Sherwood Avid Weight Integrated Jacket Scuba Diving BCD.
Perfect bcd weight integrated with pockets and lots of cool stuff. We are offering this with some cool upgrades like a prokit, etc.
Saturday, January 26th, 2008
We’ve all had it happen. You’re standing in the gate, getting ready to giant-stride into the clear blue waters of paradise, and as you pull that second fin on…catastrophe! The fin strap snaps cleanly in two. You can almost hear Mr. Murphy laughing as you start sullenly taking off your gear.
This, my friend, is why you need some form of save-a-dive kit. At its most basic, this can consist of a couple of basic items such as fin straps and O-rings. At the other extreme, I’ve seen guys who actually take spare high- and low-pressure hoses on trips with them. While this may be just a little bit hardcore for most recreational divers, the fact remains that we’d all rather be blowing bubbles than trying to scrounge spare gear from everyone on the boat because ours broke.
There are a number of pre-packaged save-a-dive kits out there from different scuba accessory manufacturers such as Trident and XS Scuba, and I consider these to be good basic kits. The items in them can vary, but they generally include spare mask and fin straps, a regulator mouthpiece, a snorkel keeper, and a couple of zip ties and O-rings. I usually add a couple of things to this, including a multi-tool for making basic repairs, a knife strap, and an extra weight belt buckle and keeper. A tube of wetsuit repair cement is handy, too, and it’s good for a lot of things besides just torn wetsuits. I once saved an entire liveaboard trip with this stuff when the rubber cover on my BCD power inflator button got torn and started leaking air. A little judiciously applied wetsuit cement not only closed the hole, it lasted for eight more dives.
If you use masks or fins which have non-standard straps (the ScubaPro Twin Jet fin comes to mind), make sure you have spare straps for these items as well. And Nitrox divers, don’t forget some extra Viton O-rings.
Also, most scuba certification agencies offer some form of equipment repair specialty course. These classes teach you how a regulator works, and show you what you can do in the field to minimize the impact of some common gear issues such as persistent free-flows, leaky BCD dump valves, etc. Plus you get another C-card to stick in your wallet, which is always kinda cool.
Bottom line, the Boy Scouts were right when they came up with their maxim “Be Prepared.” Carry a spare parts kit whenever you go diving. The dive you save may well be your own
In an earlier post I was bragging about how good the Alpha 8 regulator from Oceanic is. For those who want to make the move beyond entry level regs, Oceanic has something for you, too: the Delta 4. Like the Alpha, the Delta 4 has also had the distinction of being named a Best Buy in its class by Rodales Scuba Diving Magazine in 2005 (read the Rodale’s article here).
The Delta 4 is the latest incarnation of the original Delta regulator, which impressed me with its tiny second stage when it was first introduced. This is one instance where size definitely matters, because a smaller, lighter second stage translates into less mouth fatigue and therefore a more enjoyable dive for the diver using it. This is especially true when making multiple dives over several days. To go even a step further with regard to comfort, Oceanic has fitted the Delta 4 with an orthodontic mouthpiece and an inline swivel.
The Delta 4 also features a dive/pre-dive venturi switch to make inhalation smoother and reduce surface freeflows , as well as a diver-adjustable breathing effort control knob. While diver-adjustable inhalation often requires the diver to do just that – adjust it, repeatedly – as depth and workload changes, the Delta 4 incorporates a novel Dynamic Adjustment feature that allows you to set the regulator for optimum breathing effort once and then forget about it. The regulator will then self-adjust as you change depths to maintain that same inhalation effort unless you change the setting again.
Oceanic pairs the Delta 4 with its FDX-10 balanced diaphragm first stage for optimal performance. This sturdy, solid brass first stage features Oceanic’s patented dry valve technology, which prevents water and debris from entering the body of the regulator if the dust cap is left off. The whole setup is Nitrox compatible up to 40% O2.
At a retail price of between $500-$600, the Delta 4 is about twice as expensive as the entry-level Alpha, but it boasts many higher-end features that make it worth the money in terms of comfort and ease of use. Right now I have a different set of regs that I am very happy with (more on them later), but if I had to get rid of them today the Delta 4 would definitely be on my very short list of possible replacements.