c/commercial-divers

4

grant.jason•20h ago

Lost $200 on a used Kirby Morgan that looked fine in photos

Bought a used KM 37 off a Facebook group. Seller had good rep, lots of pics. Got it in the mail, the exhaust valve was cracked. Took it to my local shop, they said $400 to rebuild it. I could have rented a decent one for 3 months with that cash. Anyone else get burned buying used gear online?

26

torres.jason•1d ago

Band clamp let go on a repair job in Tacoma this morning

Was swapping out a cracked section of pipe at 45 feet. Had the band clamp cinched down tight. Water pressure hit it and the thing just popped loose. Lost my grip on the pipe and had to surface empty handed. Spent 30 minutes rigging a backup line before I went back down. Anyone else had luck with those strap wrenches for stubborn pipes?

8

johnthompson•2d ago

Almost lost a thumb to a popped zip tie on a lift bag off the Port of Houston

I was running a 20-foot bag on a 3-ton lift of steel grating and that cheap plastic tie snapped under pressure, sending the shackle flying past my face, so has anyone else switched to steel bands for their bag attachments?

12

burns.ruby•3d ago

Old timer told me to ditch my drysuit in warm dirty water

Early in my career I was doing bridge inspection in the Gulf and always wore my drysuit no matter what. One of the senior guys pulled me aside and said I was wasting time and overheating myself for no reason. He pointed out that in 80 degree water with no real cold hazard, a wetsuit or even a rash guard would let me work longer and safer. Has anyone else gotten advice like that that totally changed their gear choices?

25

janac59•4d ago

Old supervisor told me to quit fighting the current and work with it instead

Back on a job in Port Fourchon, Louisiana about 10 years ago, I was struggling against this strong tide trying to get a pipe connection done. My supervisor, Mike, just grabbed my arm and said "Stop wrestling the water, let it carry you where you need to go." I started timing my movements with the surge instead of against it, and my bottom time went from 45 minutes of exhaustion down to 30 minutes of smooth work. Anyone else had a supervisor give you advice that totally flipped how you dive?

20

henry_palmer24•4d ago

Just realized a cheap camera housing trick for deep checks

Been fighting with fogged up housings on 100ft+ dives in Seattle until I tossed in a silica pack from beef jerky - crystal clear every time now. Anyone else got a random hack that saved you gear money?

26

richardknight•8d ago

20 years of diving and I just realized I was holding my knife wrong

Was watching a younger guy suit up and noticed he had his knife strapped to his calf, not his thigh. Told me it's for reaching across your body easier when tangled. Tried it on a bridge inspection job last Tuesday and it made more sense than anything I've done in two decades. Anyone else pick up a basic habit that late?

12

brookerobinson•9d ago

Why does nobody talk about how cold it gets in a drysuit when your heater fails?

Last month I was doing a pier inspection in Portland harbor, 45 feet down in 48 degree water. My internal heating vest just quit after 20 minutes. I had to finish the last hour of the job shivering so bad I could barely read my gauges. Has anyone else dealt with a heater failing mid-dive and what do you use as a backup?

24

skylercooper•10d ago

Current ripped my drysuit at 60 feet off Louisiana coast

I was doing a pipeline inspection in the Gulf near Grand Isle last month. About 20 minutes into the dive I felt this cold rush down my left arm. Looked down and saw a 3 inch tear in my drysuit right at the elbow seam. Current had pinned me against a piece of wreckage and I didnt even feel it happen. My first thought was to abort but I was only 40 feet from the pipeline flange I needed to photograph. I signaled my tender and finished the job quick while water kept flooding in. By the time I surfaced I was soaked from neck to hip. Took me 2 hours to dry out all my base layers back on the boat. Anyone else had a suit blow out mid-dive and had to make the call on whether to finish or surface?

25

jesse_cooper•10d ago

Oil rig dive in the Gulf made me wonder about our gear standards

I was working a job off the coast of Louisiana last week and noticed two different dive teams using totally different brands of drysuits for the same type of work. One guy swore by his Viking suit for the durability, while another said his Seamax was way more flexible in the warm water. It got me thinking - does brand loyalty actually matter in our line of work, or is it all just personal preference? What do you guys look for when picking gear for a long offshore gig?

19

martin.vera•10d ago

PSA: Kirby Morgan band mask vs. Ocean Reef full face for cold water work

After spending two weeks on a bridge job in Lake Erie last month, I finally switched from my Ocean Reef full face to a used Kirby Morgan band mask I found at a shop. The difference in cold water performance was huge. With the Ocean Reef, my regulator kept freezing up on dives below 40 degrees, and I was spending too much time defrosting. The Kirby Morgan has a dry valve system that handled the 38 degree water without any issues across 12 dives this week. Has anyone else tried one for welding or cutting in cold conditions? I am thinking about selling my old mask.

5

pat_park•11d ago

Had to choose between a Kirby Morgan and a Desco mask for my first setup

I went with the Kirby Morgan 37 because the local shop in Houston had a used one for $1200. The Desco was cheaper but the fit on my face was off. Anybody else run into fit issues with certain masks?

