Online Scuba Blog: Scuba Gear & Dive Equipment Info

MILWAUKEE – A great wooden steamship that sank more than a century ago in a violent Lake Michigan storm has been found off the Milwaukee-area shoreline, and divers say the intact vessel appears to have been perfectly preserved by the cold fresh waters.

Finding the 300-foot-long L.R. Doty was important because it was the largest wooden ship that remained unaccounted for, said Brendon Baillod, the president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association.

“It’s the biggest one I’ve been involved with,” said Baillod, who has taken part in about a dozen such finds. “It was really exhilarating.”

The Doty was carrying a cargo of corn from South Chicago to Ontario, Canada in October 1898 when it sailed into a terrible storm, Baillod said. Along with snow and sleet, there were heavy winds that whipped up waves of up to 30 feet.

The Doty should have been able to handle the weather. The ship was only five years old, and the 300-foot wooden behemoth’s hull was reinforced with steel arches.

But it was towing a small schooner, the Olive Jeanette, which began to founder in the storm after the tow line apparently snapped, Baillod said. The Doty probably sank when it came to the schooner’s aid. All 17 of its crew members died, along with the ship’s cats, Dewey and Watson.

As a maritime historian Baillod spent more than 20 years researching the shipwreck. He knew that swaths of debris had washed up afterward in Kenosha, about 40 miles south of Milwaukee. But he found news accounts that it had last been seen closer to Milwaukee, near Oak Creek.

Meanwhile, a Milwaukee fisherman in 1991 reported snagging his nets on an obstruction about 300 feet under water. The observation was largely forgotten for decades until diving technology improved enough to enable exploration at that depth.

A number of explorers did some preliminary scouting on the lake’s surface in recent months, using deep-sea technology to find a massive submerged object. Divers waited until last week to descend, when the weather was just right.

As soon as they got to the lake floor they knew they had found the Doty.

“It felt so good to solve this,” said Jitka Hanakova, 33, a diver and captain of the charter boat that led the exploration. “This ship has been missing for so many years and it’s one of the biggest out there.”

Divers found the ship upright and intact, settled into the clay at the lake’s bottom. Even the ship’s cargo of corn was still in its hold.

The Doty is so well-preserved because it’s in a cold, freshwater lake. It’s also far enough below the surface that storms don’t affect it.

Those same factors mean the crew’s corpses are likely intact as well, Baillod said. Their bodies are probably still in the boiler room, where the sailors must have huddled as the ship went down, he added.

While details of the sinking remain unclear, Baillod said the most likely explanation is that rudder chain snapped while the Doty was turning around to aid the Olive Jeanette. That would have left the 20-foot-tall ship at the mercy of 30-foot waves that would have dumped tons of water on the fragile wooden hatches.

“When the rudder broke (the crew) must have known they were going to die,” Baillod said. “They probably had a good hour to contemplate their fate until the cargo holds collapsed.”

There are no plans to raise the Doty, which is now the property of the state of Wisconsin. The ship will remain preserved indefinitely where it is, rather than exposing it to air that would cause it to rot away within a few years, Baillod said.

Few divers are expected to disturb it. It’s in such deep water that only a small group of highly experienced divers can access it, Hanakova said.

Thousands of ships remain submerged in the Great Lakes, some vessels scuttled and others the victims of shipwrecks. Lake Michigan has about 500 dive-worthy ships still to be found, Baillod estimated.

He said his next target is the largest known missing ship: the car ferry Pere Marquette 18. He said it went down in 1910, about 20 miles from the southeastern Wisconsin shore.

The new technology that made finding the Doty possible can also help locate the Pere Marquette, he said.

“What’s nice about finding these ships is, it contributes to our cultural history,” he said. “Many people are disconnected from history so it’s nice to reconnect to our past — to maybe look out today and think of the wooden steamships that were out there 100 years ago.

from the September, 2009 issue of Undercurrent

Not long ago, one of our readers told me he had paid nearly $100 to have both stages of his
 regulator and his octopus serviced to keep up the warranty. Another subscriber, Jeff Reed
(Naperville, IL) tells us he was shocked when the price for servicing two sets for the annual
warranty checkup was $130. “The manufacturer covers the cost of the parts but if they didn’t,
I would just buy inexpensive regulators more frequently and toss them.”

It seems that what Reed paid, $65 per regulator and octopus, is about average. Even if parts are
covered by warranty, labor is most of the bill. Online retailer LeisurePro charges $49.95 for labor.
OnlineScuba.com, based in Las Vegas, charges $50 for labor, plus parts. (Customers who
buy gear from its website get the first year’s service free, including labor.) Harbor Dive Shop in
Sausalito, CA, charges $15 for inspections and minor adjustments, $35 to overhaul the first stage,
$20 to overhaul the second stage, plus parts. Scuba Works in Jupiter, FL, charges $30 to inspect a
first-stage, $25 for the second stage. AirTech in Raleigh, NC, services regulators for consumers mailing
equipment directly (it guarantees a 14-day service turnaround). The charge is $30 per stage, and parts
are retail price.

