Recommendation on tech progression

[formernuke]

I'm trying to keep my cylinder count to a minimum.

Not very good at it but I'm trying.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Extra tanks?

You’ll need them for cave and CCR anyway. For ANDP you only need one extra, two if you want a choice of an ali80 and a smaller 7 litre aluminium cylinder

A move to CCR results in the purchase of many more cylinders. Excluding banking cylinders for which I use three steel twinsets (containing oxygen, air and helium), I’ve three sets of oxygen+diluent cylinders, 2 ali80s for deeper bailout, 2 ali7s for intermediate bailout and another ali7 for shallow bailout.

Technical diving by definition results in a vast collection of cylinders. Not to mention multiple regulator sets (think I’ve at least 10 sets), 3 dry suits, various harness+wing combinations, and only one rebreather. Add to that umpteen training courses and the cost of travelling and booking trips, plus the extraordinary amount of time it takes.

Technical diving is not cheap. $£€ thousands and thousands. Actually tens of thousands.

I think the vast majority of us try not to look at the pyramid, just the one block in front of us thank you very much!

 

[kensuf]

I'm only going to comment on the OC to CCR progression path.

Expect switching to CCR to set your growth back by a season. If you're not doing OC dives that require multiple bottles, even if you have "AN/DP", your first CCR course should probably be a no-deco program because you'll likely be task loaded and when you start juggling in deco bottles it may be too much. After you complete the no-deco cert, build some time on the rebreather, then upgrade to a full deco rating.

If you're doing a lot of stage bottle management on OC, such as stage cave dives or trimix diving, then going straight into a deco cert for your first CCR course may be reasonable.

 

[BlueTrin]

Technical diving is not cheap. $£€ thousands and thousands. Actually tens of thousands.

I think the problem is that you get to a point to what you thought was expensive feels almost cheap in retrospect …

A cave shield to protect a few hoses at 150GBP … bargain! I’ll even buy that delrin cup holder to dry my CCR head … how much for a glorified plastic bowl … 100GBP? bargain !!!

A coffee filter to hold my cat litter? Only 8GBP? I’ll buy half a dozen