Differences between a backplate and wing (BP/W) and a weight integrated BC
April 11th, 2008 Filed Under Article
Here is an overview of what I like about my backplate and wing (BP/W) over a weight integrated BC. I am a recreational diver, so I do not need the double-carrying abilities.
- The shoulder straps attach to the backplate at the bottom (like a backpack), as opposed to being attached to the cummerbund/waist belt in a weight integrated (WI) BC. This allows a wider range of adjustability since the shoulder straps length can be adjusted without affecting the height or tension of the waist belt that much. With a WI BC, when you tighten the shoulder straps, you are really raising the cummerbund/waist belt higher on you since the shoulder straps have to be attached to the weight integrated belt in order to help hold up the weights. For me, being a tall person, I find this amount of adjustability of the BP/W makes it feel more “in place” on me than a WI BC.
- Because the waist strap of a BP/Wcan stay lower on my body than a WI BC, and because the BP/W waist strap can be not as tight as the cummerbund of a WI BC, to me the BP/W feels less restrictive since I don’t have an elastic band velcro’d around me and constricting my diaphragm when I am trying to inhale.
- In terms of trim in the water, I find that a WI BC positions the weights too far up on my body, sometimes causing floaty feet depending on what exposure suit I am wearing. I prefer to wear a weight belt in order to get the weight lower on me, so for me the WI aspect of a WI BC is pretty much negated. I also prefer to wear a weight belt because I like the idea of being weighted independently of my rig in the event I need to remove and replace it underwater, but that is not something that is particular to a BP/W.
- The addition of a crotch strap makes a big difference. This is part of the equation of not having to have all of the straps really snug like with a WI BC. I recently added a crotch strap to my WI BC and it made a big difference in comfort. If you are concerned about a wedgie, your wetsuit is far more of a wedgie machine than a crotch strap will ever be.
- Having two cam straps to hold the tank at two points makes a difference in terms of keeping the tank from wiggling around. It also helps prevent the tank from slipping out if one of the straps is not as tight as it should be.
- The better WI BCs do have a kind of a backplate in them…it is a plastic plate sandwiched between then material that makes the harness and the bladder material. The backplate of a BP/W is typically larger and, for me, gives more of a solid feeling of the rig on my back in the water.
- A WI BC, because of the amount of plastic used, tends to be positively buoyant by a few pounds or so (varies by BC) in the water. A BP/W, while weighing a similar amount on land, will be anywhere from slightly to 5 pounds negative in the water (depending if the backplate is steel or aluminum/composite. I don’t like having to carry extra lead just to compensate for a floaty WI BC.
- I like the simplified inflate/deflate valve on a BP/W. I think some of the WI BC vendors are actually complicating the BC design by making the inflator buttons more stylish.
- I have found that I do not need all of the extra dump valves found on a WI BC.
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Liveaboard diver killed from shark attack off the coast of Florida
February 26th, 2008 Filed Under Uncategorized
Via the Palm Beach Post.
A diver on a live-aboard out of Florida was killed from a bite to the leg during a shark dive put on by the live-aboard. I’ve yet to participate in one of these chummed water shark experience without shark cages, but it just kind of seems like a bad idea, doesn’t it? According to the article, the Bahamas Diving Association sent requests to dive operators to stop doing shark dives inthe name of safety. It is not legal to do these types of dives in American waters.
Read the article here.
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Pucker factor
February 23rd, 2008 Filed Under Uncategorized
From www.surfshooter.com.
Whoa!
Photo by Kurt Jones.
According to surfshooter.com this is actually a dolphin.
Click the photo to go to the pics on surfshooter.com.
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Insulated booties for dry suits
February 21st, 2008 Filed Under Tips
If you are looking for insulated dry suit socks/booties - I bought these Primaloft insulated socks from ProLiteGear.com for $35 + shipping. I’ve used these on several dives….so far so good. I chose them because I like Primaloft - they are not too bulky. They have a Cordura-like bottom for limited walking around.
http://www.prolitegear.com/pl_id_hotsocks.html
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Great book on wetsuits and drysuits
February 21st, 2008 Filed Under Tips
I recently bought the book “Wetsuit and Drysuit Maintenance and Repair” (by Steve Lindblom) from Airspeed Press.
