Category: Gear & Service
Choosing, renting, buying and looking after scuba equipment for cold New England water, plus when regulators, cylinders and buoyancy devices actually need servicing.
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Getting Your Weighting Right
Most divers carry too much lead and pay for it in air and dive time. How to do a real weight check, and where the extra pounds actually go.
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How to Choose a Dive Mask That Actually Fits
The cheapest thing you will buy and the one that ruins dives when it is wrong. How to test fit properly, and why a new mask fogs.
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Staying Warm Enough to Enjoy Cold Water Diving
Most of staying warm is not what you buy. It is fit, the surface interval, and knowing which shiver means the dive is over.
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Looking After Scuba Gear Between Dives and Between Seasons
Rinsing is not the whole job. What to do after every dive, what to do before the gear sits all winter, and what to leave to a technician.
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Renting vs Buying Scuba Gear: When Does Owning Pay Off?
Rent the expensive things, buy the things that have to fit. The break-even, worked out against real rental rates rather than guesses.
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Scuba Tank Hydro Testing and Visual Inspection: What’s Required
Hydro every five years is federal law. The annual visual is not – but no shop will fill your cylinder without it. What each costs and how long it takes.
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Drysuit vs Wetsuit: Which One for New England Diving?
A drysuit costs ten times what a wetsuit does and lasts three times as long. Where the line actually falls for cold water divers.
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How Often Should You Service a Scuba Regulator?
How often a scuba regulator really needs servicing, by brand and by how much you dive, plus what a service includes and what it costs.