Well, I went commercial and I learned a lot.. you kind of push it to the limits in class, and it sometimes have you fo just the opposite of what you were taught in open water. Stuff like keep 500 psi in the tank at the end of the dive. In commercial dive school we had to run out of air a few times ... on purpose. I was at 80 feet when I did it.. I even let my buddy know and he offered his October, but I turned it down and started up. I got to something like 35 feet and had air again.. then when I reached the saftey stop where we had extra tanks waiting, I noticed I had air.. but when I went back down I was out before I got near the bottom. Lol. I got in to commercial diving because it was fun at first. But after you start diving every single day in cold or hot, always in muddy gunky mess and never having time to just take in the sites or exporing.... just get the job at hand done asap, and get out and to the next job. Everyone expects you to do it in a record time, and get it perfect as if you were in a boat yard, and have every tool you could ever ask for at your finger tips. And they want you on the site right then no matter what you are doing. Then after the job is done they have extra stuff they want you to take care of... because you are already in the water can just clean the bottom... can you look for my rod and reel... can you go and clean those through hulls.. here are some links put them on the shaft while you're at it. But never want to pay for any extra work. Sometimes you have captains that want to play with your equipment and knock stuff overboard... like your weight belt or a tank... or they will open your tank and blow the rings out and not tell you. And they call all hours of the day.. or night. In Hilton head SC it gets cold in February at 3am when some these folks call and ask you to come over ASAP to remove a dock line wrapped around a wheel (prop) on a 65 foot shrimpboat next to a dock in the river. It got to be more work then fun so I decided to do something safer like hanging out of a 1967 UH1 Huey over a wild fire with 250 of water in a bucket dangling 30 feet off the belly over a raging wild fire... during march!. Sometimes turning a fun hobby into a career can ruin your fun hobby.
Thanks a lot for sharing your commercial experiences. I was a hard hat commercial diver for a few years and agree with the differences between recreation and commercial skills. You're still here so must be doing something right. A
@AlecPeirceScuba_SeaHunter lol yeah, let's just say my guardian angel has their hands full... I probably got a whole flock of guardian angels working 24x7... lol. I got a friend I met that just starting her own tire shop. She said she wants to learn to scuba dive. So I guess I have someone new to instill my vast amount of useless knowledge on to. Lol. Maybe she will make a few better choices than I did. I got a new born Grandson that I am hopeful will be old enough to take up diving in 16 years... by then maybe he can master the perfect buoyancy that had alway eluded me. Lol.
It seems like there's a wide variation in DM training some places it's just a course and a test maybee assist in some pool sessions, other places it's months long "internship" with a shop, and others are a 3 week vacation diving with customers in the tropics. Obviously the more experience you have the more attentive you'll be with customers however the course doesn't take into account what experience you have outside of the course structure that may influence how well you adapt to working with customers.
DM training is a core skill, it's the application of that training where they learn really important skills and people interaction. The practical side of a DM gets them the smarts to know if being an instructor interest them. A
Hi Alec and Kevin, (I don't know who answers on yt) Do you know what happened with "Vintage Double Hose" ? They don't have any products on the page. Is it possible to replace yoke screw on double hose regulator so it can fit on modern din valve with donut inside ?
With the passing of Bryan P. who setup and ran VDH, it has stopped being updated. Don't know who now owns/manages the page. Yes, a vintage double hose reg can be updated with a modern yoke to handle 3,000 psi as long as the 1st stage is also updated. Bryan at VDH sold the great Phoenix upgrade kit (see my video on that) but I don't know of anyone who sells/services upgrades. Try asking my buddy Rob at: thescubamuseum.com A
I think so. Learning how to work with new/scared divers to get them to become excited over something they previously were afraid of is a great feeling. A
Hi Alec, we should never stop learning! Especially as we get older, I have forgotten more than I know at this point. HAHA! Take care Owen m
So true! I'm still learning, to listen to my wife more.