The following two images in this post are from the AirspeedPress.com site:
I tend to be a DIY kind of guy, so my intentions were to see what is involved in making minor repairs and maintenance. The book is a lot more than that. It really in depth about materials, options (gloves, pee valve, etc.) and construction techniques. I found the book to be almost as much of a buyer’s guide as it is an owner’s manual. The book is motivating me to be more ambitious about the kinds of repairs I might tackle at home….and that is both good and bad (lots of other projects to work on here already).
If you are thinking about buying a dry suit, then I think it is worthwhile to get this book as a buyer’s guide.
http://www.airspeedpress.com/divesuit.html
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Another use for that tank that failed hydro?
February 19th, 2008 Filed Under Uncategorized
Here is a product sold on the Petco web site - it is an acrylic aquarium in the shape of a SCUBA cylinder:
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Some myths about getting a plus/+ rating on a low pressure (LP) steel tank
February 18th, 2008 Filed Under Tips
In researching the REE issue I had in getting a plus/+ rating on the hydro of my LP tank, here are some topics I’d like to clear up from what I learned:
- It is rumored that a hydro place can calculate the REE if it is not stamped on the tank. This used to be true at some shops, but it appears to no longer be true today. Calculating the REE is a complicated process involving complex weights and measures of the tank, and then performing complex engineering calculations. I spoke with one shop owner who used to do this with the help of a computer program. He said that DOT now frowns upon hydro shops doing this calculation, so for the most part it seems no one will do it now because (1) it is complicated, and (2) they don’t want DOT scrutinizing them. I would also think that a hydro shop would have to charge more for the hydro if they were doing the calculation, and for an older thank that higher cost of the hydro might be more than the remaining value of the tank.
- Once a tank falls out of the hydro date, it can be hydro’d again with a plus rating. I read some confusion about this - apparently some people have heard that if you don’t get a tank rehydro’d before the current one expires, then you can’t get a plus/+ rating on it again. My tank is living proof that this is not true - my hydro date expired in 1995 and the next hydro was in 2007.
- If you get a hydro without the plus/+ rating because of the lack of a REE number, then you can go back and get it hydro’d again with the REE and get a + rating. Some believe that once you get a hydro without a + rating, then you cannot ever get a + rating again. Again my tank is proof this is not the case since the first hydro I got after purchasing the tank was without the + rating, then I went back with the REE number and got a new hydro with the + rating. I believe the case of when you cannot get the + rating is if the tank passes the normal pressure test but fails the plus rating test. In that case the steel isn’t going to get any stronger, so you won’t be able to get a + rating on it again.
- Hydro policies are interpreted by the hydro shop, not the dive shop where you drop off and pick up the tank from. Dive shops have arrangements with hydro shops so that the dive shop can keep a working relationship with divers (i.e. keep divers coming in to their store), and also to provide the visual inspection for the tank. It is possible to go to hydro shops directly. You may get a better price, but make sure you know what is happening with regards to the visual inspection….like, do you need a new visual inspection in order to get a new vis sticker on your tank. Your local dive shop is the one who puts the visual inspection on the tank, so if your tank needs a visual, then just go through the dive shop. There is also some debate as to the need to do a visual whenever the valve is unscrewed from the tank. I have heard that whenever the valve comes off, you need a visual before it goes back on, even if your tank just recently got a new visual sticker. If you are looking for hydro places, then look for places that service fire extinguishers.
