Who goes diving without a depth gauge and no computer?

[Contrast]

I'm new to diving and I got certified last summer as basic scuba diver. I did my check out dives at Dutch Springs quarry in PA. I rented gear through the LDS that I took the course with. The gear that I rented along with everyone else in the class dod not have a depth gauge. This seems quite dangerous to myself. Since I was just begining I put my trust into the shop... needless to say I am going through another LDS for my nitrox and advanced, etc... Does this seem dangerous to any of you to dive without a depth gauge? We went down to about 45 - 50 feet.

Oh and I looked on the Dutch Springs website after I was certified and it said you MUST have a depth gauge in order to diver there.

 

[fisherdvm]

May be they assume that everyone will have a dive computer. Eventhen, redundancy is nice. I think it is borderline illegal to rent such equipment.

 

[Contrast]

May be they assume that everyone will have a dive computer. Eventhen, redundancy is nice. I think it is borderline illegal to rent such equipment.

Oh, I forgot to mention that we did not have a dive computer and the shop knew that as we rented all of our gear form them. We only had a air pressure gauge.

 

[Walter]

That was once quite common, but I haven't seen it since the early 90s. Every rental reg should have a depth gauge.

 

[webjr]

That is definitely a violation of PADI standards. I can't imagine any other agency allowing students in the water without a depth gauge.

 

[Contrast]

That is definitely a violation of PADI standards. I can't imagine any other agency allowing students in the water without a depth gauge.

I would think so, but didn't know much at the time. It was NAUI, but they should have the same standards as PADI.

It was even the larger dive shop with 2 locations in the NYC so they should certainly have the proper equipment.

 

[covediver]

who goes diving without a depth meter? people who like to get bent and pay exhorbitant rates for hyberbaric treatment.

I knew a guy once who hocked his depth gage for money to party, got DCS after diving the next day. Got treated, cleared to dive, and got hit in 30 feet of water.

Sometimes as part of a class where shallow depths are certain and time is controlled, not everone will have a depth gage. Not a great practice, but I have seen it.

For me, a depth gage and timer is one of those essential devices that every diver should have. I have used it a lot more than the knife that I wear.

It used to be quite common decades ago, I don't know what the practice is now as I don't rent gear and haven't in decades. But even then, each diver on a boat was required to have a depth gage and timing device.

 

[Steve50]

I would think so, but didn't know much at the time. It was NAUI, but they should have the same standards as PADI.

It was even the larger dive shop with 2 locations in the NYC so they should certainly have the proper equipment.

Suggest you let NAUI know.

 

[TxHockeyGuy]

I would have probably been a little concerned here as well unless I was able to determine depth through other means. I have dove before without a depth gauge or a computer but I still knew how deep I was since I knew the quarry very well. For those wondering my depth gauge was being fixed and I accidentally left my computer up on the picnic table. At any time in the dive I could tell you with an accuracy of 4-5 ft how deep we were and I stayed above the thermo which meant I never hit 40'. Provided you had means of knowing how deep you were without your gauges, a means of determining how long you have been down, and you weren't pushing any limits this was not necessarily dangerous but not what I would consider ideal. I also didn't have a watch with me but knew based on my PSI remaining how long I had been down. When I compared my guesstimate of time against my buddies computer at the end of the dive I was off by less than 5 minutes.

That being said, you're probably not going to know any of those things during your OW checkout dives.

 

[ClayJar]

How can you do the tables if you don't know *your* depth and time?

If you're in a small enclosed body of water that has a well-defined maximum depth, it would be *possible* to dive the tables with just a watch, provided you used the maximum depth as your dive's depth. Observing the 30 feet per minute NAUI table maximum ascent rate would be difficult, however, and knowing where the 15-foot safety stop is would obviously require a depth reference.

Basically, the short answer is that I would consider it gross negligence (not just simple negligence) to have student divers in the water without a depth gauge of some sort. If anything were to happen, in many jurisdictions waivers would not be a defense. Even if they don't care for their students, the simple liability should be enough to get the shop to put a depth gauge on their kit.