I fancy shopping

[Mary]

Having just liberated £130 from the fine people of nottingham via a car boot sale of my unwanted (and generally useless) junk, I fancy a shopping spree.


I realise that this isn't the wads of cash that most people with a regular pay check (ie not students) have to spend on kit but never the less I thought I might ask the opinion of the YD gurus as to suggestions.

so suggest away please.......

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>Mary, you are right. £130 isn't going to go far when it comes to dive kit!

What have you got already?

[Digger]

I think it's wing and backplate time Mary. You know you want to. Buddy TekWing, £140. Sure, everyone will think we're clones, but then I have messed mine around enough that they might not notice!

Second hand twin 7s?

Membership of the Digger appreciation society is only £130 for the year, you know that?

[gaz]

Mary,

You could get yourself 65mtr of bungie. that's bound to come in useful for something diving related sooner or later.
Or if you want a 'proper' save-a-dive kit, get about 20mtr of bungie, a big roll of gaffer tape and a pair of underwater scissors. that little lot will be well under £50 and will fix all diving problems known to man or woman.

Dig's buddy wing for £140 sounds pretty good too, or how about a cheap nitrox course, then you can have another boot sale to raise the £20 to get your tank O2 cleaned.

or one of those fancy buddy smbcis - the one with a gas bottle. they make smb deployment a real doddle and they're only £85, so you still aford my save-a-dive kit.

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>What does an EPIRB cost? Perhaps we should all have one on our shopping lists, and pretty near the top.

[Digger]

Now the SMB idea is good. Except £85? That is a lot of money.

As for bungee, with £130 we could buy 260 meters of bungee! Adn a cheap nitrox course? BSAC -£70. You could afford a good SMB with the spare cash!

[DanG]

EPIRBS are fairly expensive, I looked up ones that work for divers and they are around £170, this is for a 121.5MHz EPIRB, this type of EPIRB is only useful if someone knows you are in distress and is looking for you since basically there needs to be a SAR helicopter within about 10 miles for you to be picked up. &nbsp;The 406MHz EPIRBs however transmit a signal up to a satellite so you can be picked up anywhere within the satellites footprint (between 70 N and 70 S for inmarsat, worldwide for cospas/sarsat), I have not yet found any 406 epirbs that are water proof for more than a few metres. &nbsp;Oh and you need to be on the surface for these to work of coarse!
If you have someone on the boat whos switched on and calls the coastguard when they can't find you then a 121.5 epirb would be just the job for letting the sea king find you. &nbsp;If you do get a 406 epirb though make sure you register it or you may not get any response at all!

[Mary]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (gaz @ Aug. 31 2003,21:09)]You could get yourself 65mtr of bungie. that's bound to come in useful for something diving related sooner or later.

Where are you buying bungy? go see poppa smurf if you're in the neighbourhood. have come out with several meters, assorted little bits of webbing etc and never been charged more than £2

No Digger No, I'm not helping fund your beer habit! afraid not even willing to become clones because unlike some women I resist the urge to write in pink on my kit.

kit wise have most everything basic I need, stab, regs, pony, computer, DSMB, compass, nice nice dry suit, only big thing I don't have is tanks but use club ones. no point in buying clean ones as not a clean compressor so then have to buy fills al la digger.

may send myself on a nitrox course..... what are the requirements?

[Mary]

on the down side depends how long it is until the course, I may have aquired several more handbags in the meantime.....

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>Plenty of in-test tanks on e-bay come in under your £130. You may be able to get two! I know you can use club tanks, but how much notice is needed?

I keep two tanks at home and filled. It means I can take up those drop-of-a-hat dive offers, so they don't stay full for long.

Loads of other nice stuff on e-bay; great value too!