Staging practices

[Doppler]

As a rule, carrying all gas is the best way to go. But, if you require additional stage or bottom gas, tight shipwreck confines will often be easier to navigate without additional bottles.

When I need to drop bottles, I place them just inside the wreck. I create what I call a "gun rack" by running the guideline from open water to the secondary tie-off just inside the wreck, and I run the line from low to a midpoint on say, a bulkhead, at an angle that allows the bottles to be stacked valves down and secured by both nose and tail clips. The bottles sit atop one another nice, tight, and slick off to one side and out of the way of others who might end up swimming into the wreck by the same entry way. It is really great when you have a team of two or three because everyone's bottles are out of the way and clipped off on both clips out of the way and out of the current.

Ditto.

Dislike dropping bottles anywhere out of MY sight, so usually carry them as far in as possible and drop on the line as per standard cave procedure.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Ditto.

Dislike dropping bottles anywhere out of MY sight, so usually carry them as far in as possible and drop on the line as per standard cave procedure.

Another Ditto. In the ocean, if doing a deeper trimix dive I am loathe to ever unclip a deco bottle and leave it for fear I won't be able to get back to it. I have done it, penetrating the Wilkes-Barre but it was always nagging at me while away from the bottle(s). (I have this terrible vision of Chrissy Rouse sesrching for his deco bottle.)

In the cave for deco bottles its all good, the exit point being the same as the entry point. For stages I breathe them to a maximum of 1/3 and carry it to a drop point where I cause no damage to the cave. I never breathe a bottle to 1/2 + 200. I always stage either an AL80 or AL72 and they are so nice & neutrally buoyant at 2000 psi in fresh water.

If I have 2000 psi in the stage & a buddy needs gas its nice to hand off a 2/3 full bottle vice a 1/2 - 200 psi bottle.

 

[packman]

(I have this terrible vision of Chrissy Rouse sesrching for his deco bottle.)

That same vision goes through my head every time I'm on a wreck. I've had enough dives where I either can't find the anchor (even though I could hear the chain banging against the wreck) or had an extensive search for it at the end that I just don't see myself ever unclipping it on the wreck.

 

[JS1scuba]

I will carry my decompression cylinders with me on a wreck penetration if I make the assumption I will be exiting from a different point than the entrance.

I will drop the bottles on the following conditions.

1. I can do all deco on back gas alone.
2. Visibility is exceptional
3. I will be exiting from my entrance point.
4. The penetration will be short.

If on CCR I will not drop my bail out cylinders at all.

Cheers
JDS

 

[Blackwood]

On Yukon yesterday we left our bottles (just oxygen) outside. For our profile (repet dive after minor mandatory deco on the first, planned 30-40 minutes at about 85avg plus maybe external survey subsequent to exiting - bagged due to viz), the O2 was a luxury, and we could have easily come up on backgas alone. As we were running line, the plan was to enter and exit at the same point. Visibility was complete crap, however with the bottles tied between primary and secondary ties they were simple enough to recover.

I'm not certain I'd be comfortable parting with bottles that my decompression profile strictly require (though I was told anecdotally by my wreck penetration instructor that in thousands of such dives he's never had them be anywhere but where he left them).

 

[RJP]

I'm not certain I'd be comfortable parting with bottles that my decompression profile strictly require (though I was told anecdotally by my wreck penetration instructor that in thousands of such dives he's never had them be anywhere but where he left them).

Chrissy's bottle was never anywhere but where he left it...

As mentioned way back on this thread: If I'm planning to breath from it, I'm planning to carry it.

Possible exception being cases where there's little chance of coming out somewhere else. But even then...not likely that I'd stage unless there just wasn't enough room in the wreck with the bottle.

I always dive with a lost-gas plan that'd let me deco-out on back gas, but here in NJ though on my typical profiles, the idea of needing to do an extra ~20+ min or so in cold water - either with the line yanking you all over the place, or god forbid drifting away - is a fairly unappealing prospect.

 

[rjack321]

...not likely that I'd stage unless there just wasn't enough room in the wreck with the bottle.

Since I am mostly diving Al40s of deco gas, I don't think I'd go in a wreck so small that 1 or 2 40s are the margin between fitting or not.

I have brought al80 bottom stages and al40s of O2 into the Yukon's sister ships. There's plenty of room, no need to go dropping bottles on those at all.

 

[nadwidny]

(though I was told anecdotally by my wreck penetration instructor that in thousands of such dives he's never had them be anywhere but where he left them).

Thousands of such dives?

I call BS.

 

[RJP]

Thousands of such dives?

I call BS.

Are you suggesting that training dives where bottles are staged outside a schoolbus at the bottom of a quarry don't count?

 

[rjack321]

Thousands of such dives?

I call BS.

Its Andrew, would you expect anything less?