What Are Your "Pro-Tips" for Safety, Redundancy, and Accident Handling

[ginti]

There is a misconception out there that being a little over-weighted makes buoyancy management easier. In practice, the more you over-weight, the more you're managing an air-bubble that changes in volume and buoyancy as you go up and down. In contract, a much smaller bubble will result in smaller buoyancy changes as you ascend and descend.

Actually, if one dives dry and does not purge well enough the suit, being over-weighted helps maintain decent buoyancy control at the end of the dive. Obviously this is a bad approach (the right one is to learn purging the suit properly). But it helps.

 

[SlugLife]

Actually, if one dives dry and does not purge well enough the suit, being over-weighted helps maintain decent buoyancy control at the end of the dive. Obviously this is a bad approach (the right one is to learn purging the suit properly). But it helps.

Right. The same is true of a BCD experiencing air-trapping. There are certainly edge-cases and exceptions my various tips and advice didn't get into, because that would make the post even longer or perhaps deserving their own threads.

 

[Cthippo]

I agree being properly weighted is preferred, but I prefer to err on the side of a little over rather than run the risk of being a little under. I can manage too much, I cannot manage too little.

 

[Robert H. Diver]

I agree being properly weighted is preferred, but I prefer to err on the side of a little over rather than run the risk of being a little under. I can manage too much, I cannot manage too little.

Yea I think being about 2lbs “overweight” is ok and manageable, anything over that and I’ve found I’m adding and letting out too much air in my bcd/Drysuit too often.

 

[NothingClever]

What are your "pro tips" (or armature tips) for improving one's safety when diving?

Train like you mean it.

 

[johndiver999]

I agree being properly weighted is preferred, but I prefer to err on the side of a little over rather than run the risk of being a little under. I can manage too much, I cannot manage too little.

You manage too little by carrying a rock. It is just penance for screwing up your weighting, but in general it is better to be over weighted rather than underweighted.

My general idea with respect to safety etc. is to have a response to survive just about any single failure of equipment, but not some environmental or medical issues. Things along those lines include redundant air supply, usually some ditchable lead, two knives/cutting tools, some potential means of redundant buoyancy, carrying a light for lost at sea scenario, and generally carrying some means for shark defense/deterrence. Also practice using some of the equipment and procedures from time to time.

 

[SlugLife]

As a request: Could we try to keep this topic tips-focused? It's all too easy for this type of topic to drift into 10-pages of nuanced debate, which may be more suitable for a dedicated thread. We're not there yet, but I just wanted to make sure we stay focused.

Weighting-tips are of course applicable.

You manage too little by carrying a rock.

Underwater Under Weighting Tips: (During a dive, not before a dive or on the surface)

• I often carry a spare rolled-up mesh-bag with a bolt-snap in a pouch. That has a variety of uses, however, one such use could be carrying that rock, allowing you to free up your hands. (Typically, that bag is for loot I might find while diving, if I accidentally leave my main mesh bag on the boat) You can also of course stuff rocks in pockets, if you have sufficiently large ones.
• Swimming down is one way to manage under-weighting. The increased depth will compress the air in your BCD, dry-suit, or your wetsuit, and give you an opportunity to work out the air-trapping or other issues.
• Horizontal trim can slow your ascent rate, and make it easier to transition to finning-down to also slow or stop an ascent.
• Safety-stop can be done a little deeper if needed. It is after-all a safety-stop, so if you have to do it at 30ft instead of 15ft, that's better than mistakenly finding yourself on the surface too early. (Deco-stops are a little different of course).
• To fine-tune weighting, you can use larger fishing-weights in pockets. This lets you adjust 1/4 or 1/2 or 1 lbs at a time.
• Breath-control - Try reducing lung-volume (while still breathing of course). It's possible you're nervous and lung-volume is contributing to your buoyancy.

edit: Because I was misinterpreted, if you're under-weighted before a dive, fix it then. These are tips for handling under-weighted after-the-fact while underwater.

edit3: Apparently I don't have enough disclaimers. If you know you have buoyancy issues before you're under the water, fix it then. These are only for dealing with positive-buoyancy while already underwater, such as towards the end of a dive. Are my disclaimers visible enough?​

 

[rx7diver]

What are your "pro tips" (or armature tips) for improving one's safety when diving? ...

My suggestion is for a diver to configure his/her gear so that some of his safety gear should remain with him no matter what. For example, I configure my gear so that if I should need to ditch my scuba, then my whistle, signaling mirror, dive knife, and compass remain with me.

rx7diver

 

[SlugLife]

My suggestion is for a diver to configure his/her gear so that some of his safety gear should remain with him no matter what. For example, I configure my gear so that if I should need to ditch my scuba, my whistle, signaling mirror, dive knife, and compass remain with me.

rx7diver

100% this.

My "always there" safety gear on my BCD:

• Dive-Alert or whistle
• 2 low-profile cutting devices
• DSMB or lift-bag, and spool
• Backup flashlight (though being charged may be an issue)
• Spare mesh bag with a clip.
• SOLAS tape, on all my tanks, fins, and some various other gear.

Also, I carry redundant-air (pony, or SideMount) on EVERY dive as a rule. Doesn't matter if it's 15ft, or 130ft.

----

Side-note: I'm currently working on, a "gauntlet" which will contain at least some of the following: redundant computer, depth-gauge, mirror, cutting-device, compass, cutting-device. Though I need to work it out in such a way, that it doesn't add clutter, which gets into another safety-tip about not being a "Christmas tree diver," why that's a hazard, and how to avoid it (which I'll save for another post)

 

[johndiver999]

swimming down when underweighted at the start of a dive is a recipe for having a problem. It is especially "easy" to for example, forget a weight belt, jump into a rough ocean, swim along side the boat (fighting a current and waves) and then pull yourself down the anchor line. Depending on conditions, you could arrive at 80 feet with no lead and have zero problems or warning, other than it seemed like you didn't need to add much air in the BC at the bottom and boy that current was strong on the anchor line.

So suggesting a diver to "swim down" as a means to offset inadequate weight, may well result in a problem when the tank is low on ascent, especially if you have large capacity tanks. Bad Idea...

If you think you are underweighted, check or add some lead and try again, swimming down is NOT a good tip.