instructors and gear

[Kane(adian)]

Here is a question for the instructors and other dive pros out there:

Do you run a second set of gear when you are in the pool? I am wondering if you keep your gear away from chlorine at all costs, or if you just use the same stuff.

 

[JustJules]

I'm not a dive pro, but I hang out with far too many of them...

It has been my observation that the instructors I know use the same gear in the pool, in the lake, and in the ocean. I have had an assistant instructor tell me that the most important thing to them is to be familiar with their gear so that they know where everything is without having to stop and think about it so that they can give undivided attention to their students, which certainly makes sense to me.

Julie

 

[SubMariner]

We use the same gear, we just rinse or soak it after using it in the pool. It would just be too costly to have one set of gear for training and one for open water.

What is even MORE important is the fact that as Instructors we have to DEMONSTRATE skills. This means your gear has to be so familiar to you that you don't have to think twice about how to configure or use it.

Now, I admit that we have several sets of dive gear. A couple were bought strictly for our guests to use on our liveaboard in case they hadn't brought their own or had something fail. The others were relegated to "back up" status when we recently upgraded to new regs & BCs.

The older BCs show some fading, but I don't know if that is directly attibutable to chlorine or sun or general age. Other than that they are all in good working condition. (We are firm believers in taking care of the gear, esp annual maintenance.)

~SubMariner~

 

[Kane(adian)]

seems pretty straight forward then.

 

[rstone]

personally.. i have enough gear in my garage to start to a dive shop but as for my nice gear.. no i dont use it for the pool or o/w dives with students and i use a rental reg when im with students.. only when im diving for pleasure with friends do i use my "nice" gear. Mainly because i see no reason to and have the gear to choose to do so.

 

[rcontrera]

Most instructors don't make enough to keep in up to date equipment, let alone an extra pool set.

The pool does eat rubber and discolor BCs. However, we used some stuff on our rental/instructional equipment called Salt-X for a final rinse after use in chlorine and had none of that happen.

I use the same stuff for diving in salt water to eliminate salt buildup and corrosion.

Just my $.02

Ray

 

[The Chairman]

I have seen different instructors go either way. One of my favorite instructors uses rental stuff for the pool where clear instruction is a must. Her students see her use the same crapola that they have on their backs. Then she uses her personal gear for any open water situation. Her contention is that the students get to see some different configurations this way, and realise that they may not be diving with top of the line gear. I agree that students will imitate their teacher and will possibly buy better gear because of it.

I also know of shops that require their instructors to wear whatever the shop sells... so they can sell gear to the students subliminally I guess. They want the students to see the cool stuff they have for sale and also encourage them to imitate their instructor.

:tease:

 

[Kane(adian)]

Netdoc, funny you mention that some shops make their instructors wear what the shop sells. I ran into one of those situations when I took my OW.

 

[lildiver]

rcontrera -
What's salt-x? Being from land-locked Tennessee, I've never heard of it, but sounds like a good thing to rinse gear in after "playing" in the pool. Where does one buy salt-x?

~lildiver

 

[rcontrera]

I have a pretty good supply left from when we used to have a dive shop. However, any dive shop can order it direct from Salt-X. I even think that they sell direct on their crappy website... http://www.salt-x.com/ . I would have sold it on my website, but it takes too much selling to just list on a catalog page.

When you find someone that has it, get the quart "Magic Bottle" which has a one ounce dispenser. What I have at home is a fairly large ice chest, big enough to dunk my dive gear (except tank) and I mix up the solution in there. After a dive, I rinse the dirt, fish slime, pine needles, etc. off my stuff before I do a final dunk in the Salt-X solution. Then I hang it all to drip dry. The lid gets closed on the ice chest and the solution is good for the next dive. It should stay good for LOTS of uses before you need to do another mix. I used to get about 200 dives out of one quart.

I also have some extra strength solution in a spray bottle that I use on my camera equipment on the boat to keep salt crystals from forming. Then we have another Salt-X sprayer for cleaning the boat and trailer.

I guess you can tell I am a big fan. When used right, it completely eliminates salt corrosion and most chemical damage.

OK ... infomercial over!

Ray