c/commercial-divers

Serious question, why don't more guys use a ratchet strap to secure their gear bag on deck?

I've been diving for about 8 years now, mostly off the coast of Louisiana. Last week I was getting ready for a 60-foot repair job and my bag kept sliding around on the wet deck every time we hit a swell. I grabbed a ratchet strap from the truck and cinched it down to a cleat. Totally stopped the problem. My tender thought it was overkill, but I didn't have to chase my tools once. Has anyone else tried this trick or do you guys just deal with the sliding?

Appreciation post: That $80 dive knife I almost replaced actually just needed sharpening

I bought a brushed steel dive knife from a shop in Houston about 2 years ago for $80, and last month I was ready to toss it because it couldn't cut through a rope netting on a salvage job. Took it to a local sharpening guy for $12 and now it slices like new again. Anyone else ever almost junk a tool that just needed a little TLC?

Old timer told me to dry my suit inside out after every single dive, called it lazy otherwise

My mentor Dave from that Gulf gig back in '21 said to always flip my drysuit inside out and hang it for a full day, but half the guys on my crew just rinse and toss it in a bag. I started doing it his way after a crusty zipper almost failed on a 60 foot inspection, and now my suit seals last twice as long. Anyone here ever got burned by skipping that step or is Dave just old school with better gear luck?

the vis in the quarry pond near Richmond was so bad last week I couldn't see my own gauges

spent 45 minutes feeling around in total darkness for a pump intake valve, has anyone else dealt with silt that turns the water into chocolate milk?

I finally realized I was purging my tanks wrong for 8 years

Was on a job in the Gulf last month and my supervisor just watched me do my pre-dive check. He pointed out I was cracking the valve too fast and blowing off way more gas than needed, been wasting air this whole time. Anyone else have a simple habit they never got corrected on until someone called them out?

Call out on dive knife placement

I keep seeing guys strapping their knife to the inside of their calf where they can barely reach it under a drysuit. After I got tangled in line off the coast of Galveston last month, I had to use my buddy's knife because I could not get to mine. Why risk it when a chest mount takes two seconds to access?

Pro tip: I was using the wrong weight belt for months

Tried a Kirby Morgan bandmask for the first time on a job off Port Fourchon... ended up liking it more than my usual KMB 18

Quick tip that saved my dive yesterday in the Gulf

I was fighting with a stuck valve on a pipeline repair 40 feet down off Galveston, couldn't get my wrench to bite. I remembered an old guy telling me to wrap the valve stem with a rubber strap from my toolkit, and it gripped perfectly on the second try. Anyone else have a weird trick like that for stubborn underwater hardware?

Just found out how fast decompression sickness can hit you even in shallow water

I was reading through some DAN accident reports last night and came across a case where a guy got bent in only 30 feet of water. He was on a Friday afternoon job, nothing crazy, just pulling traps. He skipped a safety stop because he figured it was too shallow to matter. Ended up with joint pain two hours later and had to hit the chamber. That stuck with me because I always thought you needed to be way deeper for that to happen. Anyone else get caught off guard by how little depth it takes to get into trouble?

Lost comms on a 60 foot dive in the Columbia River last Tuesday

My helmet comms went dead at 45 feet and I couldn't hear topside at all for the next 15 minutes. Ended up having to use pull signals on the umbilical to get them to haul me up, felt like a total rookie but it got the job done. Anyone else had a comms fail mid dive and have to go old school with the rope?

Warning: that fancy new drysuit zipper took me 3 hours to seat properly on a job in Port Angeles last month

I thought I could swap it out in 45 minutes like the old brass zipper but the plastic one kept binding and I ended up redoing the sealant twice, has anyone else fought with those new zippers or did I just get a lemon?

Switched from Kirby Morgan to Ocean Reef after 10 years and now I'm kicking myself

I always thought the Kirby Morgan 37 was the only mask worth using for deep work, but a buddy let me borrow his Ocean Reef for a 90-foot hull job last week and the visor clarity was way better. Has anyone else made the swap and noticed a difference in comms clarity on the surface?

Hot take: Gulf rig diving vs inland river diving - which one prepped me better for real jobs?

I just got back from a 3-week stint doing bridge inspections in the Mississippi near Baton Rouge and man, it was a whole different beast than the Gulf rig work I did last summer. In the Gulf, I was dealing with 60 foot visibility and steady currents, easy to navigate. But that river had maybe 2 feet of vis at best, plus random debris and zero current to help you move. Which environment do you guys think builds the strongest foundation for a new diver? I got both on my resume now but I'm leaning toward the hard stuff for learning. Has anyone else made the switch from offshore to inland and noticed a big difference in how you handle stress?