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Follow-up on my REE adventure
February 18th, 2008 Filed Under Tips
To follow up from a previous post about getting a plus/+ rating on a steel low pressure (LP) tank…I bought a Faber manufactured steel LP 95 tank that was manufactured and hydro’d in 1995. The owner didn’t use the tank much after purchasing it and never got it hydro’d again. I recently bought the tank and figured I’d see what I can do with it. The original hydro did have a plus rating. I took it in for hydro (in 2007 - some 10+ years later). There was no REE number stamped on the tank, so it got a “regular” pressure rating, which made it effectively a LP 85 or so. LP tanks with a plus rating where and are marketed at their plus rating volumes. The hydro facility said they would accept an email or fax from Faber with the REE number in order to rehydro at the plus rating. I emailed Faber in Italy with the tank information, requesting the REE number. About two weeks later I got a response from Faber with the REE number. I took the tank back in with the printed email and got the new hydro with the plus rating.
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Get college credit for PADI certifications
February 18th, 2008 Filed Under Uncategorized
If you are working on an Associates or a Bachelor’s degree, your school may accept PADI certifications for recreational/physical education credits. The following PADI website has information on it:
http://www.padi.com/padi/en/footerlinks/collegecreditsace.aspx
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If you are buying a used tank, look for a REE number
October 23rd, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
If you are buying a used tank, especially a low pressure (LP) tank, look around the top of the tank where the serial number is for “REE” and then a number. This Rejection Elastic Expansion (REE) number is what is used to give the LP tank the “+” rating so it can be filled to 10% over the service volume stamped on the tank. Without the REE number, a hydrostatic test facility will only rate the tank to the service pressure stamped on the tank. Unfortunately, LP tanks are marketed according to their “+” volumes, so if you have a LP 95 that cannot get its rating, then you really have a LP 85.
It may be possible to get the REE number for the tank from the manufacturer if you send them the tank serial number.
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Changing modes on your dive computer
October 23rd, 2007 Filed Under Tips
If your computer supports air, nitrox and gauge mode, there are some behaviors it may have when attempting to switch modes that you’ll want to keep in mind. If you change from air mode to either gauge or nitrox mode, you cannot switch it out of those modes for 48 hours or so. In nitrox mode, the computer is tracking your oxygen loading, and on m computer (Suunto Cobra) this O2 tracking does not carry over to air mode. As far as the computer is concerned it cannot accurately calculate your remaining bottom time if you switch modes since you are not coming in to the new mode “clean.” Being clean requires about 48 hours for everything to work its way out of your system. You can still dive air within the 48 hour window; with my computer I just leave it in nitrox mode and set the O2 percentage to 21%.
A similar case is true when switching to gauge mode. Once in gauge mode, the computer doesn’t know what you are doing…you could be in a swimming pool or doing a multilevel decompression dive. When you try to switch back to air or nitrox mode in less than 48 hours from a dive, the computer does not know where you are in terms of nitrogen loading. So if you intend to switch your computer to gauge mode to use in the pool, think first about when is the next time you want to use it in air or nitrox mode for a dive. If that is less than 48 hours away, then do something else (either leave it in air mode if it is a console computer, or leave it in your dive bag if it is a quick disconnect or wrist mount computer).
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Tactical SCUBA boots
October 11th, 2007 Filed Under Tips
I stumbled across some hefty looking tactical style dive boots. These are made by OTB (http://www.otbboots.com/)…as in over-the-beach which is apparently a Navy term when Navy Seals come out of the water and go over the beach and fight on land.
What is nifty about these boots is they have holes in the sole for water to drain out. If you go to the OTB site you can see a little animated demo of it. You can buy OTB footwear through online stores that sell tactical gear, like navyseals.com. These boots are in the $100 price range.
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Dry suit pros and cons, part 1
October 10th, 2007 Filed Under Article
Considering going dry? Here are some factors I was looking at when I made my decision to go dry. I will split it up into multiple posts.
Pros:
User-variable compression
A wetsuit compresses the deeper you go. The more compression, the less thermal insulation. I have noticed that with a particular wetsuit setup I can be fine at 30 feet but then feel cold past 70 feet with similar water temperatures. So, that means that in order to be warm at 70 feet I need to layer up more neoprene before the dive. There are some disadvantages to this; more neoprene means wearing more lead in order to sink. Once the suit compresses some, buoyancy decreases, but I still have all that lead that required to initially get me down and keep me at 15 feet at the end of the dive. Now I am essentially overweighted for the rest of the dive. The deeper I go, the more overweighted I am since the wetsuit continues to compress more, and the deeper I go the less insulation I have.
