Minimalist Setup for Small River Diving (~15ft or less)?

[SlugLife]

You might find this thread interesting:
Scubapro MK 15 History

SeaRat

Thanks! I'm reading through that thread now.

SlugMug,

Reading your posts I have a feeling that your personality is going to lead you on a trip to Bonaire sooner or later. (Shore diving from a pickup truck on your own terms.) I suggest you just bite the bullet now and get an 18 or 20# wing and you'll have it for a travel wing.

boat

You're fairly close. The only thing throwing off your theory is I'm getting into sidemount. My sidemount rig is relatively compact and lightweight, and good for travel.

I am watching the used-market on small wings though; I'm not in a rush, but I'm sure I'll snag a small donut wing in the next couple months.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

SlugMug,

I’m still using a Scubapro Mk 5/AIR I/Pilot combo. I’ve had the Mk 5/AIR I since the 1980s, and the Pilot about five years now. (I had to learn a lot about the Pilot to service it and get it back into diving shape.)

SeaRat

 

[SlugLife]

I just saw this today, a scuba-diver who almost drowned in a river at 10ft. I won't spoil the video in this post, as it's a fun video to watch, but the guy made a bunch of somewhat obvious and large mistakes along the way. I'd say the guy was more a danger to himself, than the river was a danger to him.

SlugMug,

I’m still using a Scubapro Mk 5/AIR I/Pilot combo. I’ve had the Mk 5/AIR I since the 1980s, and the Pilot about five years now. (I had to learn a lot about the Pilot to service it and get it back into diving shape.)

SeaRat

I found someone who is willing to trade me a serviced MK10 for the MK15, and seeing as I already have a few MK10s and know how to service them, it works out quite well for me. The MK10 is almost identical to the MK5 from a servicing perspective. I love the MK10, it's got swivel turrets, plenty of ports, breathes great. The only annoyance is the 1/2in ports, but that just requires having spare plugs on hand.

 

[boat sju]

Am I the only one who found the guy wearing the black KISS shirt annoying?

 

[SlugLife]

Am I the only one who found the guy wearing the black KISS shirt annoying?

The personality contrast between the two can make the content more engaging sometimes. Though if I had to pick one of the two to watch or hang out with, it would be Woody (the older & thinner guy) over Gus by a long shot. Though to be fair, I believe Gus manages the majority of the "technical" aspects of their show, and the show probably wouldn't exist without him.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I just saw this today, a scuba-diver who almost drowned in a river at 10ft. I won't spoil the video in this post, as it's a fun video to watch, but the guy made a bunch of somewhat obvious and large mistakes along the way. I'd say the guy was more a danger to himself, than the river was a danger to him.


I found someone who is willing to trade me a serviced MK10 for the MK15, and seeing as I already have a few MK10s and know how to service them, it works out quite well for me. The MK10 is almost identical to the MK5 from a servicing perspective. I love the MK10, it's got swivel turrets, plenty of ports, breathes great. The only annoyance is the 1/2in ports, but that just requires having spare plugs on hand.

Okay, I finally watched this video, and was very surprised at what he was doing while diving for gold. He was way, way overweighted at 45 pounds of weight. I dive regularly in similar currents, and am neutrally buoyant all the time (except when I pulled 8 pounds of lead out of one hole). I have never seen gold in these cracks either any of the Oregon rivers I dive. I think those may have been planted.

The second thing is that I don’t think he was even wearing fins! In the snorkeling videos he made, he was wearing shoes. So getting up with only shoes on would definitely be a problem, especially overweighted like he was. Finally, I doubt he was certified to dive, as the retrieval of a regulator is pretty easy. He said nothing about his certification level, so I’m pretty much assuming he was not yet certified.

Now, about panic; don’t. Their are alway options. Here, he was probably 10 feet away from the shore…maybe 20 feet. He could have walked that on a single breath.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Am I the only one who found the guy wearing the black KISS shirt annoying?

No, I found the other guy, who wanted to go out West and dive for gold, annoying; he would pay more for the digital scale than he would probably make in gold.

SeaRat

 

[SlugLife]

Okay, I finally watched this video, and was very surprised at what he was doing while diving for gold. He was way, way overweighted at 45 pounds of weight. I dive regularly in similar currents, and am neutrally buoyant all the time (except when I pulled 8 pounds of lead out of one hole). I have never seen gold in these cracks either any of the Oregon rivers I dive. I think those may have been planted.

The second thing is that I don’t think he was even wearing fins! In the snorkeling videos he made, he was wearing shoes. So getting up with only shoes on would definitely be a problem, especially overweighted like he was. Finally, I doubt he was certified to dive, as the retrieval of a regulator is pretty easy. He said nothing about his certification level, so I’m pretty much assuming he was not yet certified.

Now, about panic; don’t. Their are always options. Here, he was probably 10 feet away from the shore…maybe 20 feet. He could have walked that on a single breath.

SeaRat

No, I found the other guy, who wanted to go out West and dive for gold, annoying; he would pay more for the digital scale than he would probably make in gold.

SeaRat

I just skimmed the video again & the equipment appeared to be rental (7m25s mark) & there is a pair of fins though I too have suspicions he wasn't wearing them & just walking on the bottom with those 45-lbs. In my area, they always ask for a cert-card before giving you fills or renting equipment, but his shop may not have done that.

We had a similar take on that video. He ignored multiple best-practices, MASSIVELY over-weighted, his "x-number of dives" might as well have been 1 dive, completely unnecessary panic, didn't seem to take diving concepts seriously, no redundancy for solo-diving, and forgot multiple BASIC skills. It's like the concept "20 years of experience, or one year of experience repeated 20 times." If he had been certified, he clearly spent all his dives since then forgetting his training. Pauly's (the diver) takeaway "never dive alone" made me cringe heavily. He probably shouldn't have been diving at all & needs to take (or retake) the open-water class.

I could definitely see how Woody could be annoying to some people. I find it more funny and off-the-wall. As far as diving for gold, those scales are about $15, and I think it might be an unique experience to do once, as a sort of weird off the wall random adventure & not something you'd do for a return-on-investment. Doing it regularly would be extremely tedious and boring.

Whether the gold was planted... it's definitely possible. There were a few minor signs of possibly faking a thing or two.

That said, with scuba treasure hunting, over time you start to pick up signs for the things you're looking for. I'd have to imagine you're keenly aware of the signs and locations to find those eels & you're better now than when you got started. You probably also keep an eye out for lead-weights too (which I never see diving). When I'm hunting scuba-glasses in a very murky lake, with a deep layer of silt, I'll look for what appears to be "twigs" and grab them, and about half the time it's a pair of sunglasses. It took me a while to develop that pattern recognition. You'll notice the same with videos of people hunting megalodon teeth in the ocean; on the same dive, the experienced people will come back with about 5x the teeth, than the persons less experienced hunting for those teeth.

 

[rhwestfall]

What we used last evening:

(I'm using a PrAM)

 

[John C. Ratliff]

SlugMug,

I guess what bugs me about these kinds of video depictions of diving is the intent to show diving as an extremely dangerous undertaking. Here, at 10 feet depth and probable 20 feet from shore, this guy says he nearly died because of the hazards of diving; in fact it was the hazards of an untrained diver. I have been diving more hazardous currents, in more rivers than this guy, and in half a century of diving never came close to what he describes.

SeaRat

PS, RHWestfall, I like the horns on your buddy’s hood, and your Phoenix Aquamaster regulator.