c/commercial-divers

Had a chat with an old saturation diver that changed how I think about gas mixes

Ran into a guy named Mike at the shop in Port Fourchon last week. He told me he's been running trimix on dives as shallow as 100 feet for years now. Made me realize I've been sticking to standard nitrox out of habit when I could be getting better bottom time with a different blend. Anyone else ever tweak their gas mix on a shallow job and notice a big difference?

1 comments

elizabetha92•2d ago

Visited a marina in San Diego last month and noticed none of the dive lockers had any marking tape on their tanks

I was down at Shelter Island helping a buddy swap out some zincs on his boat, and I walked past maybe a dozen commercial dive rigs staged on the dock. Every single tank had a solid band of marking tape around the neck with the company name and last hydro date. Don't know if it's just a regional thing or what, but back home in the Gulf we barely ever tape ours. Has anyone else seen this kind of strict labeling standard out on the west coast?

2 comments

fiona_clark•5d ago

Swapped my old dry gloves for a ring system last month and it's a game changer

I used to run those basic Viking dry gloves with the rubber cuffs that you roll over your wrist seals. Every dive I'd fight with getting them on, and forget about it when my hands were wet or cold - took me 10 minutes just to get seated right. Then I switched to a Si-Tech ring system after a buddy at a Gulf job in Port Fourchon kept pushing me to try it. Now I just snap the gloves on and off in seconds, even on a bouncing boat deck. My hands stay way warmer too since I'm not wrestling with the seals. The whole setup ran me about $200 but I'd have paid double after the first week of not losing dexterity. Has anyone else made the jump from roll-ons to rings or do you stick with what you know?

2 comments

shane244•11d ago

Blew $400 on a fancy titanium dive knife that's been sitting in my truck for 8 months

I bought one of those high end titanium knives from a diving expo thinking it would last forever. First time underwater with it, I dropped it near a wreck in 60 feet of water and spent 20 minutes hunting for it in silt. Found it but it's got so many scratches I could've just used my old $40 stainless one. The titanium doesn't even hold an edge as good. Anyone else regret dropping cash on overpriced gear that doesn't perform better?

2 comments

rosep87•13d ago

Had my drysuit inlet valve fail at 60 feet off the coast of San Diego last Tuesday

I was doing a routine hull inspection on a tugboat, about 15 minutes into the dive, when I felt this weird cold trickle down my back. At first I thought it was just sweat (you know, the usual), but then the trickle turned into a steady stream of 58-degree water. I had to abort the dive and do a slow controlled ascent while trying not to panic, which is easier said than done when you're getting cold fast. The valve itself was only 3 years old, but the rubber gasket inside had just rotted out, which I guess is a thing that happens. I've already ordered a replacement kit from DUI, but has anyone else had a similar failure on a Si-Tech valve?

2 comments

the_robin•13d ago

Finally got my first solo weld inspection signed off yesterday

I've been working toward this for about 3 years now, ever since I started as a tender up in Port Angeles. Last month my supervisor let me take the lead on a pier repair job, checking all the underwater welds on a piling cluster near the ferry dock. Yesterday the senior inspector came out to review my work and signed off on all 12 of my inspection reports without any corrections. It felt like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders honestly. I've been practicing my weld defect identification for months using those old test coupons from the shop. Does anyone else still get nervous when a supervisor comes to check your work, even when you know you did everything right?

2 comments

keithbennett•16d ago

Hard hat vs. free flow masks, I'll take a reliable Kirby Morgan over a neck dam any day

I got stuck on a job up in Port Alberni last spring, 40 feet down in murky water, and my free flow mask started flooding because the neck seal tore. Switched to my old KM-14 hard hat for the rest of the shift and had zero issues, could hear the topside comms clear and breathed easy. Everyone on my crew swears by those soft masks for comfort, but I've had three different buddy's setups fail on me in cold water. Has anyone else found the hard hat more dependable when conditions get rough?