A dry suit has a low pressure inflater hose connected to is so the diver can add air to compensate for the compression in the insulation layer caused by changes in depth. This allows the diver to maintain the same level of insulation regardless of the depth as the diver can add or release air to maintain the same volume of the air “bubble” in the suit as the diver ascends or descends. The other advantage of controlling the compression is all air in the suit can be vented in order to “vacuum pack” the suit. This reduces the volume of the suit, which reduces the amount of water the diver displaces, which makes the diver less buoyant. This is useful in managing the surface to 15 foot depth range - less weight is required to descend at the beginning of the dive along with maintaining a safety stop and slow ascent to the surface at the end of a dive (when the tank will weigh less since there is less compressed air in it). So with a dry suit you don’t have to pack extra lead for the shallower depths where there is less compressing force than at depth. Weighting for a wetsuit is pretty much what is required to keep you at 15 feet at the end of the dive, whereas weighting for a dry suit is more like the weight required to be neutrally buoyant during the dive with the desired amount of air in the suit. User preference and undergarment materials can affect the size of the bubble in the suit. So a dry suit isn’t so much about keeping the water out as it is about keeping the air bubble in.
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Resources for Monterey shore diving
October 10th, 2007 Filed Under Tips
I found the following resources to help find out more about Monterey beach dive sites and logistics to get to them:
http://www.divemonterey.info/Sites/divesite.html - This seems to be the most definitive of the online resources I found so far.
The book A Diver’s Guide to Monterey County by Bruce Watkins is available online from California Diving News or from many dive shops in the Bay area.
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Clean your first stage and BC thoroughly
October 5th, 2007 Filed Under Tips
Reading the book Diver Down and talking with a local dive shop owner reminded me of how important it is to thoroughly clean your first stage and the inside of the BC after a dive. The reason is that salt water leaves salt crystals behind when it dries, and those crystals cause problems when they jam up stuff.
Most first stages have a little hole in them that lets water enter in order to use the water pressure to as part of the function of how the unit works. Crystals deposited in there can interfere with the functioning of the unit. As recommended in both Diver Down and by the LDS owner, a quick dunk in fresh water is not sufficient to get all the crusties out. A first stage needs some soaking and vigorous swishing around to leave it clean. Yet another reason to own your own gear rather than rent…you know all that rental gear just gets a quick dunk when cleaned by the people renting it.
As for BC, the LDS owner said one time he saw a BC that got punctured by a salt crystal stalactitie that formed inside the air bladder and punched through as a result of not being rinsed out.
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Moved the SCUBA blog from Blogger to my own URL
October 4th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
I moved my blog from Blogger to my own URL with WordPress as my blogging tool. My reasons for this are:
- Ownership and control of my content - my domain = my content
- More control over the blog interface. Blogger is limits and WordPress is rich with plug-ins and administrative control
- Google doesn’t index Blogger entries
- Ability to have more control over potential future Adsense and other marketing
- I want to start working on page rankings for this URL as a potential future site for a team blogging initiative on SCUBA
I had trouble importing the Blogger posts to here. The delivered import tool with Wordpress didn’t work, so I created a hosted wordpress blog (wordpress.com), imported the Blogger entries (it worked there) , then exported them to a file and imported here. Then I deleted the hosted blog.
