence regarding technical diving, I would try to talk to as many local technical dive instructors and experienced technical divers as you can in your area. That will give you the best ideas regarding what is necessary to do the type of diving you would like to do since oftentimes regional locations may also have particular requirements different from other locations. Also, it will give you an idea what type of communities you have locally and what kind of people you might be able to find to mentor and dive with you.

 

[muddiver]

Ideco will give you 6 minutes at 160ft before anything longer than a three minute stop. It says 1 min at 40 ft, then 30 ft, then 1 final minute at 20 ft. At about 4 or 5 cuft of air at that depth you should be fine for gas. Then again it would be less than a ten minute dive which IMO would not be long enough.
So that said, you best bet is to do what has already been said... Advanced nitrox deco procedures.
And get a drysuit. You'll learn that being cold can bend you and being dehydrated might too.
Have fun and please don't do a six minute dive to 160 because you can, rather take the class and enjoy what the deep has to offer. I've only started my training and have been hooked from the getgo.

Ok, I'll bite. How did you come up with 6 minutes? I'm just courious because everyone but me has said that it is a mixed gas, technical, decompression dive.

 

[Blackwood]

Ok, I'll bite. How did you come up with 6 minutes? I'm just courious because everyone but me has said that it is a mixed gas, technical, decompression dive.

He said he's using ideco which I have right in front of me.

Not sure what settings he used. Mine is set to GF 20/85 (Buhlmann), and putting in 6 minutes at 160 on air or EAN28 (1.6 bottom PO2) gives a 5 minute obligation (1 minute each at 50-10) on top of a 30fpm ascent.

I have to do the whole thing on EAN65 before I get no stops, and that's still for a 30FPM ascent.

 

[Garth]

Ok, I'll bite. How did you come up with 6 minutes? I'm just courious because everyone but me has said that it is a mixed gas, technical, decompression dive.

haha. first off it was a joke. second by entering it into the software at 160ft for six minutes on air... computer spits out 3 total minutes of stop time.

point being that even though software may tell you that you can do it, it isn't the best option and that training is the best advice which was also stated before i got around to picking fun.



Although i wouldn't have a problem diving to 160ft on air, some may. I would most definitely deco on a rich mix.

 

[RiverRat]

I have some questions about going deeper than 130'. I really have no desire to get into advanced tech diving for it's own sake, but I do want to get to around 160' or so. I live in Michigan and there are some things in Lake Huron that I want to see one day.

Well I just finished up my TDI Trimix dives Sunday at Lake George, NY. So I'll give you a rundown of my last 2 years working through the TDI track in the Northeast.

First off you really want a drysuit for cold water and almost have to have one if you start doing deco dives. LONG hangs in cold water you really want one. I got into a drysuit and a steel 100 tank early on (bought 2 one left hand valve, one right to save $ when I doubled them up later on) before I even considered tech diving so I didn't have to worry about that. If you are even considering tech I would find someone to help you get into a set of doubles. You can take a deco course with a large single and a stage bottle but I would go for doubles right away. I got into deco diving because I wanted some more bottom time for photography then I discovered all the other facets tech diving has to offer like wrecks etc. You can get into doubles and still benefit from the redundancy on 100-130 ft. dives while you get used to them. One must be careful early on though so that you DON'T start getting into DECO dives BEFORE you get the training! You don't want to get in trouble. If you are even considering going to 160 feet you need two things, well 3 ideally, DECO, ADVANCED NITROX (for deco gasses) and DOUBLES. Don't cut corners or push things too far or you'll get into trouble.

As an example:
I just finished my Trimix dives at Lake George. Considering these were wall dives (not much else there, a wreck or two) we did multi-level dives to 150-160 ffw along the walls. Not sure what Lake Huron is like but I bet it's similar in some respects. It was a cloudy day when we dove. At about 100 feet we started to lose light bigtime. On the bottom at 150-160 it was PITCH black and 38 degrees. Real chance of freeflows so manifolded doubles was a real comfort. Having extra gas as we were diving rule of THIRDS was required for the course and welcomed. Again doubles for this. These were COLD dives. That increases your chances to get a bends hit so drysuits and O2 for deco. Here's what I would do if you REALLY want to dive Lake Huron.

1. Drysuit, get one and get 20-30 dives in on it. Start on easy dives.
2. Doubles. You can buy a single steel first. Then get another if you want and double them up later on. Are you diving a backplate rig now? If not, you got a WHOLE LOT of gear to gather and learn how to dive. I dove a single tank/wing for a long time (years) before I even got into tech so the transition was not that bad.
3. Training. You can look now and find an Instructor that can mentor you along or find a local buddy doing some Lake dives in doubles to help get you going. If you go TDI you can take Intro to Tech as well to get you into doubles. You then need Deco Procedures and Advanced Nitrox so you can start doing some easy deco dives with some deco gasses. When I started we were just extending our Northeast wreck dives. I would do like 120 feet for 20 min. with like 10 minutes deco. Then as time went along we started to bump up the bottom time and doing like 25-30 min. dives and same for deco.

First thing you have to ask yourself, do I really want to get into this? If YES then you have to go all the way. There is no shortcut. 160 feet is tech. You need training and gear. Do you need to go all the way for the really big/deep dives? No. But you still need the basic kit and training.

 

[tmassey]

Just a post to say thank you to all of the feedback in this thread. I'm trying to slowly work my way toward technical diving in the Detroit area (I live in Rochester). I've found a severe lack of interest in tech diving here--it's hard enough to find dive shops with interest in *any* local diving, let alone tech diving.

In an effort to gain experience before I officially go down the tech path, I'm trying to acquire a drysuit (I have the cert and can rent them for $50 from a local shop) and I've gotten a pair of steel 72's with a manifold with a single yoke to start playing with. I've already been diving with a BP/W for a little over a year now and like it a *lot*.

Any suggestions for things divers like me can be doing now before taking the journey (literally and figuratively) to take Fundies or other Tech courses? Things that can be done locally?

Thank you all again for the feedback! Too bad we're approaching November in Michigan: diving gets pretty tough for the next six months...

 

[TSandM]

Again, I'd recommend talking to James Mott. You can take UTD Intro to Tech locally, and it will give you a very good skills foundation. My guess is that James knows a few people who tech dive, too . . .

 

[shoredivr]

In an effort to gain experience before I officially go down the tech path, I'm trying to acquire a drysuit (I have the cert and can rent them for $50 from a local shop) and I've gotten a pair of steel 72's with a manifold with a single yoke to start playing with.

The single yoke will change to an isolator manifold, two DIN valves, two reg sets if you're on the tech path so put more $ away

 

[Andy Mason]

Hey Buck,

You're question isn't lame at all and you're a DM working with the Scouts so you know what you're doing.

At a minimum I'd do some training in decompression procedures. Learning to use EAN to accelerate your deco and use a light trimix aren't a bad idea either.

The course should teach you about what gear you'll need and how to use it.

I have been through this learning over the past few years so I'm just sharing my personal experience rather than offering an expert opinion.

I have a couple of mates who taught themselves to deco dive - but hey, why would you bother when you have good training available?

It's great you've got such great deeper dives to set as a goal - enjoy!

Andy