Recreational divers, post your rig here, let's share good and bad ideas

[LI-er]

So what is the minimum recommended reserve? Most guides will bring divers shallow to 10m or less when they get to 70 bar or 50 bar.

Depends on the depth of the dive. On a deeper dive say in the 100' range I'd switch to the stony bottle when the main tank is between 7-800 psi, breathe the stony down to maybe 600 psi, then switch back and ascend.

On a shallower reef dive say 30-50' I'd probably breathe the main tank to under 500 psi and the stony down 200 psi if I wanted to stay down that long. Especially on the last dive of a trip when I gotta empty the stony bottle for plane travel.

What some dive guides do, is to me rather irrelevant. They tend to see a lot of inexperienced, out of shape, and just generally poor divers and err towards the side of caution.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Well a lot of dive ops have that 60 minute more or less dive time policy as many vacations divers will be back on the boat with around 40 - 70 bar after an hour. Some ops have no time limits and assign a guide that lets you dive as long as you want the the guides are there to just tag along, At least this has been my experience. Usually that's because I stay for 10 - 14 diving days and after a day or so of diving with me they know I'm experienced and will put other experienced divers also good on air together for longer dive times. I also dive with the same dive ops again because as a repeat customer we have an understanding.

Yes guides are paid to err to the side of caution. I recently had a great guide in Cebu. On some of our divers it was just the DM and I. So I might only go to 25m depth on 21% and just not exceed NDL. So within a couple of minutes of NDL left ascend a bit. That way we were doing dives with an average depth of 17m. Also as the guides do this for a living they cannot always be doing deep dives everyday.

My last dive was actually to 30m ave depth 15.5m dive time 67 mins. Nice that the 60 min policy can be extended a bit.

The only place that had less limits was in the Maldives where dive times are normally 45 minutes but sometimes you are doing 55 minute dives.

 

[LI-er]

Well a lot of dive ops have that 60 minute more or less dive time policy

Another good point. I'm almost always the first to splash on a busy dive boat, one reason being I just don't take nearly as long as most divers to get ready, being first you tend to see more stuff especially the big stuff which scatters as divers enter the water, and also because as you said there's typically a time limit but if I'm in the water 10-15 minutes ahead of the last diver and we're all back at the boat around the same time, no one is going to care. Even though I don't often extend a dive, being first in, often by a 10 minute margin, it's nice to get back to an empty boat to switch tanks or stow the gear after the last dive.

 

[Blackcrusader]

Another good point. I'm almost always the first to splash on a busy dive boat, one reason being I just don't take nearly as long as most divers to get ready, being first you tend to see more stuff especially the big stuff which scatters as divers enter the water, and also because as you said there's typically a time limit but if I'm in the water 10-15 minutes ahead of the last diver and we're all back at the boat around the same time, no one is going to care. Even though I don't often extend a dive, it's also nice to get back to an empty boat to switch tanks or stow the gear after the last dive.

Good dive ops always let the divers better on gas first off the boat so they can come back with the last divers out and not care too much about dive time. This was true for me in Cebu I was in a group first off the boat.

 

[LI-er]

Good dive ops always let the divers better on gas first off the boat so they can come back with the last divers out and not care too much about dive time. This was true for me in Cebu I was in a group first off the boat.

Right. And when everyone's sitting around with 48 minutes on their dive computers following a 60 minute reef dive waiting for the go ahead the pool's open for Dive 2 I'm already down there by myself for 10 minutes looking at reef sharks that weren't scared away by the masses.

 

[Umuntu]

I carry a PLB when I dive as I believe the risk of losing the boat or being swept away justifies one when compared to the weight and size of the PLB and container.

I don’t feel the risk of major laceration/bleeding when I dive recreationally is enough to justify a tourniquet be carried in the water.

I’m curious as to whether statistics of actual incidents of divers “being swept away” or abandoned by the boat vs “laceration/ bleeding” as a result of a dive or boat accident would support your assumption …

 

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

Death is a part of life. The final frontier.

