Reg setup and gear progression

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That's nice, but that's not true of the largest dive club in the OP's area. It doesn't matter what other clubs do elsewhere. Some local dive clubs, like Moss Bay, are mostly on FB. But I always steer people towards Marker Buoy due to their size in terms of numbers and area that they cover (from Olympia to Bellingham to Hood Canal - i.e., the ENTIRE Puget Sound).

Regardless, sounds like he’s not done a very good job of beating the bushes for a buddy if he’s not found anyone.
 
Have you joined any dive clubs? Marker Buoy? Salish Sea? Have you contacted LDSs for shop dives?
This is the PNW, plenty of active divers.
The shop I got certified through has a club, but they seem to only dive one site an hour an a half away. Still trying to find info on the others. The closer shop is only open weird hours and I haven't made it in to talk to them as yet. I don't plan on diving until I can get my own reg set and weights at least because I cannot justify $70 per dive in rentals, especially if it is a site I am not that excited about.
 
A site 90 minutes away? That’s damn near local. Sounds like you’re needlessly restricting yourself.
 
Regardless, sounds like he’s not done a very good job of beating the bushes for a buddy if he’s not found anyone.
That's why I am steering him to the single best resources
Thanks for the recommendation, I don't mind going to Seattle, especially for big ticket items.
It is still south of Seattle by 45 minutes on a typically bad traffic day on the weekend.
The shop I got certified through has a club, but they seem to only dive one site an hour an a half away. Still trying to find info on the others. The closer shop is only open weird hours and I haven't made it in to talk to them as yet. I don't plan on diving until I can get my own reg set and weights at least because I cannot justify $70 per dive in rentals, especially if it is a site I am not that excited about.
If you can ever make it to Neah Bay (Waddah Fingers especially), in summer you won't regret it. I'd rather dive that than in Belize at Glover's Reef and Southwater Caye any day. Try to hurry up with skills and dive the Diamond Knot before it collapses all together.

Since you are in Bellingham, sites west of Vancouver and north are in reach too. Then there's Vancouver Island. For you it is more feasible to get to Campbell River and Port Hardy.
 
That's why I am steering him to the single best resources

It is still south of Seattle by 45 minutes on a typically bad traffic day on the weekend.

If you can ever make it to Neah Bay (Waddah Fingers especially), in summer you won't regret it. I'd rather dive that than in Belize at Glover's Reef and Southwater Caye any day. Try to hurry up with skills and dive the Diamond Knot before it collapses all together.

Since you are in Bellingham, sites west of Vancouver and north are in reach too. Then there's Vancouver Island. For you it is more feasible to get to Campbell River and Port Hardy.
Those are all on my list.

I keep trying to make it to the chunk of the General M. C, Meigs that is on the shore south of Hobuck Beach, but haven't succeeded yet.

It's frustrating because there are a number of wrecks withing half an hour of here.

I'll probably join up with Marker buoy since they are both cheaper and more active than Keystone. Thanks for the lead on that.
 
I'm trying to figure out which direction i want to go in setting up my regs and air system. I know that I want to run a primary donate with safe secondary / integrated inflator system and will probably got with Atomic gear. My questions are:

1. Is there any reason not to go with the octo on the longer hose as my primary reg? I'm a big guy and the extra 6 inches of length seems like a "nice to have". My understanding is that all Atomic regs breathe about the same.

2. If I go to a redundant air source, would I hook the safe secondary to that and use it to fill my BCD? I realize that is using bailout air for buoyancy, but so long as it gets filled before each dive, it doesn't seem like the volume involved would significantly deplete the tank.
Primary donate makes sense only if matched with an high quality secondary bungeed under your chin, so you are sure to get it in your moth quickly and safely after donating the primary (my suggestion is to use two identical second stages).
That is for diving with a buddy and without an additional redundant tank.
At that point, even if you have an integrated regulator/inflator, you cannot rely on it, neither for you, nor for your buddy. So you could as well use a normal inflator.
An integrated regulator-inflator makes sense only for solo diving.
In that case it will be attached to your primary first stage, allowing you to use that big air reservoir even if the primary second stage fails.
In that case you need another complete reg on the pony tank.
It is not easy to have the same setup both for buddy diving and solo diving...
The only way would be if your main tank has two valves. My 15-liters Faber steel has actually a reversed-T valve by Cressi, with two posts, two valves and reserve. With that I can mount both first stages when I do not use the pony tank...
 