If you have a more sophisticated – - and expensive – - regulator, it requires more parts, adding to
the cost. “Parts for the first and second stage of a Sherwood regulator are $12 total,” says Brett Holmes,
a repair technician for LeisurePro. “Compare that to a ScubaPro or Apeks regulator, where you’re
looking at $15 to $20 per stage. Toss in an octopus at $15 to $20, and it adds up.” So you could easily
be looking at a $100-plus bill.

Some dive shops take it too far, which Bret Gilliam, former Uwatec CEO and frequent Undercurrent
contributor, told us from recent experience. “I use an Atomic Aquatics titanium regulator that I
return directly to Atomic for servicing every three to five years. When I took it to the local dealer
and told them to do a regular service and replace the diaphragm cover, the bill was over $300.
This regulator is $1,200 retail, so the service was 25 percent of the total price I paid. My jaw nearly
dropped to the floor, but that didn’t prompt the staff to explain the cost. They did tell me they were
giving me a discount because I was an industry pro, but God knows what they charge a regular diver.
When I called Atomic, they said it was unconscionable, and the price should have been closer to $100.”

Watch out for the dive shop that gives you a bad time if you bought your regulator elsewhere.
Jason Caldwell (Norfolk, VA) bought his Mares regulator online at Joe Diver America, after verifying
it was an authorized dealer. At the one-year anniversary, his wife took it to his local dive shop,
Divers Unlimited, for the checkup. “She was told the parts would be covered and I would just be
charged for labor. When I went to pick up my equipment, I was charged $42 for parts. The reply
was essentially: ‘You didn’t purchase it here, and online stores aren’t authorized dealers.’” The store
owner agreed to check with Mares and would refund Caldwell’s money if he was told Joe Diver America
was an authorized dealer. Two weeks later, Caldwell got a voice mail that Divers Unlimited wouldn’t
give him a refund because he hadn’t bought from them. “This happened after I’ve done all my advanced
training with them, and my wife is taking her openwater certification there.”

Follow That Warranty

OnlineScuba’s general manager Bill Gornet says many divers don’t follow their warranty’s
annual-servicing policy, so they’re stunned when they have to pay for parts. “Sometimes they’re not
doing proper maintenance so the mouthpieces have dry rot, hoses must be replaced. Then they’re
looking at $60 in parts.”

“ScubaPro says if you miss one year of servicing, you won’t get free parts ever again,” adds Gornet.
“Manufacturers let things slide in the past, so money was spilling out the back door. Now they’re
following their guarantee rather than letting it slip by the wayside.”

To keep up with the warranty, most manufacturers don’t require an overhaul annually, just an
inspection and replacement of worn parts. Harbor Dive manager Jack Kuhn asks customers up
front whether they want an inspection, adjustment or overhaul. “My philosophy is don’t fix things
that aren’t broken.” But read your warranty, then specify the type of service you want, otherwise a
greedy shop might do a full overhaul.

If you’ve got a problem – - your regulator is free flowing, honking or acting just plain weird – - a
technician will typically disassemble your regulator, clean it, replace the filter, O-rings and seats,
then reassemble it. Rather than spending his time and your time and money diagnosing the problem,
he simply fixes everything.

If your regulator isn’t misbehaving but you want to get it checked out before a dive trip, just ask for
an inspection or a “bench check.” A trained technician can check the interstage pressure,
cracking pressure (inhalation effort) and exhalation effort at the second stage, and flow rate through
the regulator. If there is a problem, he can fix it; if not, you’ve saved money.

A good dive shop will also give you back the old parts he took out during servicing so that you can
see the wear and tear on the parts – and confirm that the technician actually did something with your
regulator. OnlineScuba returns parts in a plastic bag, plus a sheet stating what service they did and,
after running the regulator through an air check, a graph showing how the regulator performed.

How Often Should You Service It?

If you’re out of warranty, perhaps not as often as you think. Of course, manufacturers will say you
should do it annually, as that’s their policy (although AquaLung now recommends every two years).
Kay Wilson of Indigo Divers in Grand Cayman says once-a-year divers should follow through on the
annual more than a frequent diver. “Rubber will ‘dry out’ and the plastics used in its construction will
degrade more quickly than for a regulator in regular use.”

Gilliam says “many regulators, particularly higher-end ones, don’t need regular servicing because
they’re remarkably durable. What’s more of an indicator is how many dives you’ve done with it and
how much use you’ve gotten out of it. The one I’ve used for the past 13 years and for 2,900-plus dives
had never had a problem between. If it has performed well and you’ve done a thorough job cleaning
after use, there’s no good reason why it shouldn’t work at least three years in between servicing.”

