Unsolicited equipment advice

[Garrobo]

Less gear equals less problems. Dive minimal.

 

[scubafanatic]

I support the general 'theme' here, with the word of caution that one has to be careful to not do anything to/with gear that might void the manufacturer's warranty, if you have such a warranty to preserve. Personally, it's not a consideration for me, as I custom design/build/modify most of my gear, and have enough bottom time diving under various real-world conditions to know what works/doesn't work, but this may well be a concern for a newer diver who might mess with their gear, mess things up, and not be able to make things right again, unless they return to the dealer, with a now voided manufacturer's warranty.

 

[Amphiprion]

Zen,

You must remember to instruct all new divers to get a bp/w. It is in the TOS for scubaboard. This is critical. Every diver...every single one, who has not switched to a bp/w will eventually die. I have a bp/w and am not dead.

 

[Andyblue]

So how does a new diver know when the best time is to start pulling there gear apart? I think this is not for everyone and people who think they are 'mechanically minded' sometimes don't actually know what to look for. I personally would have no problems in pulling apart anything however would only feel comfortable doing so if I had either a mentor (who really knew what they were doing ) or a workshop manual. I know what problems can occur from Poorly trained people pulling things apart. Thereare people out there who think a shifter is the only tool you need and that if something dose not seal then loctite is a perfectly good fix. Sure anyone can do the job after figuring it out, however how many of you can truly say that you are servicing your equipment to the manufactures original specifications and are knowlegable about all aspects of things that can go wrong as the manufacturer would have discovered during R n D? If there is someone on here like that how many slabs to show me?

 

[ZenDiver.3D]

I support the general 'theme' here, with the word of caution that one has to be careful to not do anything to/with gear that might void the manufacturer's warranty, if you have such a warranty to preserve. Personally, it's not a consideration for me, as I custom design/build/modify most of my gear, and have enough bottom time diving under various real-world conditions to know what works/doesn't work, but this may well be a concern for a newer diver who might mess with their gear, mess things up, and not be able to make things right again, unless they return to the dealer, with a now voided manufacturer's warranty.

i am not trying to get you to completely take apart the usually 35-45 parts of a 1st stage. I am saying that you should be able to competently do simple maintainance and repair of your gear. You should be able to change a hose, clear and adjust your 2nd stage, change some o-rings, and do basic trouble-shooting. The majority of gear I get in are of two types- yearly service, fine. The other is to fix gear for those who broke it out of ignorance. Had they studied a little, they would know what is within their capabilities and they would also know what negates warranties. Like I said, I am espousing further education.

Zen,

You must remember to instruct all new divers to get a bp/w. It is in the TOS for scubaboard. This is critical. Every diver...every single one, who has not switched to a bp/w will eventually die. I have a bp/w and am not dead.

So how does a new diver know when the best time is to start pulling there gear apart? I think this is not for everyone and people who think they are 'mechanically minded' sometimes don't actually know what to look for. I personally would have no problems in pulling apart anything however would only feel comfortable doing so if I had either a mentor (who really knew what they were doing ) or a workshop manual. I know what problems can occur from Poorly trained people pulling things apart. Thereare people out there who think a shifter is the only tool you need and that if something dose not seal then loctite is a perfectly good fix. Sure anyone can do the job after figuring it out, however how many of you can truly say that you are servicing your equipment to the manufactures original specifications and are knowlegable about all aspects of things that can go wrong as the manufacturer would have discovered during R n D? If there is someone on here like that how many slabs to show me?

Absolutely. Your key word here is "Poorly" trained. I am trying to get people to learn more about their gear, not blindly tear into it. As I have said originally, read manuals, talk to to technicians, get your service guy to show you how to do things.

One big thing I have issue with is when say, a pressure gage is leaking air at the base of the console. Quite often this send divers into a tizzy. Usually it has been twisted and twisted and just needs tightening back up. These little things are things every diver should know and be able to check. I get people diving that don't know that the console can come apart. But that is just one example.

Maybe my dive shop is not normal, but we are happy to have our divers hang out. They watch as I take apart their gear and ask questions. I don't mind answering them and they are learning the do's and don'ts. Surely, there are other lds' that do this. It builds a relationship with customers and loyalty. It also increases the skills and safety of divers on my boats. It is a win win as far as I can see.

 

[TSandM]

A really good example of this was the first repair I ever did. I went to do a dive with friends and I had a big leak where the hose came into my second stage. I aborted the dive. As I sat there on the beach, waiting for my friends to come back, I thought, "How complicated can this BE?" So I took it apart and found out it's a simple threaded connection with a single o-ring. I inspected the o-ring and it looked fine, so I just screwed the whole thing back together and tightened it a bit more. I then tested it, and the leak was gone. (Note: You shouldn't tighten something like this when it is under pressure, though -- you will likely destroy the o-ring in the process.)

I still don't service my own regs (although that is coming). But I take apart and clean and service dry suit inflator and exhaust valves, replace my own wrist seals, replace SPG spindles, and do a whole variety of other minor maintenance things that don't require special tools or specific settings. This saves me a lot of money, but more important, it saves me time with my gear out of my hands, and me unable to dive!

 

[tracydr]

Good advice with reservations. Life support gear such as regulators needs to be left to trained professionals. My husband is an engineer and a mechanic. He knows how to service a regulator but we still take ours to the shop.
The other thing is when you're equipment is new and you take it apart make sure you put it back together properly and that it works before you jump in the ocean. The first time I learned to properly rinse my bc and took apart the valves I dint get an o-ring seated right. My next dive was a rough ocean dive and my BC wouldn't hold air under water.

 

[tracydr]

I pull stuff apart just fine. It's the putting things back together that's the problem.
Closing is for medical students, right? Cut it out, have the student close.