The SCUBA Police and the Vintage Diver

[John C. Ratliff]

I think some of the irony is that Cousteau developed the Aqua-Lung under the noses of the German occupiers, while we were struggling along in rebreathings. Europe after WWII was a very different place, and the use of this diving gear has enriched us all.

David, I've been following your links and looked at the HydroGlove. That may well be my next dive suit. I've been repairing my ol' wet suit for about twelve years, one glue task at a time. I've inserted two strips of neoprene in the sides of both the bottoms and the tops, as the wet suit "shrunk" with age (we all know how neoprene tends to loose it stretchiness, and actually shrink as we get older), so I really enjoyed hearing about the freedom of motion that these dry suits have.

Here's one of my dry suit dives with my Aquala dry suit:

May 25, 1975
Location: Blue Lake, Oregon

Dive Plan: The plan was to dive to ~75 feet. Time was unspecified. I carried tables (both altitude and "no-calculation") plus twin tanks. Carried a marked line to show depth.

Observations: Got into the water with the full-face mask (USD, meant for twin hose regulators, which had protective neoprene around the skirt) mounted on my Trieste II two-hose regulator (reg. with octopus, power inflator and submersible pressure gauge) in place and it felt like I was still in air, except that I was weightless. It was really nice to have no cold shock whatsoever. Descended to ~30 feet and found I was heavy, and so took off two pounds from weight belt. (I had surfaced to do this.) Bruce wanted a pre-dive briefing and so we surfaced and decided on a 75 foot max depth and 30 minutes. (This works out to 100 feet for 50 minutes--altitude adjusted.) I got to 75 feet and looked up to see Bruce at ~40 feet signaling m. to come up. Tom was having trouble getting down. At this point Bruce and I decided on a 40[ foot max for the dive. Even at 75 feet I could barely make out some large boulders which were at ~120 feet, which may have been the bottom. We worked the cliffside on the dievs, finding very interesting fissures and ledges. Also saw a forked tree top (tree must have been ~200 feet long at ~20 feet from horizontal angle). Another interesting sight was the pale-green underwater moss that we saw at the 20-40 foot level. 'Took a lot of pictures of htis and it should be interesting. Cut the dive at 60 minutes to undergo decompression. During decompression we (Bruce and I, Tom had surfaced--40 feet for 50 minutes) created an underwater slide of large proportions. It began small but grew until it was a large cloud as it rolled over the cliff side at ~40 feet. It started as a large fissure at ~15 feet. also saw a school of whitefish at 10 feet when on decompression. Hopefully got a couple of pictures.

Special Problems and Ideas: 1. Dive planning poor. 2. Aborted deep dive at correct time. 3. Took prescribed decompression for almost a full dive at 75 feet (safety +). 4. Suit leaked badly, but I wasn't terribly cold--Bruce was colder in a leaky Unisuit. 5. Space blanket material doesn't work. Heat loss apparently by conduction and convection rather than radiation.

We were still experimenting, and someone had said that we could keep warm with a space blanket-type of insulation; it doesn't work, and our dive showed that conclusively (in addition, I wore the bottoms of a wet suit and a sweater under the space blanket material). This was the Aquala dry suid before I tried to modify it, and I had problems sealing the front-entry chute.

John

 

[David Wilson]

Your point about Cousteau is well made, John, and it reminds us all that inventiveness in any field of human endeavour is never the monopoly of a single nation. Divers and diving have benefited immensely from the free exchange of ideas, information and products around the world and the international membership of Scubaboard itself is a testimony to the success of our own version of the "global village".

Thank you so much for the detailed report about your own experiences with an Aquala. I can imagine how the Achilles heel of this suit is the front entry chute, which would present problems of watertight closure. I've heard that a metal screw clamp yielded the best results, although I understand that some users tried more home-made strategies such as tying the bunched-up excess material at the chest with surgical tubing and the like.

