How important is a depth gauge as part of a reg set?

[Bob DBF]

...fanatics that agonize over every ounce of weight...

The only reason I'm a fanatic about weight is because I have to shlepp it out and back from the ocean on a deer trail and down a cliff.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

The only reason I'm a fanatic about weight is because I have to shlepp it out and back from the ocean on a deer trail and down a cliff.

I tried out a new suit recently at Stillwater and left a few 2 lb weights buried right next to a driftwood log in the sand. I didn’t need them but they were easy to find and retrieve. It also gave me a good idea, to maybe leave a weightbelt stashed so I don’t have to hike it up the hill.

 

[Bob DBF]

I tried out a new suit recently at Stillwater and left a few 2 lb weights buried right next to a driftwood log in the sand. I didn’t need them but they were easy to find and retrieve. It also gave me a good idea, to maybe leave a weightbelt stashed so I don’t have to hike it up the hill.

Without a bunch of Ab divers swarming all over the coast a stashed weight belt is not likely to be found. Zip tie a dog tag with your number and "it's here for a reason" on it, and I'd bet nobody would bother it, even if they found it.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Without a bunch of Ab divers swarming all over the coast a stashed weight belt is not likely to be found. Zip tie a dog tag with your number and "it's here for a reason" on it, and I'd bet nobody would bother it, even if they found it.

Stillwater, Fort Ross, or Gerstle wouldn’t be bad because you can get your vehicle pretty close and it’s not a bad haul. I was thinking more like South Fisk Mill, where nobody probably goes anymore because of no ab diving, except maybe people fishing off the rocks.
Maybe leave just the hard weights stashed and use a pouch belt.

 

[Bob DBF]

Maybe leave just the hard weights stashed and use a pouch belt.

That would work. I use a pouch belt all the time for scuba, 'cause I need to adjust for different tanks, trim weights are basically the same and cut down on belt weight. After I tried one I never switched back. I use a rubber belt for free diving since I don't change weights for that.

 

[halocline]

I may have mentioned "salvaging" a dive, whether for work or pleasure, in the event of a computer failure; but I did not mean to suggest that I was ever fully dependent upon a computer or even a simple depth gauge.

I would be happy to continue a dive with a computer failure and no analog depth gauge back up in the following conditions:

1. I have a buddy from whom I can get depth info. It doesn't have to be exact.
2. The dive profile is familiar to me and well away from deco requirements.
3. I don't have any significant pre-dive N2 loading.

What happens after the dive in terms of repetitive diving that day is a different story. But it's possible a dive could be planned and executed that is not close to NDL safely, as long as you have some way of determining approximate depth and time.

 

[halocline]

I get a chuckle out of the trim and weight placement fanatics that agonize over every ounce of weight and where it’s placed.

Then you'd get a chuckle out of me. I'm like the princess and the pea with weight, at least with side mount. With doubles I'm overweighted period (I dive in warm water) and in single tanks I don't care too much, but I definitely try to use as little as I can.

 

[boulderjohn]

I would be happy to continue a dive with a computer failure and no analog depth gauge back up in the following conditions:

On a dive trip to the Philippines, I did a number of dives on the "house reef," a shallow mucky area with loads of little strange creatures. Maximum depth was maybe 30-35 feet, and we pretty much dived until we felt we had been in long enough. It occured to me that if you are diving like that, you really don't need much of anything at all in the way of instrumentation.

 

[Kaveman]

On a dive trip to the Philippines, I did a number of dives on the "house reef," a shallow mucky area with loads of little strange creatures. Maximum depth was maybe 30-35 feet, and we pretty much dived until we felt we had been in long enough. It occured to me that if you are diving like that, you really don't need much of anything at all in the way of instrumentation.

That's true, it's one long safety stop that lasts for 100 minutes. I usually only check my air and that's pretty much it.

 

[boulderjohn]

That's true, it's one long safety stop that lasts for 100 minutes. I usually only check my air and that's pretty much it.

If you can't handle that kind of excitement for 100 minutes, you don't have to check your air.