c/commercial-divers

Vent: That $500 'premium' drysuit repair kit was a total scam

I spent almost $500 on a fancy drysuit repair kit from a big name supplier thinking it would save me time on a job in Port Arthur last month. All it was was a bunch of glue, patches, and a special roller that broke after two uses. The glue didn't even cure right in the humidity down there, and I ended up having to redo the whole seam with standard Aquaseal from the local shop. Lost about 8 hours of work messing with it, plus the money. Has anyone else gotten burned by those overpriced 'pro' repair kits?

Hot take: tracking dive time with a phone timer stops working fast after one saltwater splash.

Spent 45 minutes underwater on a bridge inspection last Thursday because my waterproof phone case fogged up and I couldn't read the timer at all; has anyone found a reliable backup that doesn't cost a week's pay?

Learned I was using the wrong weight belt after 5 years in the Gulf

Was working a dive job off Port Fourchon last spring and kept fighting to stay down. A senior diver watched me for a minute and asked why I was wearing a 40 pound belt for a 20 pound job. Turns out I was compensating for bad trim instead of fixing my actual issue. Has anyone else realized they were just loading up weight to cover up poor positioning?

Just wasted $400 on a used Kirby Morgan that turned out to be a parts helmet

Bought a KM 37 off a guy in Houston who swore it was fully functional, got it home and found the regulator was seized with salt corrosion and the neck dam was dry-rotted. Took it to my local dive shop and they told me it would cost more to fix than buying a new one. Anyone else get burned buying used gear from Facebook Marketplace?

An old sat diver told me my comms check was wrong and I still hear his voice

I was running a pre-dive topside in the Gulf near Port Fourchon about 2 years ago. This old timer grabs my arm and says 'son, you're saying the words but you ain't listening for the ring.' He meant I was just calling out checks without hearing the actual tone in the earpiece. Anyone else get a piece of advice that completely changed how you run a dive?

Can we talk about how cold water affects your regulator breathing?

I was doing a hull inspection near the Port of Seattle last Tuesday and noticed my air was tasting weird, took me 20 minutes to realize the cold water was freezing my regulator diaphragm. Switched to a dry type and the difference was night and day. Anyone else ever mess with different regulator setups for cold water jobs?

The instructor who told me to ditch my drysuit for a wetsuit on that Gulf job was dead wrong

Back in 2017 on a pipeline inspection near Port Fourchon, my dive supervisor kept pushing me to use a 7mm wetsuit instead of my drysuit because he said I'd move faster. I listened and lasted about 45 minutes before I had to come up shivering so bad I couldn't grip my tools. Switched back to my drysuit the next day and finished the whole 3-hour shift without any issues. Has anyone else had a supervisor give advice that just didn't work for the conditions?

TIL my mixed gas analyzer was giving false readings for 6 months

I always trusted that thing because it cost me $800 new back in 2019, but after a nasty headache during a 120 foot dive off Port Townsend I decided to test it against a buddies handheld unit. Turns out the sensor was drifting and showing my nitrox was 32% when it was actually closer to 28%, which is a huge difference at depth. Anyone else ever get bit by gear that seemed fine but was slowly failing on you?

That $700 day turned into a $1200 repair bill

Had a perfect Tuesday last month. Vis came in at 15 feet, no current, and the job was just swapping anodes on a pier piling. Knocked it out in 3 hours. Felt good. Then on the way up my drysuit zipper blew out at the neck. Saltwater flooded down to my waist before I could get the valve shut. Cost me 1200 bucks for a new zipper and a rush job from the repair shop. That profit evaporated fast. Anyone else have a killer day turn sour from gear failure?

Lost 3 days of work on a sat dive last month in the Gulf

Buddy and I were doing a pipeline inspection 40 miles off Louisiana. My comms unit died halfway through the second day. Surface kept yelling but I couldn't hear a thing. Had to abort and redo the whole thing. 3 days gone. Anyone else have comms crap out on them like that?

Heard a stat that 60% of diving accidents happen in less than 30 feet of water

I read that on the CDC website last night and it made me reconsider how seriously I take my shallow water safety checks.

Found a cheap trick for keeping my MK5 neck seal dry on deep dives

I kept getting water seeping into my drysuit neck seal during deeper work past 60 feet. Tried tightening the neck ring extra but that just gave me a headache. Anyone else use a thin layer of silicone grease on the seal before a dive?

Used to think drysuits were overkill for warm water but that changed after a job in Pensacola last month

I been diving in the Gulf for years and always figured a wetsuit was fine even for longer bottom times. But last month we had this contract inspecting a sewer outfall pipe about 80 feet down and the water temp was 72 degrees. After two hours down there I was shivering so bad I could barely sign my checkouts on the slates. One of the older guys on the crew let me try his drysuit the next day and man what a difference. I stayed warm the whole five hour shift and didn't feel that bone cold when I surfaced. Now I got a Used DUI drysuit from a buddy for 800 bucks and I take it on any job where I'm gonna be submerged more than 90 minutes. Anyone else switch over later in their career or am I late to the party?