2 comments

black.mark•18d ago

Tried a Kirby Morgan vs an OTS Guardian for a week straight. One of them gave me a killer headache every dive.

Swapped out my KM 37 for a loaner Guardian on a pipeline job off Port Fourchon last month. Thought I'd save some weight. Four days in my temples were pounding. Switched back to the KM and headache was gone in 2 hours. Something about the exhaust valve placement maybe. Anyone else get headaches from certain helmets?

2 comments

elizabetha92•19d ago

Figured out a trick for clearing a stuck helmet valve in a tricky spot

I was doing a bridge inspection down in Charleston last week and my exhaust valve got jammed with some sand and grit. Couldn't clear it with the usual blasts and I was losing air fast around 45 feet down. Then I remembered an old timer telling me to tap the valve cover with my knife handle while exhaling slowly. Tried it and the pressure popped it free on the second try... worked like a charm. Anyone else got a weird fix for a stuck valve that saved a dive?

2 comments

piper_flores69•20d ago

Talked to an old saturation diver in Port Arthur last week and it hit different

I was grabbing lunch at this little spot near the docks and this guy who must have been 70 starts talking to me about his time on rigs in the North Sea. He said in his day they didn't have any of the mixed gas computers we use now, just tables and gut feelings. Made me wonder if we rely too much on all this tech instead of actually learning the basics. Has anyone else run into old timers that made you rethink your whole approach?

2 comments

abbychen•22d ago

Shelled out $600 for a drysuit zipper replacement and it was a nightmare

I thought I was being smart paying a professional shop in Norfolk to swap out my zipper last winter. They quoted me $350 for the job plus parts, but after shipping and some extra fees it hit $600. Got the suit back and the new zipper leaked on my third dive off a bridge repair barge. Water just trickled right through the seal near the neck. Turns out they didn't seat the gasket right and it was a total waste of money. Had to send it back to a different guy in Seattle who actually knows drysuits and he fixed it for $200 flat. Anyone else get burned by a shop that claims they know what they're doing with commercial gear?

2 comments

janac51•23d ago

5 years of diving and I just learned I was clearing my mask wrong

I've been commercial diving for 5 years and always did the standard mask clear by tilting my head back and blowing hard out my nose. Then a dive instructor in Louisiana watched me last month and said I was wasting air and risking a seal blowout every time. Has anyone else figured out a better way to clear a mask in rough current?

2 comments

cameron_chen•29d ago

Switched from a Kirby Morgan to an Ocean Reef full face mask for shallow harbor work and I'm not going back

Been diving for 5 years, always used a KM-37 on the bigger jobs. Last week I had a contract inspecting some pilings in San Diego harbor, only about 20 feet down. Buddy lent me his Ocean Reef Neptune mask. No umbilical, no stupid exhaust valve sticking. I could just talk to the surface crew through the integrated comms without any feedback screaming. Spent the whole day in it, came up with zero headache. The KM is still king for deep work or currents, sure. But for these quick shallow gigs? I felt like an idiot for dragging that heavy helmet around for years. Has anyone else found a specific setup that just clicks for certain conditions but gets looked down on by the old heads?

2 comments

ivanjones•1mo ago

This one quote from a bell diver in the Gulf got me thinking about our jobs differently

I was reading an interview online where a guy who does deep bell work off Louisiana said "the real danger isn't the pressure, it's the complacency." That hit me hard because I've seen guys on my own crew skip pre-dive checks or ignore little equipment quirks. How do you all keep yourself from getting too comfortable on routine jobs?

2 comments

anderson.gavin•1mo ago

Heard a supervisor say commercial divers burn out by 40, got me thinking about my timeline

I was sitting in the break room at the yard in Houston last Thursday and overheard this old supervisor talking to a new hire. He said most guys in our field are done by 40 because of the joint wear and the schedule. I'm 32 now and I've been diving for 8 years, and I started wondering if I should be planning an exit strategy sooner. Anyone else hear similar timelines from old hands, or is he just talking about the guys who don't take care of themselves?

