Working rig questions.

[leam]

If any of you have an AGA I can have real cheap I'll happily make my sport diving conform to my PSD work.

Except for the pony/AGA/manifold setup I PSD with my own gear. Even to the buddy line and pelican; I'm still learning and I want to learn right. When I can afford to set aside the Air2 I will, and when the team coordinator and equipment officer finally get tired of me mentioneing it we'll tear apart all the rigs and make them the same. If we can afford to make them "right" we will, but right now I'll settle for the same.

Our "standard" is 2 knives, though I'm hoping to overcome the macho and move it to knife and shears. Pelican, 6' buddy line, strobe on the back, and 2 lights. We're also moving away from the big lights as they are useless in the muck. That and the hard-strapped on pony, manifold, and AGA gives us lots of entangelment possibilities and fun.

Most of the BCs have integrated weights. Tuesday night we're doing some entanglement training and I'm looking forward to it. Last week I took my BC, wrapped the hose around a platform support, and then swam over the platform, crawled under it, and got stuff back on. The air was much appreciated by the time I got to it! I'm hoping to build our team's comfort level to the point where we could stand to be entangled and get donated air. The TC feels many of the divers wouldn't take off the AGA to get to more air. A quick plugin to the AGA or manifold would be ideal but right now I'm just hoping for an emergency solution.

Standardizing equipment should be enough shock for this year. I've already floated the IADRS annual water certification check-list. That should cause some discussion; many of us are "well rounded".

ciao!

leam

 

[bridgediver]

I dive about the same configuration all the time for sport or for work. The only big changes I make are when I take a trip to the warmer waters.

I don’t think the diving is that different but the job or task, when, where and how we do it is. I think we all agree that a lot of sport gear is not suitable for PSD. But not much in PSD isn’t suitable for sport.

That should speed thing up a bit.

Gary D.

Gary, I'm not talking about gear that is non-standard within the team, that one is a given. For team work and training all the gear should be the same, I agree.

What I have difficulty with is the statement that you should only dive one type of rig. The only thing that I might wear that's the same for my sport diving rig and my PSD rig are the fins - everything else is different. Most of the PSD stuff is overkill for sport IMO and I won't EVER use for fun dives. Some examples
An AGA (especially one with comms) requires alot more care and maintenance than the standard reg (all the noise scares the heck out of the fish too!) Comfortable in the water but a bit of a hassel
A viking suit is the most dependable working suit out there but its way to heavy and restricts movement for sport.
Pony's also are also difficult to find if you're sport diving abroad. Many don't use them and they're also a hassel if you don't need them. A good buddy is better for sport diving.

Even if you only change exposure protection from dry to wet (if you do warm water stuff) the rig is completely different and doesn't follow the prescribed pattern. The PSD rig also changes though. Depending on the seasons we'll wear a different undergarment so the weighting, bouyancy, trim and suit characteristics are all different.

And then theres my tech rig and the rig I use for teaching OW which are both all different equipment again...

The right tool for the job WITH the right skill for each tool. If I'm a golfer and I go to play baseball I can't use a golf club; I need a bat. And I should know how to swing a bat too

 

[bridgediver]

The TC feels many of the divers wouldn't take off the AGA to get to more air. A quick plugin to the AGA or manifold would be ideal but right now I'm just hoping for an emergency solution.

leam

Sometimes you may have to remove the AGA. A friend of mine on the neighboring team witnessed one of his divers break the visor on his AGA from a rock so bad that it couldn't keep water out - imagine what his face would look like if he wasn't wearing the FFM!! He could have drowned without the backup octo.
Train for the worst! It'll give you more confidence (and its more fun)

A QD on your pony hose and an octo off the reg isn't much. Maybe a couple hundered bucks. The QD on its own is probably $60. Sorry to say it but I don't think there's any other solution for bad gear except replacement. I've had to replace alot of bad gear, it seems to be just the way it is - unless you can get the proper guidance up front. Hard to do.