I hope you enjoy diving with the Hydroglove when you purchase it. I've snorkelled with different versions of the suit for four or five years now as well as with an original yellow Skooba Totes suit from the late 1950s, sold as new-old stock. As with every item of equipment, it's important to be aware of the negatives as well as the positives. The downside includes the suit's fragility (easy to repair, though) and the need to master the techniques of donning, venting, sealing and doffing the suit. The upside is the suit's bargain price, its quickness to dry and clean after use, its lightness, its non-interference with swimming strokes, its versatility when it comes to accommodating undergarments. I snorkelled with mine this morning in the chilly North Sea and emerged after half an hour feeling warm and with very little water seepage even after many dips in the sea this year. I'll leave you to judge for yourself how you find the suit. I'd be interested in one of your thorough reports about your experiences diving with the suit.

 

[DaleC]

Does anyone have experience with the Hydroglove two peice suit. Does the roll up feature work well enough and would there be an uncomfortable suit squeeze at say 50' max depth? Call me crazy but I'm thinking it might be fun to have one of those.

 

[deco_martini]

Dear Padi,

Earlier this month I became an open water diver through your e-learning program. I felt so much pride as I watched my c-card come out of the laser printer. Two weeks later after discovering my local padi dealer, I was a licensed instructor.

In case you can't tell already, I take this sport seriously and don't like shortcuts or taking the easy route. So it is with regret that I inform you of a situation that happened recently.

I was taking some students from the local dealership for their.. you know... first dive thing.... out on the lake. The Checkov dive? Whatever, the point is, when I finally saw the Scuba flag marking the spot for where to park the boat, a few minutes later I saw the most unsafe diver ever emerge from the water.

The thingie you breathe out of, his looked like he made it himself out of old hoses from under the hood of my pinto. I am hoping my dive career can finance a new vehicle. And the balloon thing that you wear like a vest, he didn't even have one on. LOL, WHAT A NOOB!!! When I asked who his dive buddy was, he pointed at something that looked like a small canteen. I think this man was quite possibly retarded.

Since everyone on my boat saw this moron breaking the chain of command, I had to take drastic action. I demanded he turn over his C-card. He continued his insolence by saying "he didn't have one". And I am pretty sure he made a finger sign at me as well.

I called 911 on this jackass when I got back to shore. I now owe 200 dollars for making a frivolous 911 call. I guess that is the price to pay for doing it right.

Yours Truly,
Dan "The Man" Bowshiss
-your latest padi star!

 

[Slonda828]

Does anyone have experience with the Hydroglove two peice suit. Does the roll up feature work well enough and would there be an uncomfortable suit squeeze at say 50' max depth? Call me crazy but I'm thinking it might be fun to have one of those.

Dale,

I have one, so does Bryan from VDH. We both used them extensively at the 2009 Legends of Diving. It has been covered pretty widely on VDH, but the short version is that they rock, and are easy to use. You also don't get suit squeeze because you equalize it. Lots of my SB pictures are in the Hydroglove.

 

[Brian Sharpe]

Hair????????????? Vas ist das???

It's that stuff that's growing from your ears, eyebrows, nose & back (sorry ladies not trying to gross you out but the onset of middle age results in a certain amount of hair "migration")

Now back to scuba stuff.........

 

[INFIDELxx]

The pictures of Ron are the coolest. Wheres your satchel? I too have a Hydroglove. I agree with Ron and John. The suits are great to dive and "The Squeeze" is NOT a problem. They are really affordable and come with a nice bag and repair kit. I did however buy the waist band to mitigate leakage at the rolled seam.

 

[Bob3]

Great story!!!
That reminds me of the time I was gliding along in a quarry & met up with one of those guys that was wearing half a dive shop & all manner of danglies.
He just looked so dang comical that I kept watching as he plowed through the water at an oblique angle as I effortlessly slipped between the molecules heading in the opposite direction.
He was eyeballing me back, no doubt wondering where "the rest" of my gear was.

 

[Bronson]

i have never heard of such nonsense from an instructor. I cannot stop laughing.

 

[dsdiving]

Hahaha! I love it...