Took me 3 days to realize my drysuit zipper was just dirty, not broken

Got into it with a supervisor on a Gulf rig about decompression times

Tbh I still think about this argument I had with a supervisor on a rig off Louisiana about 2 years ago. He said we could shave 15 minutes off our deco stops on a 180 foot bounce dive because the tables are too conservative. I told him I wasn't risking my neck to save a quarter hour on a job that paid by the day anyway. He got all red in the face and said I was wasting company time. I stuck to my guns and ran the full schedule, but he kept giving me the cold shoulder for the rest of the hitch. Has anyone else had to push back on someone pushing for shorter surface intervals or deco stops?

That chat with an old saturation diver changed my whole view on helium voice

I used to think talking funny on heliox was just a joke we all played up for new guys. But after a bell run last week where my buddy pointed out how much slower we talk to avoid confusion, it clicked that there's actual safety thinking behind it, not just the gas. Has anyone else had an older diver drop a simple tip that made you feel like a rookie again?

That one week in the Gulf of Mexico back in '04 when the vis was so clear you could see 40 feet down

Vent: Had to pick between a drysuit leak and a frozen regulator today

Got sent down on a bridge pier inspection in the Columbia River last week. Water was 38 degrees and I had a choice: swap out my leaky drysuit for a backup that fit tighter than a sausage casing, or keep the leaky one and deal with cold water trickling down my back. I went with the backup suit. By the end of the 2 hour dive my shoulders were screaming from the restricted movement, but at least I stayed dry. Anyone else ever had to pick between a bad fit and a bad seal?

Took me 3 days to figure out my drysuit zipper was just dirty

Spent last Tuesday fighting a stuck zipper on my DUI drysuit at the dock in Port Angeles. Tried wax, tried silicone spray, even considered just calling it a day and going back to shore. Third morning I took a toothbrush to the zipper teeth and flushed out a wad of salt grit and sand. Zipper worked perfectly after that. I was about to drop $400 on a replacement. Anyone else spend way too long on a simple fix before thinking to clean the damn thing?

Kirby Morgan band mask or just stick with the AGA...

I've been diving commercial for about 8 years now and I keep going back and forth on my mask setup. My old AGA finally gave out after a valve job in the Gulf last October, so I'm looking at dropping around $3,200 on a new Kirby Morgan 37. A buddy of mine in Louisiana swears by the AGA for shallow work but says the KM is better for deep stuff past 120 feet. Which one do you guys run most and has anybody regretted switching?

Tried a different fin setup for deep current work and it threw my buoyancy off bad

Was working a pipeline inspection job off the coast of Louisiana last month, and I swapped from my usual Rockets to a set of Jet fins everybody swore by for heavy current. Figured it'd make my kicks more efficient, but man, I spent the first 20 minutes fighting to stay level. Felt like I was either sinking or shooting up, couldn't find the sweet spot. Switched back to my old fins after the dive and everything clicked again. I guess some gear just works for your body type and some doesn't. Anyone else had a fin swap mess with their trim that bad?

Hot take: mixed-gas calibration on the surface is a waste of time for most shallow jobs

I was at a safety meeting last Tuesday and the lead supervisor said we should all be doing full trimix calibrations before every dive, even if we're only going to 60 feet. I've been diving 8 years now and I think that's overkill for shallow dives. The time it takes and the gas you burn just isn't worth it when you're not even hitting deco limits. Has anyone else pushed back on this kind of over-regulation in their shop?

Old timer told me to ditch my drysuit for a wetty on a warm-water job

Back in 2019 I was working a platform inspection off the coast of Galveston. Water temp was pushing 80, and this grizzled guy named Doyle says, 'Son, you're gonna cook in that drysuit. Just use a 5mm farmer john.' I thought he was crazy. But I gave it a shot and man, he was right. Moving around on those legs was way easier, and I didn't have to deal with sweat pooling in my boots. Has anyone else had an old salt steer you wrong or right like that?

Hooked my umbilical cord on a lobster trap line last week

Was working a salvage job 60 feet down off the coast of Maine, and my umbilical got snagged on a bunch of old trap lines that were tangled together. Took me 15 minutes of sawing at them with my dive knife to get free, and my air was getting low by the end. Has anyone else dealt with getting tangled in fishing gear on the bottom and got a good method to avoid it?