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Tips on buying a SCUBA tank
October 1st, 2007 Filed Under Article
Making a purchase decision on your own SCUBA tank can be a confusing one. Aluminum or steel? High pressure or low pressure? What size? Here is what I learned in doing research for a purchase decision:
Aluminum versus steel:
As a primary/back cylinder, the common aluminum tank (AL - the Dept of Transportation code for an aluminum constructed compressed gas cylinder) is the 80 cu.ft. A 100 cu.ft. can also be found. There is one primary advantage of AL tanks - they cost less than steel tanks. Other than that, most people go steel over AL as a tank they wear on their back (a stage bottle or pony is a different story). In terms of buoyancy, AL tanks are not very negative when full and are positively buoyant by about 4 pounds when at 500 PSI. That means packing more lead in order to sink. One case where an AL can be beneficial is in the case of warm water diving where large capacity steel tank will have enough negative buoyancy that a diver in a thin wetsuit could still be negative even after dumping their weights. That is not a concern for me since I am a big guy and get cold easy, so I have more neoprene than most people and all that foam requires more weight to sink me; Plus where I live I will only be doing cold water diving with the tank. There are neutrally buoyant 80 cu.ft. AL tanks on the market, but they are more expensive than regular AL tanks. AL tanks have very poor resale value, and they tend to fail hydro long before a steel tank will. Most AL tanks are rated (will be full at) 3000 psi, with some rater at 3300 psi.
Steel (AA - the Dept of Transportation code for a steel constructed compressed gas cylinder) tanks have a thinner wall than AL tanks. Most AA tanks are more negative (for a given volume) at the beginning of the dive than AL tanks, and AA tanks end the dive still negative while weighing similar to an AL tank of same compressed volume on land. AA tanks come in a wider range of volumes and sizes than AL tanks do. AA tanks have good resale value because they last a long time and therefore hold their value well. It isn’t unheard of to buy a new one, dive it for a bit and sell it for 80% of what was paid for it. AA tanks cost anywhere from 2 to 3 times the cost of an AL tank.
High pressure or low pressure?
AA tanks pretty much come in two flavors, low pressure and high pressure. Low pressure (LP) is defined as 2400 psi. LP tanks on the market today have a plus (+) rating, which means they can be filled 10% over the 2400 psi, or to 2640 psi. High pressure (HP) tanks are rated to 3442 psi. HP tanks are relatively new to diving; they have been around since 2003 or so. Here are some fundamentals on LP or HP tanks before we move on:
- An advantage of a LP fill is that you know you will get a complete fill no matter where you go since all fill stations can fill to LP. Also, the tank doesn’t get as hot as a HP tank so there is less settling (lowing of tank pressure from drop in pressure) after a fill.
- HP tanks are great in that you get a lot of air in a compact cylinder, but they need to be filled slowly and preferably submerged in water to control heat so there will be minimal settling. There are probably some fill stations out there that cannot go higher than 3000 psi, but all that I have seen recently can give a HP fill. The problem is if you get a quick fill, like on a dive boat or in a shop at a dive location where the tank is not going to be in water during the fill, then you will end up with a short fill. I was talking to someone who recently went on a live-aboard where his fills would consistently settle to around 3100 psi.
- In the past many people would over fill their LP tanks to 3000 psi and above. The nickname for this is a “cave fill” since cave divers want the maximum amount of gas volume in the minimal amount of space. I think it is also because HP tanks haven’t been around very long, so what they were essentially doing was creating HP tanks from LP tanks. To do this they would need to add another burst disk to the tank. Over filling is a practice you can’t count on getting. Everyone is so safety paranoid today that even though there is a past record of the practice working, tank manufacturers and many fill stations will not condone it.
- Buoyancy characteristics of LP and HP tanks are about the same
- The price between LP and HP tanks are about the same for a given volume
- A HP tank does not need to be filled at HP all the time. It can be filled “short” to mid or low pressure, but the volume will be less. For example, according to a steel tank information page on the DiveRiteExpress.com web site, a HP 100 will be an 80 at 2640 psi, and an 89 cu.ft tank at 3000 psi.
- I read one belief that HP tanks strain equipment in the upper psi range of the fill, and that it is better to fill HP tanks to about 3000 psi.
Since a HP tank can also become a LP tank (with smaller volume), I decided to choose a HP tank of appropriate size so that the LP volume would meet my needs. That way I would always get enough of a fill that I need for most dives. My plan is to have it filled to around 3000 psi the majority of the time, and then occasionally take it up to 3442 psi if I need the extra volume.
