Living a Diver's Life

Photo: Fred Stratton By Fred Stratton Bubbles or Not Diving Instructor & Repair Technician fred@bubblesornot.com Your regulators are the heart of your scuba life support system.   Like the body’s heart, your regulators will be there for you…if you take care of them. Keeping your scuba gear diveworthy involves periodic maintenance. Properly maintaining one’s vehicle is required to fulfill the owner’s warranty responsibility. Scuba manufacterers have the same requirement and the work must be performed by a trained, authorized technician. If your annual (or biannual) service is due in February but you plan to dive that month, set a reminder in your phone to get them serviced in January. This will keep your product in warranty and preclude having to rent gear at your dive destination.   Other factors to consider are the manufacturer’s service requirements, number of dives since the last servicing, and your diving environment (salt water, fresh  ...

Fred Stratton BoN instructor and repair technician fred@bubblesornot.com Hi fellow divers. This is the first in a series of monthly articles focused on scuba equipment maintenance, repair, and configuration. Make this a dialog by providing feedback and asking questions to be answered in future articles. We have thousands of dives among us. We become better divers by sharing our experiences, be they close calls, good tips, funny situations, or curious questions. What do you take with you on a road trip? I take navigation software, beverages, snacks, music, a spare tire, some basic tools, blanket, and jumper cables. Divers like to eat and drink, so we're pretty good about bringing coolers and food. How about spare parts and tools to perform basic field repairs? Our scuba gear is our life support system. It's surprising how many divers are tempted to dive with a leaking SPG or primary second stage regulator because they've spent time and money getting t...