Independence?

[huskerdiver23]

I have been diving for a while, and have alot of education and diving avenues that I can't wait to explore, but there are some things that are troubling me.
I know this is how dive shops stay in buissness and I can identify with their cause, but I AM getting tired of every visit to the LDS being a constant sales pitch and I am getting tired being threatened to be denied service if I buy a brand of equipment that is not stocked by them or if I buy off the internet, even though I do agree with supporting the LDS for benifits such as them using profits to buy gas blending equipment and get instructors trained in advanced forms of diving including the tec realm because I hope to pursue some of these things in the future. I am just wondering if it is practical and easy to become somewhat or completly independent. I mean learning to service your own equipment and all of those types of things. What do you all think, I would like your advice because I am not that experienced in the sport in relationship to some people and input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Landlocked dive shops can be the worst. They operate in a realm where reason largely suggests they should not exist and they often use fairly aggressive tactics to stay in business. Sometimes their customer base consists primarily of fairly well heeled divers who only make a couple of tropical dive trips per year and have no great interest in mechanics but do like to keep up with the Joneses in terms of equipment. With this type of consumer base, the sales heavy approach you describe is sometimes rewarded and even though it aggravates everyone else, they may have nowhere else to go as there may be only one dive shop in the area.

I started diving in the early 80's in a one dive shop town and very shortly started learning to maintain and service my own equipment. This process started as an observational process of watching a tech service my regulators (the reason many techs won't let you watch) and progressed from there. It eventually progressed to the point where I was hired to do reg repair.

There are some very good books on reg theory and repair around such as Pete Wolfinger's "Scuba Savvy" and another by Vance Harlow (sorry I can't recall the name). These can offer you a good start but a measure of mechanical knowledge and ability is also required. The advantage of doing your own reg repair is that you only have to learn to work on one first stage model and one or two second stage models so you can become intimately familiar with them. Second stage adjustments require realtively few specialty tools and little or no test equipment is needed if you use a more tedious trial and error approach. However many second stage problems start with first stage problems so you will still either be relying on an LDS for service or you will need to make a modest investment in tools and test equipment to be able to do first stage service work. And once you have the training, tools, equipment, and some experience, having a shop send you to a repair clinic and doing repair work part time for an LDS begins to make sense.

This is also, ironically enough, the easiest way to solve the parts problem as with many companies, unless you are affiliated with a shop, you do not have ready access to parts. Sometimes parts kits can be found on e-bay but quality varies, the prices are inflated and the kits for sale are often outdated leftovers from defunct dive shops and are not up the current standard of parts you would receive through your LDS.

 

[MikeFerrara]

I am getting tired being threatened to be denied service if I buy a brand of equipment that is not stocked by them or if I buy off the internet,

This much isn't a threat. The only way to be authorized by the manufacturer to service a brand is to be a dealer. So, if you have a brand of reg that they don't carry they are unable to buy parts for it, get service manuals or any other support from the manufacturer. It isn't a matter of being willing.

I am just wondering if it is practical and easy to become somewhat or completly independent. I mean learning to service your own equipment and all of those types of things. What do you all think, I would like your advice because I am not that experienced in the sport in relationship to some people and input would be greatly appreciated.

Sericing equipment isn't hard and doesn't require a lot of equipment. For most brands though you'll have to go underground for parts and manuals because nobody connected with the manufacturer is going to supply you.

 

[huskerdiver23]

I am fairly mechanically inclined due to the reason that I live on a farm and I build alot of stock cars and work on tractors and things like that. I have developed a good relationship with the staff at my LDS and they sometimes cut me a deal on little things when the owner wont notice because I am an 18 year old kid. The dive shop is toying with the idea of bringing me on as a tank terd for lack of a better term, basically to fill tanks and clean the facilitys and training pool. I do spend a great deal of time at the dive shop now though hanging out with the equipment tec while he works on equipment and I have learned a little bit. I would like to be brought on staff and then get them to let me go to a few equipment seminars and maybe intern under the current tec to maybe get a little more involved in the sport.