Travel Luggage Bags on Dive Boats? Are You Crazy?

[**ping**]

I had to grin when I read this thread.

Yes, someone lugging the fanciest and most expensive shelled travel case specifically designed to hold all your divegear onto a boat...

let me spin this a little further:

I bet you that, once the person opens that trunk, there will be a brand spanking new top of the line BC of any given manufacturer in there, a VR 3 computer, a 1st stage and regulator combo that you could dive in Antarctica at a depth of 600 fsw, that nifty pair of 250 US $ fins and of course that triple goldfoil laminated shorty wetsuit from Henderson that'll cost you an arm and a leg...

Turns out that they do 10 dives a year on average and that they have done all of 10 dives after certification.

And these 2.500 US $ worth of equipment still don't help one iota to make them better divers. You realize that once you see them underwater.

These thoughts are not about money...

These thoughts are about keeping it real.

I have seen so many people (usually couples from N.A.) that practically bring their own mobile dive shop worth of gear and they wouldn't have needed ANY of the equipment... at least they would never in a lifetime arrive at using the gear for its intended purpose or limits.

I fully understand that you LDS has to make a living. But in my mind, that's bad consumer councelling (and an amazing sales pitch). Or maybe its that attitude "Hey, its expensive, it MUST be good."

I am talking about tropical diving here... nothing fancy. Well... in the end, it makes for a fun time watching these people when I am on a diveboat.

*rant off*

 

[Ironcat]

I don't think anyone can use the excuse "noone told me". So far I have only went out diving a few times, each on a different boat, and everytime you hear or see the same things.
1. "Stow your gear under your seat." Obviously if it doesn't fit, you're doing something wrong.
2. "Shuffle your feet, slide your fins." Again it seems obvious if people are getting their fins hung up on your gear bag, it's in the damn way.
Besides that a huge gear bag is just a temptation to buy more gear to fill it with.
Sorry Pilotfish but it doesn't matter how you rant or who you complain to, the people who do it are going to keep doing it because it makes life easier for THEM.

 

[dbg40]

Guilty. My gear cost me thousands of dollars, and a mesh bag for a 500 dollar computer, 2500 dollars for a drysuit, 600 dollars for regs, 600 dollars for a BPW, 450 to 1500 for a light, aside from all the other things I need to dive with. If you gear up in your own spot, and are considerate of others, there should be no problem. Assemble your gear, and slide the bag under the bench as far as it will go. The *****ers look pretty sheepish when they need an o ring or a wrench or extra hose that they damaged because their mesh bag is getting stomped on, and I have one that I am happy to give, or lend. There are times when it gets out of hand and somone comes on with a bag, and a tupperware crate, and a 5 gal. bucket of weights, along with camera gear, ect. I put everything, including weights, water and food in this one bag that keeps everything where it should be, and safe.

I should add that most (95%) of my diving is done in the north, at moderate to deep depths, and in cold water. I depend on my gear, and dive only one configuration. I don't do the whole, oh im diving in warm water, I wont need half of my gear thing.

 

[pilot fish]

I'm guilty, I guess. My first dive bag was a large mesh backpack. I "upgraded" to a wheelie bad the same length as my Apollo Bio-Fins. I love the fins, but they are long to travel with. I did find the loaded backpack heavy to carry when it is quite a distance to the dive boat The wheelie always seemed to fit well under the seat of the boat. I'm guessing being a 59 year old female novice diver (39 dives, certified in 2000) is no excuse, really no one has ever said a word about my wheelie! Guess I need to start building up some more upper body strength and go back to the mesh bag.

Sandy, it's one thing when a diver really doesn't know, as in your case, but it's when a diver doesn't give a rat's patutty is when it's a probelm. People with a special need is one thing, but when I see some young, healthy guy/gal, mindless to the rest of the divers, is when it gets me.

 

[HowardE]

Ok... I tried to refrain from posting but...

I dive quite a bit from boats... 100+ in the past year (since I moved part time to Florida, it has definitely helped me get a lot more diving in)

I carry equipment for me and my wife. We take a soft side full suitcase with our fins, masks, save a dive kit, flashlights, extra video tapes, and our dry clothes to wear under our dry suits. We also carry 2 large rubber-maid tubs for our BC's and our DS's. I have been on at least 45 boat trips in the last year, and not a one person on any boat has said ANYTHING to me about being rude...

We stack our rubber-maids together, and put our suitcase inside, and it all fits under the seat just fine.

So do I have to buy a mesh bag because someone tells me to?

Do you work for a mesh bag manufacturing company? come on fess up.

 

[pilot fish]

Ping, that was soooooooooooooooo funny, AND TRUE.

 

[pilot fish]

I don't think anyone can use the excuse "noone told me". So far I have only went out diving a few times, each on a different boat, and everytime you hear or see the same things.
1. "Stow your gear under your seat." Obviously if it doesn't fit, you're doing something wrong.
2. "Shuffle your feat, slide your fins." Again it seems obvious if people are getting their fins hung up on your gear bag, it's in the damn way.
Besides that a huge gear bag is just a temptation to buy more gear to fill it with.
Sorry Pilotfish but it doesn't matter how you rant or who you complain to, the people who do it are going to keep doing it because it makes life easier for THEM.

Until they are denied boarding by a compassionate Capt or smart Dive Op like Christi

 

[pilot fish]

Ok... I tried to refrain from posting but...

I dive quite a bit from boats... 100+ in the past year (since I moved part time to Florida, it has definitely helped me get a lot more diving in)

I carry equipment for me and my wife. We take a soft side full suitcase with our fins, masks, save a dive kit, flashlights, extra video tapes, and our dry clothes to wear under our dry suits. We also carry 2 large rubber-maid tubs for our BC's and our DS's. I have been on at least 45 boat trips in the last year, and not a one person on any boat has said ANYTHING to me about being rude...

We stack our rubber-maids together, and put our suitcase inside, and it all fits under the seat just fine.

So do I have to buy a mesh bag because someone tells me to?

Do you work for a mesh bag manufacturing company? come on fess up.

What would you do if you were on a sixpack, fast boat with very limited space?

 

[HowardE]

What would you do if you were on a sixpack, fast boat with very limited space?

I would leave things in my car if they couldn't fit.

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

This is an awesome container for equipment:

STANLEY BOX

May need to special order the mesh version