Primary donate makes sense only if matched with an high quality secondary bungeed under your chin, so you are sure to get it in your moth quickly and safely after donating the primary (my suggestion is to use two identical second stages).
That is for diving with a buddy and without an additional redundant tank.
At that point, even if you have an integrated regulator/inflator, you cannot rely on it, neither for you, nor for your buddy. So you could as well use a normal inflator.
An integrated regulator-inflator makes sense only for solo diving.
In that case it will be attached to your primary first stage, allowing you to use that big air reservoir even if the primary second stage fails.
In that case you need another complete reg on the pony tank.
It is not easy to have the same setup both for buddy diving and solo diving...
The only way would be if your main tank has two valves. My 15-liters Faber steel has actually a reversed-T valve by Cressi, with two posts, two valves and reserve. With that I can mount both first stages when I do not use the pony tank...
My opinion is that primary donate always makes sense (for all the reasons most tech and experienced rec divers have gone to that, which I will not go into here). I am not a fan of the integrated octo/inflator as a rule, but I do see this as a viable option if the diver also plans to ALWAYS carry a pony. Here's why:
1) Since the diver will always have their fully redundant air source (pony with it's own 1st & 2nd stage), when the diver donates his primary, he goes right to his pony (recommended to have that 2nd on a necklace) and need not suffer trying to breathe from his inflator while taking his buddy to the surface.
2) If the diver has a problem with his primary (whether diving solo or with a buddy) he goes right to the pony and can then sort out the issue with the primary without being tethered to his buddy. It is now more possible to work on the primary and get it working again (i.e. can shut down primary tank valve and still breathe while checking / reassembling / retrying primary reg without impacting ability to breathe off the reg in mouth).
3) In any of these scenarios the octo/inflator is still there as a third tier option for breathing if, for example, the pony runs low (unlikely if exiting a NDL dive) or the pony reg does not work (also unlikely if tested before each dive).
4) This setup will work equally well solo or with a buddy, so it allows the diver to get used to diving in one consistent config that works for either.
5) This setup allows the diver to more easily transition to more robust technical setups such as sidemount or backmounted doubles with minimal changes (i.e. same regs with one in mouth and the other on necklace, except now both tanks are full sized). BTW, did you notice that 1) and 2) above align with "when in doubt, bail out" for rebreather diving. The diver will already be used to bailing out to the pony for problem solving, so this mindset can easily carry over if the diver ever advances to rebreather diving.

Note that once the diver commits to ALWAYS carrying the pony, the need for that octo / inflator becomes very minimal (only to access the full volume of gas in the primary tank if the primary 2nd stage fails AND the pony gets empty or also has a reg failure). Personally, I would say it is not needed at all at this point, as this is close enough to equivalent to independent doubles or sidemount, except that the second tank is smaller than the first.
 
My opinion is that primary donate always makes sense (for all the reasons most tech and experienced rec divers have gone to that, which I will not go into here). I am not a fan of the integrated octo/inflator as a rule, but I do see this as a viable option if the diver also plans to ALWAYS carry a pony. Here's why:
1) Since the diver will always have their fully redundant air source (pony with it's own 1st & 2nd stage), when the diver donates his primary, he goes right to his pony (recommended to have that 2nd on a necklace) and need not suffer trying to breathe from his inflator while taking his buddy to the surface.
2) If the diver has a problem with his primary (whether diving solo or with a buddy) he goes right to the pony and can then sort out the issue with the primary without being tethered to his buddy. It is now more possible to work on the primary and get it working again (i.e. can shut down primary tank valve and still breathe while checking / reassembling / retrying primary reg without impacting ability to breathe off the reg in mouth).
3) In any of these scenarios the octo/inflator is still there as a third tier option for breathing if, for example, the pony runs low (unlikely if exiting a NDL dive) or the pony reg does not work (also unlikely if tested before each dive).
4) This setup will work equally well solo or with a buddy, so it allows the diver to get used to diving in one consistent config that works for either.
5) This setup allows the diver to more easily transition to more robust technical setups such as sidemount or backmounted doubles with minimal changes (i.e. same regs with one in mouth and the other on necklace, except now both tanks are full sized). BTW, did you notice that 1) and 2) above align with "when in doubt, bail out" for rebreather diving. The diver will already be used to bailing out to the pony for problem solving, so this mindset can easily carry over if the diver ever advances to rebreather diving.

Note that once the diver commits to ALWAYS carrying the pony, the need for that octo / inflator becomes very minimal (only to access the full volume of gas in the primary tank if the primary 2nd stage fails AND the pony gets empty or also has a reg failure). Personally, I would say it is not needed at all at this point, as this is close enough to equivalent to independent doubles or sidemount, except that the second tank is smaller than the first.
Your idea about not using the air 2 when in an air sharing situation has some logic to it, but I am not sure it is clearly the best solution.

Particularly if the pony bottle is back mounted and has no pressure gauge that the diver can read while diving. Coming up in an emergency and using a tank (a pony) that you are not 100% sure about the pressure, is a little stressful.

In my experience it is not troublesome or stressful to use the air 2, so I don't see avoiding the use of it as a benefit. If the diver knows he has enough air in his main tank to share with the other guy, it may make sense to both use the main air supply which can be monitored and still keep the pony as a reserve, plus if you want to dive more that day, you might not want to kill the pony, when it was not really necessary.

Of course, if the main tank does not have ample pressure for both divers to make the ascent, the decision is pretty clear cut.
 
I use the Airsource 3 on my Rogue BCD. I've logged 95% of my 00s of dives exclusively with the same person, and she knows my set up. She has logged 00s more dives than I have, and her reg setup is different than mine and I know it well also. We're both PADI Rescue certified, and we've had to use that training. We've been with each other at depths not seen on modern PADI tables, we've been together when a hose blew (hers) and *both* our computers failed. We have full - and earned - mutual trust underwater.

If I had a new dive buddy besides her assigned to me on a trip for any reason I would walk into the dive shop and rent a standard reg setup with an bright yellow octo or I would not dive w my "new buddy".

Diving w an Airsource type inflator is something that your buddy gets a vote (veto) on because their life depends on your sh!t being squared away, and vice versa. I'm not going to have my weird setup cost a stranger their life, or have them panic because of my setup and cost me mine.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/teric/

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