I'll stick with the star trek movie for now, thanks.

@Umuntu I will say, I don't currently use a PLB because I dive either lakes or rivers, both of which have a shoreline in site. Even in the even I get swept miles down river and find myself in a section where the "shore" is sawgrass and not solid ground, it's a relatively small area to get lost in, and I always tell several people where I'm going, so I don't worry about it. That being said, I've considered buying one for use in the ocean, as the idea of getting lost when I can't reach the shore is somewhat worrying. I wouldn't bother for a charter dive, but I've been considering the (according to my dad, stupid) idea of doing some wreck dives off a buddy's fishing boat, and for that I'm considering a PLB

 

[Blackcrusader]

I’m curious as to whether statistics of actual incidents of divers “being swept away” or abandoned by the boat vs “laceration/ bleeding” as a result of a dive or boat accident would support your assumption …

I was in Padang Bai in Bali last year when a diver got separated and swept out to see. He was picked up by a passing ferry but was lucky the crew spotted him. He could have just as easily been run over by a passing ship or ferry in a sea lane. The incident was recorded as the Marine Police were out checking all the dive operators boats crews and divers the next day. Would it make it to international records? I doubt it.

 

[Nemrod]

For what it's worth and at the risk of being excoriated for a boooring, unimaginative, mundane (somewhat) cookie cutter rig, here is a recent pic of my travel configuration for Indonesia. Consisting of Aqua Lung Mikron regs, lightweight stainless Contour Plate, nylon wedge, one piece harness, various D-rings and slides, 2x nylon cam bands, crotch strap and DGX 30# wing with standard inflator. The complete BP/W assembly weighs 6.3 pounds.

Pockets, lights, Nautilus, safety/cutting equipment and primary DSMB/reel are not shown here. Bits and pieces can be easily added, removed or swapped out for specific dive requirements and conditions (boat, shore, liveaboard, night, slung bottles, hunting and/or one-off type dives). Primary light with wrist lanyard clips to my right shoulder D-ring and held in place vertically with an EPDM (DGX) loop. Reel/DSMB clips to a large D-ring on the right backside of the backplate.

The lightweight Mikron yoke has a 40" primary with small bolt snap, 22" octo with bungeed necklace and a naked SPG that is routed under my arm and clipped to my left side shoulder D-ring. It sits about 8 inches from my face allowing me to check tank pressure hands free throughout the dive. Total weight 3.5 pounds.

This setup continues to be refined over many years to please ME, so no one else has to like it, approve of it or dive it. Many of the concepts utilized were discovered (mostly by my wife) right here on SB. I have had some, hopefully understood as good-natured, fun at @LI-er's expense, but to reiterate to him and everyone else, you do you and whatever makes you happy and comfortable under the surface.

View attachment 887138

Curious, I like your rig. What are the two D-rings for that are up by the plate on the waist straps? I have a D-ring located there on the left side for hanging a pony bottle?

From the other, other thread on posting rigs. The thing is I have about a a half dozen, no, take that back, about eight different rigs for tropical, temperate, solo, cold, manifolded doubles, ID doubles. This thread as long as it is does not have room for all of mine.

But, this is my 2025 tropical travel rig, under 5 pounds including a line cutter and a mini-DGX light, basic Hog rig but with weight integration. The plate is an Oxy UL textile plate which is about 6 ounces and the wing is a VDH 18 (near identical rigs with Oxy 18 and VDH 23), yes, , I need some new cam bands:





My reg set for this rig is a Mark 11, G250 and a DGX BCI supplemented by a Mark 2 Evo with two G250 seconds:



I am using Scubapro Go-Sport Gorrila fin, Atomic/Scubapro Frameless prescription masks

 

[34109411]

Do we need to shake the stony bottle before use ? I'am just asking cause i will go at my LDS to rent one.