c/commercial-divers

18

the_sandra•4d ago

Dropped $150 on a faulty drysuit zipper repair that failed on first dive

I took my drysuit to a shop in Norfolk for a new zipper and paid $150 upfront, thinking it was a solid deal. The zipper blew open at 30 feet on my next job, flooding my suit and ruining my whole shift. Anyone else had a zipper repair go bad and found a shop that actually stands by their work?

7

emma_burns96•5d ago

Am I the only one who's seen the dive gear quality tank since 2020?

I pulled out my old Poseidon regulator from 2018 the other day and compared it to the new one I bought last spring. The old one feels solid, the new one has plastic bits that look cheap and I swear the threading feels off. I work night shifts at a hospital so I only get out for dives on weekends now, but this is bugging me. Has anyone else noticed this drop in quality on newer gear?

28

seth_martinez21•5d ago

My drysuit inflator valve failed at 60 feet off the coast of Galveston last Thursday

I was 20 minutes into a bottom job on a jack-up rig when I felt my suit getting tight. Thought it was just my out-of-shape ass until I heard the hiss. The inflator stuck open and I was blowing up like a balloon. Had to ditch my weights and shoot for the surface doing a controlled emergency ascent. Lost a hammer and a roll of duct tape but better than getting bent. Now I check those valves twice before every dive. Anyone else have a suit failure that almost turned into a real bad day?

1

angelapalmer•6d ago

Overheard a guy at the dive shop say he never checks his drysuit valves before a job

That stuck with me because I saw a guy flood out on a 60-foot wreck dive last month because his exhaust valve was jammed open. How many of you actually inspect every valve before you suit up?

31

terry1•10d ago

Shoutout to an old diver named Mike who saved me from a bad decision

I was about to buy a used Kirby Morgan mask I found on Craigslist for $400. Mike, a diver I met on a job in Port Arthur, told me to check the exhaust valve seals first. Turns out they were cracked and would have flooded on my first deep dive. He showed me how to test them with just your breath and a little water. Anyone else have a gear trick an older diver passed on?

17

terry_walker•11d ago

Old timer on a barge off Louisiana taught me more in 10 minutes than 2 years of school

I was working a pipeline repair job near Grand Isle back in 2017 and this guy named Roy grabbed my arm before a dive. He said "stop thinking about the job and start feeling the current with your hands, it'll tell you where to go." Anyone else have a random mentor moment like that from a crusty old diver?

20

black.jordan•15d ago

That 30 foot dive at the Port of Houston taught me to never trust a new hookah rig

I was doing anode replacement on a dock piling near berth 14 last October when my surface-supplied air started tasting like exhaust. Buddy on deck said the compressor was brand new, straight out of the box from a supplier in Louisiana. I surfaced feeling lightheaded and my chest was tight for two days after. Has anyone else had a new compressor throw oil mist into the line without warning?

26

hugos67•16d ago

Sat down with a welder from the Gulf last month who changed how I think about bottom time

I was on a shore job in Port Fourchon and grabbed lunch with an older guy named Jimmy who did deep sat work back in the 80s. He told me he never trusted the tables past 80 feet because he saw too many guys get bent running lighter mixes on the edge. He said the real trick was keeping your ascent as slow as the boss would let you get away with, not what the chart says. That hit me because I always treated the decompression schedules like they were perfect, but he had a point about how water temp and current mess with how gas moves in your blood. I started taking my final stops a few minutes longer even on shallow jobs and feel way less foggy after the dive. Anyone else adjust their ascent based on conditions instead of sticking to the book?

21

johnb95•16d ago

Just had the worst dive day in a month - 15 minutes, zero viz, and a line tangle

So I'm out on a bridge inspection job near Charleston. Get suited up, double check everything, splash in. Fifteen minutes in the water and I hit a patch of silt so thick I couldn't see my hand on my faceplate. Then my umbilical catches on some old rebar and I had to spend 10 minutes just finding my way out of that mess. Surface called it after that said the tide was shifting anyway. Whole morning wasted for basically nothing. Anyone else ever have a day where you spend more time dealing with problems than actually working?

22

alice_wilson73•17d ago

My old Kirby Morgan regulator finally gave out mid-dive in October

Honestly, I was 40 feet down inspecting a pier in Norfolk when I heard that familiar hiss turn into a full-on free flow. The second stage started dumping air like crazy and I had to abort the job right there. Turns out the diaphragm had a hairline crack probably from years of cold water dives. I swapped in a new Dia-Components kit I had in my truck and it's been running smooth since. Has anyone else had a reg fail on them out of nowhere like that?

15

seth_martinez21•18d ago

Diving helmet fit changed after I swapped my hood type

I've been using a Kirby Morgan 37 for about 4 years now and always wore a 7mm neoprene hood under it. Last month I switched to a thin 3mm crushed neoprene hood for a warmer water job and suddenly the helmet seal feels totally different, like it's sitting higher on my neck. Has anyone else noticed a big fit difference just from changing hood thickness, or am I imagining things?

18

sethtorres•21d ago

Old timer warned me about ear squeeze on a 60 foot job in Port Townsend

Guy named Dutch with 30 years in told me to equalize way more often than I thought I needed to. I figured I knew my own ears after a couple years. Last month I skipped a few on a quick descent and ended up with a nasty squeeze that put me out for three days. Has anyone else ignored good advice from a senior diver and paid for it?

10

henderson.mason•24d ago

Had a talk with a retired diver in Pensacola that changed how I check my bailout bottle

He told me about a buddy who got stuck in a wreck because his bailout valve was gummed up from not being cycled enough, even though the pressure gauge read full. Now I open and close mine every single shift, not just check the pressure. How often do you guys actually exercise your bailout valves?

