3 Equipment Questions

[David B]

Bought my Light Cannon off EBay from the USA. It was part of the UK Tribal Pack - not available in the United Kingdom. Consisted of Light Cannon with pistol and lantern grip, Mini Q40 torch and Blue Tang Titanium Dive Knife. Cost me $167.50, $50 postage and £32 duty. Total of approx £145. Priced on Denney Diving today at £255.00. A pretty good deal I think. Post me if you want any more info.

Regards

David

[Diving Dude]

Originally Posted by GotTheBug

Wow this Diving lark makes my bank manager nervous lol

And its only you, when l started it was with my two eldest brats, wifee was not pleased when l told her l needed to buy three drysuits and three computors for a trip to scapa.

Nicks dive canon is a good value for money torch.

[Digger]

Well, I get by with a pair of football socks on my feet. My drysuit was 2nd hand and I can get in with the nylons on, but not a lot else. I only had cold feet once this year, and did probably 20 dives below 5 deg.

On the integrated weight/belt argument, I'd suggest distributing weight if possible. Your first few dives in the drysuit you're going to be using wuite a lot of lead, and will probably even after hundreds of dives in it be using 4kg (ish) more than a thick wetsuit, so possibly removing the problem of ditching a 14kg belt and going off like a polaris missile. If you can put 6-8kg in the pockets and a few kilos on the belt you would then have a reliable system as a total shit + fan solution. I don't carry any ditchable lead really, but that's my choice. I fit's something you want, might be worth doing it this way.

The UK torches are good, but you might want to think about the style of torch. I find the hairdryer torches a pain to stow, but others get on ok with them. Lanterns aren't so bad, but I'm a big fan of umbilicals. One solution I saw to stowing the hairdryer was to put cable ties behind the unscrewable lighthead and have a boltsnap on there, and then you can tuck the handle into your waistband. Secure and there when you need it. Well, I was impressed anyways!!!

Hope this helps.

Digs.

[Conor]

Haven't used a light Cannon, although have seen one in the water and was impressed.

I can't think why you should need to change your bc at this stage, stick to what you are used while you are getting used to the drysuit etc and then see how you feel.

The Flexia is a nice suit, I bought one a couple of months back. The boots are neoprene lined so you don't need as much insulation there as elsewhere in the suit. I found it comfortable enough with thin socks for a 6 degree dive in guidy, but when I went deeper I found the neoprene compressed giving causing my foot to come out of the boot. I bought some neoprene socks that do the trick, their main role is to wedge the boot on rather than provide warmth. Once again, it might be worth waiting until you get the suit and then trying it with a couple of different thicknesses of socks etc until you know what you need.

Have fun

Conor

[Juz]

One more point on the light cannon - I'd not bother with the rechargeable version, the standard one comes with a set of duracell will will probably last a season (or best part thereof).


Also means you only have to open the torch once or twice a year, much less change of it leaking.

And you can get probably 7 sets of duracells for the difference in the cost between the Rechargeable and the non-rechargeable.

Juz