Heads up about that old O-ring trick for the Kirby Morgan hat

I spent nearly 6 hours trying to seat a stubborn O-ring on my KM-37 last Thursday. Kept thinking I just needed to lube it more and wiggle it in. Turns out I had a tiny nick on the groove itself that I kept missing because I was rushing. Finally pulled out a magnifying glass and a pick set and found it in 10 minutes. Has anyone else spent way too long on a stupid simple fix like that?

Heard a dive supervisor say 'just ignore the pressure gauge' on a job last month

I was gearing up on a bridge pier inspection in Seattle last month and overheard this guy telling his tender that the pressure gauge on his bailout bottle was stuck at 3000 psi and to just keep going. No joke. He said he'd been running dives like that for weeks. I called out the dive shop right then and the supervisor got pulled off rotation. Taking shortcuts on life support gear is how people end up dead. Has anyone else seen stuff like this slip through on their crews?

PSA: That old timer who told me to skip the hot water on my drysuit zipper was dead wrong

Met a guy named Dave on a job in Galveston last spring who swore by never rinsing your zipper with hot water after a dive. Said it ruins the seals faster. I followed his advice for 3 months and my zipper started sticking so bad I had to send the suit back to DUI for a $450 repair. The tech there told me hot water rinse is exactly what keeps the zipper teeth clean and moving right. Anyone else get bad advice from someone who seemed like they knew their stuff?

Old hand on the barge told me my lift bag technique was all wrong

He said I was dumping too much air in at once and that I should feather the valve in short bursts instead. Has anyone else had to unlearn something a school taught you just to make it work on the job?

I finally hit 500 dives logged and it caught me off guard

I've been doing inland commercial work for about 7 years now, mostly bridge inspections and dam repairs around the Pacific Northwest. Was just updating my logbook last weekend and realized I'm at 503 dives total. Never really thought I'd get there, especially starting out when I could barely get 20 dives a year. Did anyone else have a number sneak up on them like that? Curious what your milestone was and what kind of work you were doing when you hit it.

Changed my mind about using a hot water suit for cold water dives after talking to a guy in Gulfport

I always thought hot water suits were just for the North Sea guys or real deep stuff. Then I met this diver in Gulfport last month who does bridge inspections in 45 degree water for 6 hours at a time. He said he used to shiver through it with a drysuit but switched to a hot water setup and now he can actually feel his fingers after 4 hours. That sold me. I'm looking at a used Haskel pump now to try it out on a 60 foot pier job I got coming up in February. Has anyone here run a hot water suit off a surface supplied setup that wasn't crazy expensive?

Debate: Are those expensive drysuit repair patches worth the money or just a gimmick?

I dropped $80 on a branded repair patch kit for a small tear in my drysuit, but a buddy swears a $15 rubber patch from the hardware store works just as well. Lost a whole weekend waiting for the fancy stuff to ship while his fix held up fine on a shallow dive. Anyone else have luck with the cheap route or is it just asking for trouble?

Debate: Saturation diving vs bounce diving for deep repairs? Found a stat that says bounce dives over 300 feet have a way higher accident rate

I was reading through a 2023 report from IMCA and saw that bounce dives past 300 feet have nearly double the decompression incidents compared to saturation dives at the same depth. One side says sat diving is safer but costs way more, while the other side says bounce diving is fine if you follow tables right. Which method do you guys lean towards for deep jobs over 300 feet?

Cleaned up a bridge piling in the Ohio River and the fish came back in a month

Got a job in March to clear zebra mussels and old fishing line off a concrete piling near Louisville. It was a mess, just a gray, bare column with no life on it. We spent two days scraping and pressure washing. Went back for a check last week, and the whole thing is covered in new algae and little freshwater sponges. Saw a small school of bass hanging around it, which wasn't happening before. The client just wanted it clean for an inspection, but it feels good to see it turn into a spot for fish again so fast. Makes you think about how even the small clean-up jobs can help. Has anyone else noticed a quick change like that after a basic cleaning job?

Had the weirdest salvage job near Port Townsend last month

We were pulling up an old dock piling from about 60 feet down. My dive buddy signals me over, and there's a full, sealed bag of potato chips just sitting on the silt next to it, not a single hole in the bag. It looked like it fell off a boat yesterday. We got a good laugh on the coms about finding the world's deepest snack. Has anyone else pulled up something totally normal from a spot where it just shouldn't be?

My comms went dead at 80 feet on a bridge job

It happened Tuesday morning on the Ohio River crossing. I was checking a pier when my surface line just stopped talking. I gave it a minute, then did the old tap on my helmet twice like we all know. Nothing back. I surfaced slow and found a kink in the cable where it rubbed a sharp edge on the barge. Has anyone else had a comms fail that deep and what's your backup plan?

Tbh I thought those new heated wetsuit vests were just a gimmick until I did a 2 hour job in 45 degree water last month.