New Equipment Wish List

[mrclean]

Hey folks,

I figured you folks could give me some suggestions or recommendations on some gear. Here's my scenario: I have acquired within the past 1-2 years an entire recreational diving inventory. My equipment is mostly DUI (drysuit and BCD) and Mares Abyss regulators and a Suunto computer. I have three regular 80 cu ft Aluminum tanks plus a couple of pony bottles of various sizes. Okay, so I'm pretty set for basic equipment.

As some of you know, I live right by Lake Wazee and that's mainly where I dive, but now I'm spreading out and trying Lake Michigan wrecks and looking to try other spots around Wisconsin this summer.

I also recently came into some money selling some stuff on Ebay in the past couple of weeks, cleaning out my gun related stuff that I don't use much anymore and trying to make room for all the scuba equipment.

So, I've got a budget of $2,000 to spend. I'm really intrigued by the tech diving equipment and being so close to Wazee I'd have a place to use it after getting the proper certifications for deeper stuff. So that's kind of what I'm looking at.

Could you please make some recommendations for equipment that I could look into given my interests and budget. I already talked to Keith at Wazee Sports and he is more than happy to help me spend my money.

Thanks everybody.

Andy

[Chris H]

Go and get a backplate and wing from Keith. Sell your other BC because you will never want to dive it again. Use the money you get from the BC to buy a long hose for your primary, and maybe bands for the doubles that you will want after you dive them for the first time and you are properly weighted.

Keep one of the Al 80s for deco gas, and maybe a 40 too. That will come later, but don't get rid of useful stuff you already have.

Get yourself a pair of PST 80s and double them with a good isolation manifold. You shouldn't really need bigger tanks than that, but I seem to recall somebody joking about your air consumption last weekend, and you are a bigger guy so do whatever you think works as far as tank size goes. Divepoint Scuba in Stevens Point has really good PST prices. Have somebody show you how to set it up so you can reach your valves and find all of the things you need to find. There is tons of stuff on the net, but it is nice to have a real person help.

Come to Deep Blue this summer, take DIR-F and then practice, practice, and practice some more. Get all of the basics figured out and then worry about the technical part of it. I have no idea what your experience is, but I tend to not want to be a card collector, and actually get something out of my training. When you think you are comfortable with all of the basics, take a Deco Procedures/Advanced Nitrox course with a good instructor, call Deep Blue, and you should get a pretty good idea of what you are doing well and what you need to work on. If you can get through the DIR-F and build on those skills from the beginning, you should be in really good shape. I don't want to start another DIR anti DIR war, but in my opinion a course like DIR-F certainly won't hurt your skills.

I'm planning to do DIR-F this summer, but the rest of that explanation sounds a lot like the path I've taken. It doesn't make it the right way to go but I think I'm an OK diver. If there is one skill that I could choose to work on the most it would be buoyancy. Getting buoyancy and trim figured out is a HUGE accomplishment. Seeing somebody do a deco stop and remain horizontal and nearly motionless, without hanging on a line, is pretty cool. Make that a goal and practice, practice, and practice some more.

[jasondbaker]

You may want to hold off on the equipment purchases and just invest in more training first. That way you will find what equipment will work best for your future diving profiles.

You can't go wrong buying a backplate+wing or a couple of steel tanks.

[mrclean]

I also forgot to add in my original post that I am Advanced certified with a couple other accessory certifications like Drysuit, Ice, Rescue.

The other point is I'm not in any hurry to go out and invest more money in new gear until I've researched thoroughly all the pros and cons of everything.

So, keep up the suggestions and advice, I really appreciate it.

On a DIR note, can anybody suggest a good book(s) on DIR Fundamentals.

Thanks again

Andy

[Chris H]

I believe that the DIR-F book is called just that. Jarrod Jablonski is the author. It is availlable on GUEs web site and I know Deep Blue has it in stock. However, if you live in Black River Falls, knowing where you can buy it in Milwaukee doesn't do you much good.

[FreediveWI]

Here's the link if your interested:



The book is good, but I would highly recommend the course before you go and spend a lot of money on gear. You'll probably spend less money on gear by time your done, because you won't end up buying a bunch of stuff you don't need.

Also, don't sell any of your tanks if you want to get into tec diving. Aluminum 80's are the work horse of tec diving. If you don't want to invest in steel tanks you can double up your 80's and add a stainless steel back plate, and a V-weight, to get the same balance as steel tanks- plus you can still use them as doubles with a wetsuit on which is a huge no-no with steel tanks.

Depending upon the size of your pony bottles, they can be used for argon, 02, 50% mix, or other deco gas. No reason to sell something that you'll just end up buying back later on.

Oh yeah, get rid of your BC and go with a back plate and wing no matter what. The DIR-F class will go over what to buy and how to rig it correctly- which is almost an art form in itself.

Jon

[dfreeman]

Andy,

Chris and Jon are giving you the best advice that I could give at this stage. Backplate and wings, definitely. Never can have enough tanks. Keith usually has some good prices on steel tanks.

Take the classes and hang around at Lake Wazee. Once the water loosens up in a few months, you will find George, Jason, Al and I at Lake Wazee on a regular basis and we will give you plenty of chances to decide what equipment works for you. There will be others from this site there also.

See you at the lake.

Doug

[mrclean]

Chris H

I happen to be spending the weekend in Milwaukee this weekend. I will have time to spare to shop for diving books. I'm going on the Len-Der charter on Sunday. Can't wait!!

Also, I did check out the Deepblue website the other night and plan on checking it out further tonight.

Andy

[scubert]

Matt and I and another buddy will be on Sunday's charter as well (weather permitting of course ;D )

[FreediveWI]

You guys better give a call because things don't look good for Sunday's charter. This year we've had more ice out on the lake than any in recent memory.

My bother-in-law is a commercial fisherman and says that they have ice at least 5 miles out on the lake right now. I guess it took his boat about 2 hours just to break ice to get to the gap! Them, they had to break more ice to get out on site and haul in nets.

Jon