One disadvantage of a larger tank is if the volume in it is more than you need (i.e. you come up with a bunch of air left) then you are lugging around the extra weight of that air in the water. For example, a 130 tank when full is about 11 pounds heavier than when at 500 psi. If a diver consistently only uses 5 pounds of that air, then they are carrying around an extra 6 pounds that has to be compensated by having more air in their BC…and the more air in the BC the more buoyancy is hard to control. Why not just drop 6 pounds off the weight belt in that scenario? Proper weighting means the diver can hold a safety stop with 500 psi, so if you don’t breath the air in the tank, then it is just extra weight. So….the biggest tank on the market is not necessarily the best for everyone. It is more like – get the tank that has physical dimensions that fit you and that has a LP volume that will work for you, and then choose the fill based on what you will probably need for the dive. This is why a diver may choose to short fill a high capacity tank and turn it in to a LP tank.
See the Variable Capacity of Cylinders section on this page from Dive Rite Express: http://www.diveriteexpress.com/gas/steel.shtml
Tank dimensions:
Different capacity tanks have different dimensions. Some are close in volume but different in shape. The diameter of the tank will be either approximately 7.25 or 8 inches, and the length varies by tank. As an example of two similar volumes with different sizes, the XS SCUBA 120 cu.ft. is 7.25 inches by 28 inches long. Their 119 tank is 8 inches by 24 inches long. For comparison, an AL tank is 7.25 by 26 inches. Length can play a part in comfort and trim. A shorter, fatter tank will put more weight high up on the diver’s torso. A tall diver probably wants to get a longer tank since they have a longer torso, and a shorter diver probably wants a shorter tank so they don’t feel like is it hanging between their legs in the water. I am 6’4”, but I chose not to get the 120 as I believe anything longer than an AL 80 will feel a tad long on me.
Which size did I choose? I dived a LP 95 and a HP 100 and felt those volumes were the minimum I want to be able to do the slow ascents that I want to do. In terms of volume, a 119 is perfect but it is a bit short for a tall person. I was torn between the 120 and 130 cu.ft. tanks as far as a purchase decision. I decided to go for the 130 since I was a little concerned about the length of the 120. So the 130 is three volumes in one tank – according to the Dive Rite Express web site regarding tank selection, a 130 is also a low pressure 104 and mid pressure 117. It all depends on how much air you put in it.
Additional reading:
Dive Rite Express page about choosing a tank
http://www.diveriteexpress.com/library/tanks.shtml
Dive Rite Express page about tank volumes
http://www.diveriteexpress.com/gas/steel.shtml
XS SCUBA specs page for their tanks
http://www.xsscuba.com/tank_steel_specs.html
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Holy shark bait!
September 29th, 2007 Filed Under Uncategorized
Whoa! Apparently this pic is not doctored and is the real thing. I guess this shark is in the mood for a banana. I found a link to it at http://scubadiving.gadling.com. Here is the post URL:
http://scubadiving.gadling.com/2007/07/05/reason-451-why-im-afraid-of-the-ocean/
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Blue screen of death
September 29th, 2007 Filed Under Video clips
This is a Sun commercial against Microsoft that was apparently banned from TV. I found it on http://www.scubaherald.com/.
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Self-reliance
September 28th, 2007 Filed Under Article
I like the idea of being more self sufficient in the water so I can rely less upon whomever I have for a buddy. Not that I want to dive completely solo, it is just that even with a buddy you may very well be effectively diving solo. Here is why:
- One of the reasons for having is buddy is in the event of an out of air situation. That means the buddy is carrying my emergency air supply. What if they don’t manage their gas supply well enough to leave a little extra for me? What if I am bigger than the buddy and I suck down their tank? What if they are ahead of me and I can’t catch them on one breath of air?
- Counting on a buddy to help me means relying upon them to have the skills and the mindset to do it. To me, that means everyone should aim to be at least rescue trained.
- In the past I have gone on dive charters alone and been assigned an “insta-buddy” wherein the boat divemaster says everyone needs a buddy and pairs up buddy-less divers. How much can I rely upon this other person?
