ITT, VIP, O2 Cleaning (Class Report)

[lowviz]

OK, so I needed to get away and clear my head. NO, REALLY! Only one place that can do that for me. Temagami, ON. You don't just take a course there, you live there for the week. Family. Been way too long. What was it? Winter of '17? Ice diving. Missing Steve (@abnfrog) and Roxanne bigtime!

Anyway, I was watching @Marie13 's posts (and thought that she needed to cool her jets a bit) so I invited (more like dared) her to take ITT with me in the unspoiled Canadian boonies. Somewhere between Sudbury (Alex Trebeck's home) and North Bay. She bit hook line and sinker. I have a Canadian dive bud!

Pay the $60 US and update your Garmin GPS. Holy Sheet!! The 'detours' on 11 and 17 are nothing short of legendary!!! (I saw some serious Canada) Two days travel. Treated myself to Holiday Inn Express. You can get breakfast at 6:00 and 8:30. No need for lunch! Same price on either side of the border, about $150 US. A bit steep, but clean, and passable 'continental' breakfast. I don't need much more than that.

My dive bud is staying on the property, but I need to check up on old friends running Northland Paradise about four miles down the road. Booked for the week. Doug will always be Doug. My hero, keeps pushing through life.

So we do ITT. Well for me, sort of. I don't give a sheet about cards, I brought DumpsterDiver's poodle jacket with me and a set of double 50's that I wanted to trim out. Drove Steve crazy getting the two rigs tuned. Steve: "You have to do the required skills or you don't get a card!" Me: The crabs in the back bays don't care about my cards..."

Me, no ITT card. Spent too much time tuning in other stuff. Most happy with the results. Good excuse to come back next year and piss around again. My dive partner got her ITT, worked for it too. No 'gimmies' in this operation. So anyhow, changing gears, I do need some cards and I worked for them! VIP and O2 Cleaning. Serious stuff, 100% on board. Nailed it. Arms still ache from O2 cleaning...

I faced the dreaded alumasteel cylinder and the 'something wong' 80. Jesus!!!

Wrap-up: Freaking beautiful place, even the bass have names. Watching the otters at sundown. Next year for sure, need it already...

 

[happy-diver]

Beautiful

 

[lowviz]

Nice link, thanks.

 

[Griffo]

I have to ask.. why the aching arms from the O2 course? I don't remember any vigorous activity in my TDI O2 service tech course. Lots of hot water, simple green, blue lights, and valve rebuilding. But nothing vigorous

 

[rhwestfall]

@lowviz - nice report. Haven't been up since early spring for my service technician classes. Miss those folks! Miss the peace and tranquility! Wish I had been able to make the trip, and meet up.

Aluma-Steel - yeah, quite the contraption. "Something wrong 80" - oh boy! Not sure you ever recover from his O2 cleaning instruction...

Thinking I need to pay a visit.

 

[rhwestfall]

Detour on 11? Rut-roh! 17 still closed? Wow!

 

[Marie13]

@lowviz - nice report. Haven't been up since early spring for my service technician classes. Miss those folks! Miss the peace and tranquility! Wish I had been able to make the trip, and meet up.

Aluma-Steel - yeah, quite the contraption. "Something wrong 80" - oh boy! Not sure you ever recover from his O2 cleaning instruction...

Thinking I need to pay a visit.

Sorry we weren’t able to meet, as well. The alumisteel is devilish!

 

[lowviz]

I have to ask.. why the aching arms from the O2 course? ...//...

Two different cleaning compounds and a double clean-water wash between everything.

Steve likes to hear the contents slosh vigorously. What worked best for me was to grab the plug with one hand and the tank bottom with the other. Lean forward and do a right-to-left pendulum motion with an abrupt stop at each end of the swing.

 

[Marie13]

Steve is quite thorough. Our VIP class was something like 10 hours total. It was a long day. We did at least 4 tanks. I know people whose class was just a couple hours and barely did 1 tank.

 

[abnfrog]

thx low viz, we like to make all our courses a great learning experience ..plus just a great experience in general, I will never teach a rubber stamp course , as far as I know I one of the few facilities that offer a 100% money back guarantee policy on courses . we like to be that facility that cares you have a great time here ...............steve