Proper Equipment for Deep Cold Water Diving

[RPanick]

Paul, I know from previous posts you are looking at getting your own boat, and yes I plan to send you pictures (its rained or been cruddy every free day this week). Maybe I can find the brouchure and bring it to the Meet and Greet assuming you will be there.

If you have your own boat, you could look into putting a hoist on the boat to lift your gear out of the water. Then you could go as heavy as you need without the worry of lifting it back out of the water. Getting in usually isn't a problem on most boats, strap it on and roll/step in.

However, you will probably need to come up with something other than plastic D Rings.

 

[caverdave]

hey Paul!

Try calculating your gas consumption for 130', then factor in your wifes and a little bit of a "time adder" for if something bad does happen. If you look at it as a "worst case" (i.e. we were just about at our turn pressure and then all of a sudden XYZ happened did we have enough gas to get us back to the surface safely). This will probably quickly lead you away from that aluminum 80 and could help in your determination of what size pony.

I'm slightly surprised you aren't interested in doubles- - you looked vastly more fit than I and many other folks that I've seen "running" around in them. The extra gas is certainly a nice safety cushion, but it does take some time to get used to them as well as practice with valve drills etc....

yes to the steel (I would have said X8-130, or X8-119, but to each their own). I have some aluminum 100's that came to me via a friend. I wouldn't suggest buying them as they don't offer "that" much extra gas and the bouyancy just isn't that great... sort of like a "if you are going to buy something".

If I remember correctly do you have two tank straps on your cylinder? If you go to a larger cylinder you may want to consider adding a second strap...

I'm sure there's more. Keep juggling w/ getting more dives in and try getting some in with folks that go that deep and/or that do tech diving. I'm sure they will be happy to give more dead on pointers after seeing you and your wife dive. Its hard to give advice and thoughts over the internet let alone take it- - who knows where you are at and/or who is giving it?!?

The suggestion for a intro recreational helium class is in all probability a good route. You should receive lots of good information on where you are at and where to go with something like that. I'd be remiss if I didn't again mention taking a "fundies class" or an "intro to tech class" that will really focus in on bouyancy, trim, gas management and buddy teams to say the least. I would fathom such would be a necessity before taking a rec helium and/or deco class.

can't imagine going like you are w/o a drysuit being in the immediate future...


Dave

 

[pcarlson1911]

Dave - I was wondering where you were on all this! About Helium, what is the cost of helium per dive? I'm wondering if that is a tough option financially at this time.

pc

 

[diverbrian]

Paul,

That depends on the mix of Helium. For a twenty percent mix, I am using roughly a 1/3 or 1/4 of a tee of helium as I don't have a second tee. That is mixing it in double E8-130's. That bottle of helium cost me about $70.00. So figure $20.00 on the expensive side for a light Helium mix in large doubles.

 

[dlent]

The Blizzard has less parts than most regulators. Thus, there are less failure points (bulletproof). Also, it is a time proven system. The first stage on this regulator has existed for many years. You could find a cold water regulator that is slightly easier to breathe, but the ease of breathing is more than good enough for recreational diving. Most dive shops have the parts in stock to overhaul this regulator also.

 

[caverdave]

Dave - I was wondering where you were on all this! About Helium, what is the cost of helium per dive? I'm wondering if that is a tough option financially at this time.

pc

remember always ask why...


glad all is going well- - hope we can get a dive in soon- - you doing anything the 29th or 30th?


Part of why I thought the rec helium class would do you good- - not so much that I was expecting you to dive it right away (hugh, take the class to not dive it?!?) but more so that the class would probably- hopefully- - really hammer in a lot of the skills, techniques, beliefs etc that will be crucial on those dives.

You would probably have to take some classes before having it as an option, and that too is not a bad thing.

Overall my thought was that you'd be much more prone to be getting with an instructor and learning hands on with someone than looking to jump right in via suggestions from the web. not that they have been bad suggestions, just that you never know who is saying what!

and because you should "know all"- - yep I haven't been to 130. I'm waiting until I pass my rec triox class, as I think I'd be a lot better off diving past the 110'ish mark with the reduced nitrogen in the mix, at least generally speaking.


On the regs- - I have a sherwood reg set that I've stopped using. With the "bleed" feature I'm not sure if that would be the ideal reg to attach to a pony bottle- - particularly one that would be mounted w/o a pressure gauge and had a rough intention of rarely being used... I'm not sure how long it would take to bleed off, probably close to "forever". I guess you could leave the valve off all the time, but in an emergency I don't know how well it would go to remember to pass the bottle deploy the hose turn on the bottle etc... Alas I don't have the training for it, so maybe I've missed something, please don't beat me into shape for wondering out loud.

Did you calc. your gas use yet?

See ya the 30th?


Dave