5

tessa_kelly•12d ago

Vent: That 22-hour shift that nearly broke me

Last Tuesday I had a job near Port Arthur inspecting a pipeline underwater. Visibility was maybe 2 feet and the current was fighting me the whole time. By hour 15 my hands were so cramped I could barely hold the welding rod. What made it worse was the surface crew kept rushing me because of daylight. Has anyone else had a job where you just wanted to quit halfway through but had to push because of the contract?

4

taraw16•13d ago

Old timer at Quonset Point changed my mind about dry suits

I used to think dry suits were a waste of cash for inshore work. Then this grizzled guy named Pete pulled me aside during a surface interval in Narragansett Bay last August. He pointed at my cold, chapped hands and said "That'll cost you a job when you can't feel your tools." So I dropped $800 on a good used one that week. Anyone else have an old hand talk you into better gear?

1

eva_ward88•13d ago

That one comment from a supervisor about my buoyancy control really stuck with me

He told me I was fighting the water instead of working with it, so I started doing fin kicks slower and more deliberate. Has anyone else had a small piece of feedback that totally changed their diving game?

14

nathan545•21d ago

Switched from steel mesh gloves to Kevlar core gloves for bailout bag repacks and wish I did it years ago

I used to just grab whatever mesh gloves were cheapest but after catching a frayed cable on my thumb during a 60 foot tie-in last month I swapped to the Kevlar ones and they don't snag on anything the mesh used to always catch on, anyone else make the switch?

32

calebm46•22d ago

That study about dive times and deco schedules changed my mind on quick turns

I used to think pushing the limits on bottom time was no big deal as long as you felt fine. Then I read a report from the Divers Alert Network last month that looked at 200 decompression sickness cases over 5 years. Turns out, almost 40% of those guys were doing rapid turnaround dives with short surface intervals. I always ignored the 2-hour surface rule thinking it was just cautious old wisdom. But after seeing those numbers, I started actually timing my surface intervals on my watch. It made me realize I was gambling with something I didn't fully understand. Has anyone else switched their whole approach after looking at some hard data?

14

troy_wilson8•23d ago

Lifeguard whistle on my drysuit inflator valve was a stupid idea

Had a $60 inflator valve fail mid-dive off Catalina Island last week cause I tied a whistle to it with a zip tie that cracked the housing, so now I just clip the whistle to my harness webbing like everyone else does.

10

abbyc33•24d ago

Wasted $400 on a Kirby Morgan rebuild kit I didn't even need

Honestly, I thought my reg was breathing hard so I bought a full rebuild kit from the supplier. Spent a Saturday tearing it apart, replaced everything, put it back together. Still breathed hard. Took it to a shop in Houston and the guy spent 5 minutes checking the diaphragm and told me it was just a loose screw on the second stage. Felt like a complete idiot. Anyone else ever dive into a full rebuild when it was just a simple adjustment?

2

reese86•25d ago

Had a chat with a 30-year Gulf veteran that made me question my whole drysuit setup

He told me he still uses a neoprene drysuit for North Sea work because the shell suits just don't give him the same feedback on currents. Made me wonder if I've been overthinking my gear choices for the past 5 years.

24

the_beth•26d ago

Remember when we used paper dive logs and pencils?

I still remember a job off the coast of Galveston back in '09. My slate got knocked out of my hand by a rogue current and I had to surface with nothing written down for a whole 30 minute bottom time. The supervisor chewed me out for a solid 10 minutes before letting me go back down with a backup. Has anyone else had a log book fail on them out there?

15

evan_dixon67•26d ago

Swapped my old Kirby Morgan for a Ocean Reef Neptune after a bad dive last March

I used to swear by my old Kirby Morgan 37, had it for 8 years and thought nothing could beat it. But after a cold dive in Puget Sound where the regulator kept freezing up on me, I tried a buddy's Ocean Reef Neptune and was blown away by the air flow. Switched over that week and now I can do full 6 hour shifts without my jaw getting tired from pulling air. Has anyone else made the switch from a hardwired comms setup to a wireless one in colder water?

23

iris_rivera44•27d ago

Last Tuesday was the worst dive day I've had in my 7 years

Got called out to fix a grate on a water intake pipe near the port, visibility was maybe 2 feet and the current kept slamming me into the structure. Spent 4 hours down there with a lift bag trying to get a 300 pound piece of metal unjammed, and it kept shifting every time I got close. Has anyone else dealt with horrible current on a job and found a trick to stay stable without fighting it the whole time?

16

abbyc33•28d ago

Can we talk about guys who skip the buddy line check?

I used to think doing my own pre-dive checks was fine, been diving 12 years so I know my gear. Then last week on a wreck off Port Canaveral, my bailout valve was half closed and I didn't catch it. My tender spotted it before I went over, and that's when it hit me. Too many guys I know wave off the buddy check like it's a waste of time, but that one mistake could have killed me. Anyone here ever had a close call that changed how you handle the safety routine?

25

dakota_singh39•1mo ago

Decided between Kirby Morgan and Ocean Reef for my new helmet last month

I had to pick between a Kirby Morgan 37 and an Ocean Reef G.Diver for a 60-foot bridge inspection job in Savannah. Went with the K-M 37 because my old dive buddy swore by its reg performance, even though it cost me $1,200 more. Anybody else have strong feelings on helmet brands for shallow water work?