PSD Equipment

[grasstrimmer]

I posted about the new dive team That I am researching just befor SB went down, so hear it is again. Our Dive shop here is an Aqualung dealer and they will give us a good discount on equipment for a dive team. My question is this. What BCs and gauges or computers would work the best for a PSD team in the Aqualung brand? Also what is the basic equipment for each diver that we will need. I am supposed to be getting togather an equipment list for the suppervisors. Any help is appreciated.

 

[dittrimd]

Yikes you posted a mouth full there. What I have seen in many previous post is a lot of PSD can be very specific to your team. I have been doing a lot of research myself for my team which is well established. Even though we have been around for a long time and have been pretty successful we are still for the most part recreational divers doing public safety work. This includes our gear and training. I can say that we have worked to improve both steadily. Many of our divers have PSD training and we are working as money becomes available to upgrade and standardize our equipment. For a new teams starting out I would say STANDARDIZE STANDARDIZE STANDARDIZE. One of our biggest problems with gear is that everyone uses their own and no two are the same. It can be difficult to know how each type of BC or weight belt works unless everyone is the same.

Here are some thoughts I have on PSD diving gear. Remember my team is a volunteer freshwater only scuba in depths no greater than 65 feet. We dive year round in cold weather and under ice. There can be a lot of variations depending on what type of team and where you dive.

Full Face Mask with Communications systems - I am a true believe in this and have been diving Interspiro AGA masks with OTS communicaitons for 6 years. While training is key and it does take some getting used to it is by far the safest way to dive. This is a costly item but well worth the investment.

Fully encapsulated dry suit - Protection from the elements like temperature, chemicals and biohazards is key. Wet suits and semi dry suits do not cut it. Our team has chosen to go with vulcanized rubber suits just becuase they are the easiest to decon but a good durable trilam suit with dry hood and gloves will work.

Safety Harness - A good harness which is SEPARATE from your BC harness to tie you off to your tender. Our team also puts our cutting tools on the harness vs. the BC so if you had to ditch your BC you still had tools.

Tank(s) - Our team uses AL 80 for our main tank and we are trying to standardize on AL 19 for our pony bottle. We do not use an octo off our main reg or any integrated octo/inflation system. Our pony bottle has a complete first and second stage regulator. Also our pony is for the individual diver and is hard mounted to our rigs. Our safety diver will carry what we call a "contingency" tank down to any diver in distress. Pony bottle mounting is a hot topic in any diving forum but again it comes down to what works for your team.

Bouyancy Compensators - This is another hot topic starting at the basics of vest vs. rear inflation. I have dove both and can say that most if not all the divers I dive with prefer a rear inflation type BC. The main reason is it keeps the rig very clean and streamline in the water. It also give you good position in the water and reduces drag. Personally I did not like the sqeeze effect from the vest. Some training agencies prefer a vest for surface position when a diver is in distress or has a victim. For our team we are never far from surface support be it a boat or a tender on shore. We also have safety divers and back up to the safety diver so the amount of time on the surface is very minimal. Again it comes down to what works for your team. Just make sure that whatever you by it is a good quality rig becuase it will take a lot of abuse. Shortly after joining the team I purchase a Zeagle Ranger and it has served me well for over 6 years. Our team just started moving to a rear backplate bc. This was more an effort to distribute weight more evenly across our body for better position in the water.

Regulators and Gauges - Again good quality and something functional but not too big. Our team used to have three gauge consoles but they ended up being big and bulky. Now we use smaller pressure gauge and a wrist mounted bottom timer. Don't need a compass since we are on line and being directed by the surface.

Over all keep your setup as streamline and as clean as possible. The more stuff you have the more thinks to get caught on. It still amazes me just how much crap you can get tangled up in.

It can be a difficult task outfitting a team from scratch. If there are any other team around your area see if you can contact them and find out what they use. You may find more information beyond gear that could be beneficial to your new team.

Best of luck and keep us posted on how it turns out.

Mark D.

 

[bridgediver]

Mark gave you a very nice summary. I agree that the types/styles that he suggests for dry suit, harness, tanks and ponys are must have!

BCD's - you want something basic and functional (BP or simple jacket); avoid soft backed styles and integrated types. Don't need to spend alot of $ here
Computers - don't need them. bottom timers are best. Don't need to spend alot of money here either.
Regs - all aqualung stuff is good. A good environmentally sealed diaphram type is good for the main (titian). Some teams use a piston type for the pony. You don't need top-of-the-line tech regs (legend) but you do need 2 (as Mark said). 1 for the main, 1 for the pony.
Aqualung also gives PSD's a deal so make sure that the shop passes the savings on to you.

Be VERY careful about what the shop tries to sell you with everything from snorkles to drysuits. Most don't have any idea how to do the job of a PSD although may claim they do.
Best thing is to ask around about each peice you're looking at. Alot of opinion on here too so don't be shy to present your shopping list.

 

[grasstrimmer]

Thanks a lot for the help guys. You are right my LDS tried to sell me several $2,000 packages the other day. They were the top of the line rec diveing BCs with computers and the whole works. I said no thanks I needed to get some more info on what we needed. Also they are the ones that told me about the aqualung discount, so I think they will pass it on. Does anyone know what percent aqualung discounts gear for dive teams? Do most other dive teams not use the octo. Main reg and a pony bottle with a second reg?

 

[Gary D.]

We’ve had a lot of discussions on this in the past but what it boils down to is what is going to work for YOUR team.

If a Florida team came up here with their gear they wouldn’t last long at all and visa versa. It would be a bit easier for us to go to Florida but we wouldn’t be as proficient as we should be. We all require different stuff to get the job done.

I had a guy from Florida tell me that getting into the water within 5 minutes from our time of arrival is no big deal. Just throwing on your tank, mask, fins and going isn’t that tough to do. He changed his tune when he learned that we do that getting into cold water gear.

As far as specific gear goes look for trucks and not sports cars. Trucks are for working and sports cars are for playing. But the bottom line is do your homework for the type of diving you will do and make sure everyone is uniform.

Good luck

Gary D.