14

emmag40•26d ago

Spent three days in zero viz on a bridge piling job and my comms went out

Got sent to a river job near Pittsburgh last week to inspect some bridge footings. The silt was so bad I couldn't see my hand on the other side of my mask. Then my helmet mic started cutting in and out, so I'm down there feeling for cracks with the supervisor yelling broken words in my ear. We had to surface every 20 minutes just to confirm what I was touching. Anyone else had a job where you basically had to work blind and deaf?

26

simon_lopez35•27d ago

Switched to a different grease for my Kirby hat last month. Big change.

Was using that basic white lithium stuff for years. Kept getting stiff zips and snaps. My buddy in Tampa said to try the blue marine grade grease. Did a job in Mobile Bay last week. Hat zipper moved smooth the whole time, even after six hours down. What other small gear fixes made a big difference for you guys?

17

walker.michael•29d ago

Just saw a huge change in the harbor water clarity over the last two months

I've been working a job in the Port of Tacoma for about six months now. For the first four months, the vis was a solid 10-15 feet on most days, which was fine for the steel inspections we were doing. But starting in early April, it dropped to maybe 2-3 feet in a matter of weeks. At first I thought it was just bad luck with weather, but it stayed murky. I talked to one of the long-time port guys, and he said they started a big dredging project about a mile up the channel to make room for the new container ships. All that silt and sediment is just flowing right down with the current. It's turned simple tasks into a real headache, needing to work almost entirely by feel. Has anyone else had to adjust their methods for a job because of a sudden, long-term drop in visibility from a nearby project?

24

joel_brown19•1mo ago

My buddy in Seattle told me to use a 3/8 inch wrench for the bolt on my Kirby Morgan hat, but it was wrong.

He swore by it for years, so I tried it on a job last week in Portland. The wrench slipped, rounded the bolt head, and I had to surface early to fix it. Turns out the manual says you need a 7/16 inch for that specific part. It cost me an hour of bottom time. Anyone else have a tool tip that backfired on them?

28

wood.noah•1mo ago

My old boss in Tampa said I'd never need a lift bag under 50 pounds. He was wrong.

I was doing a small salvage job for a marina last month, just pulling up some old dock hardware. The pieces were only about 30 pounds each, but the current was strong. I remembered a guy on here, Mike, saying to always pack a small 25-pound lift bag for 'just in case' jobs. Used it to float the hardware up the line and saved myself a ton of drag and effort. Anyone else keep a small bag in their kit for those weird little jobs?

14

tylerg30•1mo ago

Bought a $400 backup dive light after a close call in murky water

Honestly, I was working a salvage job in the Mobile River last month and my primary light died right as I was under a wreck. Ngl, having that spare clipped to my harness let me finish the job and get out safe. What's the one piece of gear you've bought that actually saved your butt?

2

lily_stone76•1mo ago

A crab stole my wrench during a hull clean in Baltimore last month

We were doing a standard hull clean on a big container ship in the harbor, water was murky as usual. I had just set my 10mm wrench down on a flat spot to adjust my rig when this huge blue crab, I swear it was the size of a dinner plate, scuttled right over. It grabbed the wrench in one claw and started backing away with it. My buddy on comms just heard me yelling 'Hey! No!' into my helmet. I had to chase the thing for a good ten feet, trying to gently nudge it with my glove without getting pinched, while my dive partner was laughing so hard I could hear the bubbles through his regulator. I finally got the wrench back, but the crab put up a real fight. Has anyone else had local wildlife try to steal their tools?

5

the_margaret•1mo ago

I always thought a 100-foot dive was the real test, but hitting 50 hours in zero-vis mud off Galveston changed my mind.

The job was a simple pipe survey, but after two days of working blind by feel and sound alone, I realized that depth means nothing compared to the skill of working when you can't see your own gauges, so what's the toughest low-vis job you've ever pulled off?

11

brookes37•1mo ago

Found a wild stat about salvage depth records in a library book

I was reading an old diving history book from the Seattle library and it said the deepest confirmed salvage operation was over 1,800 feet, way deeper than I ever thought possible. The book detailed the tech they used back in the 70s for that job, and it blew my mind. Has anyone here ever worked on a salvage job even close to that kind of depth?

8

kai463•1mo ago

Crossed 1,000 hours on my primary surface supply unit this morning

The logbook entry surprised me because I've only had the rig for 18 months. It made me think about how much more confident I feel with the controls now versus when I first got it. Anyone else hit a big hour mark on a piece of gear and notice a real shift in their comfort level?

19

robertc44•1mo ago

TIL a cheap lift bag almost cost me a job in the Gulf.

Had to choose between my old 500lb bag and a new 1,000lb one for a pipeline valve pull. Went with the old one to save cash. It started to slip on the second lift, nearly dropped the part. Ended up having to surface, swap bags, and lost half a day. Anyone else have a lift bag story that went sideways?

9

wren217•1mo ago

Spent two days trying to free a stuck valve on a salvage job

We were working on an old tugboat up in the Puget Sound last month, trying to hook up air lines to a ballast tank. The main shutoff valve was totally frozen, probably hadn't been turned in 20 years. I tried everything: heat, penetrating oil, even a cheater bar. Nothing. What I thought would be a 30-minute job turned into a full two-day mess. We ended up having to cut a small access hole in the deck above it just to get a proper swing on a 4-foot wrench. The whole time, I kept thinking about how the old guys would have just known some trick with a hammer and a punch. Felt like I was fighting the sea itself. Anyone have a go-to method for a valve that just won't budge?