A
Well, I went commercial and I learned a lot.. you kind of push it to the limits in class, and it sometimes have you fo just the opposite of what you were taught in open water. Stuff like keep 500 psi in the tank at the end of the dive. In commercial dive school we had to run out of air a few times ... on purpose. I was at 80 feet when I did it.. I even let my buddy know and he offered his October, but I turned it down and started up. I got to something like 35 feet and had air again.. then when I reached the saftey stop where we had extra tanks waiting, I noticed I had air.. but when I went back down I was out before I got near the bottom. Lol.
I got in to commercial diving because it was fun at first. But after you start diving every single day in cold or hot, always in muddy gunky mess and never having time to just take in the sites or exporing.... just get the job at hand done asap, and get out and to the next job. Everyone expects you to do it in a record time, and get it perfect as if you were in a boat yard, and have every tool you could ever ask for at your finger tips. And they want you on the site right then no matter what you are doing. Then after the job is done they have extra stuff they want you to take care of... because you are already in the water can just clean the bottom... can you look for my rod and reel... can you go and clean those through hulls.. here are some links put them on the shaft while you're at it. But never want to pay for any extra work. Sometimes you have captains that want to play with your equipment and knock stuff overboard... like your weight belt or a tank... or they will open your tank and blow the rings out and not tell you. And they call all hours of the day.. or night. In Hilton head SC it gets cold in February at 3am when some these folks call and ask you to come over ASAP to remove a dock line wrapped around a wheel (prop) on a 65 foot shrimpboat next to a dock in the river.
It got to be more work then fun so I decided to do something safer like hanging out of a 1967 UH1 Huey over a wild fire with 250 of water in a bucket dangling 30 feet off the belly over a raging wild fire... during march!. Sometimes turning a fun hobby into a career can ruin your fun hobby.
Thanks a lot for sharing your commercial experiences. I was a hard hat commercial diver for a few years and agree with the differences between recreation and commercial skills. You're still here so must be doing something right.
A
@AlecPeirceScuba_SeaHunter lol yeah, let's just say my guardian angel has their hands full... I probably got a whole flock of guardian angels working 24x7... lol. I got a friend I met that just starting her own tire shop. She said she wants to learn to scuba dive. So I guess I have someone new to instill my vast amount of useless knowledge on to. Lol. Maybe she will make a few better choices than I did.
I got a new born Grandson that I am hopeful will be old enough to take up diving in 16 years... by then maybe he can master the perfect buoyancy that had alway eluded me. Lol.
Thank you for showing this path
Your welcome and thanks for watching.
A
It seems like there's a wide variation in DM training some places it's just a course and a test maybee assist in some pool sessions, other places it's months long "internship" with a shop, and others are a 3 week vacation diving with customers in the tropics. Obviously the more experience you have the more attentive you'll be with customers however the course doesn't take into account what experience you have outside of the course structure that may influence how well you adapt to working with customers.
DM training is a core skill, it's the application of that training where they learn really important skills and people interaction. The practical side of a DM gets them the smarts to know if being an instructor interest them.
A
Hi Alec and Kevin,
(I don't know who answers on yt)
Do you know what happened with "Vintage Double Hose" ? They don't have any products on the page.
Is it possible to replace yoke screw on double hose regulator so it can fit on modern din valve with donut inside ?
With the passing of Bryan P. who setup and ran VDH, it has stopped being updated. Don't know who now owns/manages the page. Yes, a vintage double hose reg can be updated with a modern yoke to handle 3,000 psi as long as the 1st stage is also updated. Bryan at VDH sold the great Phoenix upgrade kit (see my video on that) but I don't know of anyone who sells/services upgrades. Try asking my buddy Rob at: thescubamuseum.com
A
@@AlecPeirceScuba_SeaHunter
Thank you, I saw Phoenix but did not find single one for sale
Qualifying as a DM will make you a better diver in every way, whether or not you end up working as a DM or instructor.
I think so. Learning how to work with new/scared divers to get them to become excited over something they previously were afraid of is a great feeling.
A