I remember one insta-buddy incident in particular. I was on a dive charter in the Turks and Caicos islands and I got assigned an insta-buddy on the boat. After we jumped in to the water, we descended and he took off. He never looked back. I followed for a bit, but when I realized I couldn’t catch him, I gave up and just had a nice solo dive. Back on the boat I didn’t bother saying anything to him because after seeing what kind of buddy he was I felt safer diving solo. I had my underwater housing for my 35 mm camera and a big strobe unit to drag around, so I liked the idea of just cruising around and snapping some pics. Of course this brings up the issue of having mutual dive objectives, so my bad for not discussing them…but he should not have taken off like that. The next dive was the same thing. We descended from the surface over the wall. He flips heads down and starts finning hard straight down along the wall. I thought maybe he saw something, so I start following. At 80 feet I stopped and watched him disappear below me. I ascended a bit and had a nice solo wall dive. I would have been putting myself at risk if I were to keep up with him. He was putting me at risk by not being a buddy. Screw him.
What is involved in being more self-reliant? There is solo diving and then there is being self-reliant. Being self-reliant is part of diving solo. I want to be more self-reliant and still dive with someone else. It just means I don’t need to rely upon them as much, and if they are more self-reliant then they don’t need to rely upon me as much either. I see steps towards self sufficiency being:
- Carrying a larger primary air supply, and a redundant secondary air supply
- Proficiency in underwater skills
- Comfort underwater in dealing with a variety of conditions and incidents
- Knowing your limits
When I searched for other sources of info on the internet about solo diving, I found the objectives they list corresponds to my list.
Air supply: Under the buddy system, my buddy carries my emergency air supply. Self-reliance means I carry my own. I think this means having a larger primary tank so I have extra time to figure out how to free myself if I get tangled up in something, and it also means carrying a redundant air supply and regulator in case I have a first stage failure or go out of air. I recently purchased a 40 cf tank and regulator setup and the redundant setup, and a 130 cf for my primary. On the subject of air supply, I also believe in using nitrox in order to reduce nitrogen loading. I will sling the 40 like a deco bottle. A 40 cf tank might sound kind of big compared to the compact Spare Air units out there, but I am a big guy and therefore have a larger lung capacity. I want enough air to be able to make a slow and safe ascent from a deeper dive. I think of a Spare Air more as an escape bottle to get a few breaths in while doing a controlled emergency swimming ascent (CESA). I also have other plans for that 40 - like filling it with a richer blend of nitrox than my back gas and using it as a washout gas while ascending (once I am above the max depth for the nitrox mix).
Proficiency in underwater skills: Being able to maintain composure if someone accidentally knocks my mask loose with their fin or similar incident means extra safety for me since I won’t have the urge to bolt to the surface or grab on to a buddy. Being able to remove my BC underwater to help untangle it is important too. For me, taking the Divemaster course to re-visit the open water skills have helped give me assurance that I can handle these kinds of incidents on my own. Another skill is being able to do a free ascent while having control over the ascent so I can decide my ascent rate and where I am going to do my safety stop. Navigation is important as well; being able to make a nice underwater tour and end up back at the boat makes for a nice dive, as opposed to ending the dive with a long surface swim through kelp.
Comfort underwater in dealing with a variety of conditions and incidents: To me this means having some experience in dealing with a number of conditions, like current, kelp, low visibility, etc.
Knowing your limits: Experience will give some indication of what your comfort level is for a number of things. This is not only personal limits, but also adhere to recreational diving limits. I physically feel better after making a slower than “normal” ascent, so I like to incorporate a slow ascent in to my dive plan.
Related links:
The Buddy System Reexamined
http://cisatlantic.com/trimix/other/solo2.htm
Going Solo - The Solo Diver Debate
http://www.o2technicaldiving.com/articles/going_solo_the_solo_diving_debate/
Solo Diving the and Recreational Diver, Part 1
http://www.airheadsscuba.com/soldvrarta.pdf
Solo Diving and the Recreational Diver, Part 2
http://www.airheadsscuba.com/soldvrartb.pdf
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