2 comments

king.aaron•1mo ago

Lost communication with my tender on a 60 foot dive in Port Angeles harbor

I was running a cutting torch on a pile at 50 feet when my comms went completely dead, no radio, no pull signals, just me and the murk, and I had to surface on a controlled emergency ascent because I couldn't confirm if the tender was even at the panel, anyone else deal with a total comms failure like that?

2 comments

the_sandra•1mo ago

Finally got my umbilical twist figured out after 3 dives in a row getting tangled

I saw a guy on the boat last Saturday using a swivel at the block and another at his chest harness and I realized having just one point of rotation is why I was fighting my lines every time I swam around a piling, so now I run two swivels and it cut my line management time in half - has anyone else tried that setup or do you do something different for working around tight structure?

2 comments

the_ben•1mo ago

Serious question, did anyone else not know mixed-gas diving had a specific depth cutoff for helium?

I read on the Divers Alert Network site last night that once you go past 130 feet, helium is pretty much standard in the mix because nitrogen narcosis hits way harder than I thought, so now I'm rethinking my whole training plan for deeper wrecks.

2 comments

the_julia•1mo ago

TIL I was cleaning my demand regulator wrong for 3 years

I used to just rinse my Poseidon demand reg under fresh water after every dive. Thought that was good enough. Then my buddy showed me his crusty second stage that failed at 90 feet last month on a pipeline job off Galveston. Now I soak mine in warm soapy water for 20 minutes, then blow it out with low pressure air. The manual actually says to do this after every shift. Who knew a little soap could save you from a freeflow 100 feet down? Has anyone else had a reg fail from poor cleaning?

2 comments

oliver_anderson•1mo ago

That one job in Port Fourchon that nearly broke me

Three days of 30 foot vis dropping to zero after a storm rolled in. Got tangled in a abandoned fishing net at 90 feet, took me 45 minutes to cut free. Buddy line snapped and I surface drifted half a mile from the boat. Worst part was the $400 check bounced after all that. Any of you ever deal with a contractor skipping out on payment?

2 comments

anthony_jenkins61•1mo ago

Spent 4 hours hunting a leak that was just a worn O-ring on a hose fitting

Dropped a hammer on a hydraulic line last Tuesday and it took me until lunch Wednesday to realize the damn thing was just a $2 O-ring that cracked. Had the whole rig torn apart and pressure tested twice before I spotted it. Anyone else ever waste a whole shift on something that simple?

2 comments

margaretj40•1mo ago

Compared two brand names of dry suits back to back in the Puget Sound last month and one was leaking within 20 minutes of the first dive

The difference was the zipper placement and how the neck seal was glued in, the higher priced one had a smoother seam that just held up better under pressure, has anyone else noticed a big gap in quality between the big brands lately?

2 comments

michaeljones•1mo ago

A supervisor chewed me out over my mask seal 6 months ago

I was diving on a pipeline job off the Gulf coast near Galveston and kept getting a trickle of water inside my hood. The supervisor pulled me aside and said I was breathing too shallow and breaking the seal when I turned my head to the left. He made me practice slow, even breaths while rotating my neck in the hot tub for 20 minutes. I changed my breathing rhythm and started checking my face seal before every drop. Now I hardly ever get leaks even on deeper wreck dives. Has anyone else had an old timer correct a simple habit that saved them hassle?

3 comments

cole_hall•1mo ago

Had my lift bag valve freeze up on a job in the Puget Sound last week

Was working at 90 feet on a piling repair and the inflator valve on my lift bag just locked open. Bag shot up before I could cut it loose and I lost about 600 bucks in gear that was strapped to it. Anyone else had cold water seize up their valves like that?

3 comments

hernandez.brooke•1mo ago

My Kirby Morgan band mask cracked mid-dive off the coast of Galveston last Tuesday

I was doing a routine hull inspection at about 40 feet and suddenly felt water trickling down my cheek. Turns out a hairline crack in the faceport skirt let seawater in. Has anyone else had an old band mask just give up on them like that?

3 comments