Fred Good, past owner of St. George’s Lodge in Belize, has a simple formula to calculate the
cost-effectiveness of annual servicing: “Divide the cost of the regulator by the cost of its annual
maintenance (don’t include the gauges, hose, etc. because these aren’t included in that cost).
Don’t be surprised if this comes out to a number less than seven, and in some cases as low as five
if you purchased a cheap regulator. If the result is five, that means in five years, you will have
spent enough to purchase a second regulator if you had never serviced the first one at all. So it might
be smarter to throw away your regulator and buy a new one every five years.”

To save money and trips to the dive shop, read the owners manual, says Al Pendergrass, senior
technician at AirTech. “It lays out guidelines of your regulator’s warranty, maintenance and care.
That eliminates 99 percent of the questions we have to answer for you.” (You should be able to find
a copy on the manufacturer’s Web site.)

Keep a file with all your gear purchase and servicing receipts, and warranty statements with the
serial number so you can prove you merit free parts — or if for some reason you are improperly
charged or refused service and need to contact the manufacturer for resolution or restitution.

- – Ben Davison

June 17th, 2009

While the Scuba Industry seems to be stuck on MAP pricing, OnlineScuba has decided to answer this with an updated Low Price  / Best Price Guarantee:

 Since we are Authorized Dealers for the gear we sell, we have to in some cases advertise our products at MAP (Minimum Advertised Pricing). This is required by the Manufactuters to keep our dealer status and it means that everything you buy is covered under this warranty. If you find any product we sell from another authorized dealer for less email us or call 1-866-SCUBA-YES or simply click on the “lowest Price button at the botom of any product information page and we will meet or beat it.

We offer the following Low Price Guarantee to all of our Customers:1.) Within 30 days of your purchase, if you find the same identical item advertised by an authorized SCUBA dealer for less, show us and we will give you the difference as a credit towards your next purchase of scuba diving equipment. This does not apply to special order products, clearance items.2.) If you find an identical in-stock product we are selling for less, we will match the price with no local pick up. Excluding Closeout, Clearance, Specials and Special Order products.

Bill Gornet, Manager of Marketing said, “We intend to earn the support of new and old Customer’s alike by adding value to the whole OnlineScuba experience.”  Jackie Zwieg, Customer Service Manager at OnlineScuba.com added, “We work really hard to meet or exceed our Customer’s needs and price is always a concern.”   So, now you can shop for your scuba gear and dive equipment with confidence as we back it up with our low price guarantee. 

OnlineScuba.com, established in 1996, sells name brand scuba gear from Masks and Fins to Dive Computers and BCD’s.  Known for offering thousands of products with Full Manufacturer Warranties and an industry first, Free Service on life support equipment.   Scuba Instructor owned an operated allows knowledgeable service and enthusiasm needed to make a sensible gear investment.

OK, maybe the girl was attacking the shark. Found this picture with several other ones of a guy who draws these with chalk.  They are all three dimensional and pretty realistic.  From a scuba diving point of view and spending as much time as I can blowing bubbles, I have to say this is one of the coolest pictures I have ever seen.  Hard to believe that this is made with just chalk on a city sidewalk.  Makes me want to go scuba diving especially since the sharks are in the city right?  Just joking.  Enjoy the pic and remember us for all your scuba gear needs at http://www.onlinescuba.com/ where we are taking a bite out of high prices.

After attending the Diving Equipment Manufacturing Association’s (DEMA) show here in Las Vegas we were impressed with some of the new scuba equipment in store for 2009.  As with any other sport it seems that scuba divers still want to blow bubbles and the only way to do that is to stay up with the new scuba gear.  We saw the new H2 line from Henderson wetsuits along with some sweet regulator set ups from Sherwood Scuba.  Oceanic is coming out with a new wrist mount computer that has a built in digital compass along with some new dive bags as well. 

Just about every supplier is looking forward to a great 2009.  We are looking forward to the deals we can offer our customers in the coming year.  Keep looking at our site www.OnlineScuba.com for the new wetsuits from Body Glove along with all the new products from IST and just about every other dive gear supplier including Zeagle, TUSA, Sea and Sea, Exceed Wetsuits and just about every other supplier we sell.  While you are at it make sure you take a look at our clearance scuba equipment so we can make room for all the new 2009 product.

We look forward to keeping you and your family or friends set up in name brand scuba gear and are proud of our industry first free annual service when you buy your life support equipment from Online Scuba.  We appreciate all our customers and potential customers’ consideration of our products.  We wish you and yours a great upcoming holiday season as well.  Happy Diving from Online Scuba!!