Recent Posts

• Differences between a backplate and wing (BP/W) and a weight integrated BC
• Liveaboard diver killed from shark attack off the coast of Florida
• Pucker factor
• Insulated booties for dry suits
• Great book on wetsuits and drysuits
• Another use for that tank that failed hydro?
• Some myths about getting a plus/+ rating on a low pressure (LP) steel tank
• Follow-up on my REE adventure
• Get college credit for PADI certifications
• If you are buying a used tank, look for a REE number
• Changing modes on your dive computer
• Tactical SCUBA boots
• Dry suit pros and cons, part 1
• Resources for Monterey shore diving
• Clean your first stage and BC thoroughly
• Moved the SCUBA blog from Blogger to my own URL
• Tips on buying a SCUBA tank
• Holy shark bait!
• Blue screen of death
• Self-reliance
• Safety stop
• Links to info on CO2 and diving
• Now diving dry
• Divemaster certification
• Another vote for Nitrox
• Why I like Nitrox
• Rescue Diver certification
• Just found a recent dissenting opinion about Lahaina Divers
• Lahaina Divers - review
• Advanced Open Water certification experience
• Video cameras my change the game for UW photography
• SCUBA certifications

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Links

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• Maui Dive Sites on AlohaShoreDivers.com
• Mermaidsdream - A Scuba Emporium mentor blogger
• Nova Diving - Ramblings - An instructor and blogger in the Arlington, VA area
• Sarah Goes SCUBA Diving
• Scuba Board - A great general SCUBA forum, although sometimes too opinionated on technical/DIR diving
• SwollFin - A Scuba Emporium mentor blogger - …a journey learning about the scuba diving industry…
• WetPixel - Digital imaging for divers

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

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

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

Links to info on CO2 and diving

September 26th, 2007   Filed Under Tips  

I found some links regarding carbon dioxide and how it affects us while diving:
ACCLIMATIZATION YOU DON’T WANT - CARBON DIOXIDE
http://scuba-doc.com/CO2acclim.pdf

CO2 Risk Management Summary
http://www.cisatlantic.com/trimix/AQUAcorps/mix/CO2Summary.htm

CARBON DIOXIDE AND ITS EFFECTS ON DIVING
http://www.airheadsscuba.com/archives.htm#co2