Northwest Dive Club

I suggest entering by back rolling off the gunnel - ala Jaques Coutseau. Standing and giant striding is a nightmare on a small boat. Attach some 6' long lines to an amidships cleat. With SS bolt snaps on the ends. You can attach you BC here at the end (I have 4 of these). Most people shouldn't sink ...

I bet your ski boat is more comfortable than my 12.5 foot inflatable...

Winterized? Heck the best time of year is just beginning!

Dive Site Name: Waterman's Wall Current Sensitive: Yes very! Do-able on neap tides only. Requires slack before ebb to avoid downwellings. Secondary current station = Rich Passage, West End Location/Address: Rich Passage between Bainbridge Island and Manchester/Port Orchard Directions: Boat, 100' off...

I use the empty the suit, dump the tank(s) to 4-500 psi, descend (barely) then add 2 lbs approach. Yes, I can get down with less - shrink wrapped. But when I am finishing up a long dive anywhere, puttering around in <20 ft, I want gas in my suit! I've typically been in the water about 45 to 70 minut...

Part of this has to do with compressability. 0 to 100 psi is not exactly the same amount as 3400 to 3500 psi. I have always heard the bulk of the discrepancies are due to marketing inaccuracies. ALA an AL80 really holding 77cf. My double hp100s have a tank factor of 5.7 and lp85s 6.4 but I just use ...

Yup, you never know. There's no real plus to having a metal to metal connection IMO. While they may be more secure, if one where to lossen its not like you'd have a wrench underwater to tighten it. They will cause some minor corrosion under the band. With a webbing/cord connection: 1) if something c...

With most things that you attach to a backplate and/or doubles like stages or argon bottles, its best if they swing around neutral. I.e a 40cf deco bottle goes from -2 to +2. An AL80 stage is about -3 to +3 with a reg attached. This makes adding or subtracting stuff from your kit easier IMO. In the ...

Sounds like a good plan. BTW you don't necessarily need 300 bar manifold and I'd actually suggest getting 200 bar. Those are just slang terms, "200 bar" is totally adequate for 3442 psi HP cylinders. 300 bar valves can sometimes get dinged and the DIN fitting won't seal good when the threa...

Not sure about with a scooter. There is a road but the whole hillside is basically a defunct gravel pit. I doubt you could drive down it, but maybe. I have seen kids jumping off the conveyor belt (swimming) and they had to have gotten there somehow. Northstar has tried to restart that pit for years ...

For all practical purposes they have the same interior volume and hold the same amount of gas when pressurized the same.

Its hard to find water capacities on the web - I tried all the usual suspects.

A couple of inches in length really can significantly alter your trim IMO. I don't totally understand the need for 260cf of gas, but that's neither here nor there. My hp100s are good for just about any reasonable Tech1 dive. If I need more than 200 cf of bottom gas, I'm bringing an AL80 stage - a mo...

Its been a year since I was in BC, I would say at that time argon availability was spotty. Sechelt did not have any last time I asked. Nanaimo and Victoria have 3000 psi argon. Most places with argon already have a booster for He and/or PP fills so they just add an Ar supply and pump to rated bottle...

My wife had a custom 7mm made for her by wetwear (they were a pain to work with).

1/2 the improvement is from the better fit, the rest (in my case) from the thicker material.

Check out Otter Bay wetsuits for custom hoods - Cricket's great!

http://otterbaysuits.com/

I would prefer to assume it all goes horribly wrong... I'll be mugged at the pilings below the boundary cable for my long hose and my mask will get ripped off by a diver not on my team, when I get my mask back on my buddy will be dealing with the OOA victim's panicking buddy which delays leaving de...

Quite a bit. Rather than talk in temps, I'd say I'm good for an extra 20 mins of BT over air inflation.

A really good hood is another wise investment. Mine's a custom 12mm, toasty!

I have a booster at home so getting a 3000 psi fill of argon is easy. The 6cf bottles are nice because they are so small. I use mine with a single hp80 on up to double 100s. 3-4 dives off one bottle depending on depth mostly. I have a cheap Apeks piston reg (~$80), a button gauge, and a OPV. You wan...

Is she using a backplate? Attaching a 6cf argon bottle to the left side is easy! I use a ~1ft piece of 2" webbing, available in many fine color coordinated colors from Seattle Fabrics and others + a 1.5 ft length of 5/16" bungie. Also need a short SS bolt, nylock nut and a couple of flat w...

Well Lamont beat me to the guesstimate. 0.5 cf/min is pretty danged good in a wetsuit. Next time you dive you can make note of these variable and recalculate. Over time you start to understand how much it varies and whether its your guesses at average depth, cold, workload, whatever. A gas managemen...

Let's take a stab at your consumption together...

On a dive at EUP:
what size tank are you using
how long did you dive
what was your average depth (plus minus 5 ft should be good enough, basically your choices end up being 25, 30, or 35).

Boat dive only, just offshore from the gravel quarry conveyor belts. Its about 1/2 way down the southeast side of Maury Island. If you've never been there Lamont, maybe you'd like to give a them a go with Lynne sometime? I'm pretty sure she's never been there either. I got the boat. Good second dive...

At your size a HP119 or 130 is a good option, if you are diving nitrox or plan to dive nitrox. A bit oversized and more money than you need to spend if you are only diving air. For Edmonds UWP a 130 is just a rediculous amount of gas and fill costs for big tanks can oftentimes be more money than in ...

If these are your first tanks, go with HP100s or LP95s. Both work well. The hp100s being slightly negative (-2 or 2.5) when empty and the lp95/98s being neutral. If you are a very big guy with high consumption hp130s are a good choice too. Although doing more dives and getting your SAC down is a bet...

Ahh, yes, I know 'Lobster Shack'

Thanks, nice report

Where is this site Bob? Never heard this name before.

Richard