c/commercial-divers

That $400 underwater camera housing I bought off Craigslist was a total bust

Saw a deal on a used housing for a Sony a7 series, guy said it was pressure tested to 100 meters. Paid $400 cash, looked fine on the outside. Took it down to 60 feet on a pipeline inspection job near Port Fourchon and it flooded after 10 minutes. Found out later the o-ring groove had a hairline crack you couldn't see until you pried the seal out. Camera was a total loss too. Anyone else get burned by buying used gear from strangers instead of just saving for new?

That study about nitrogen narcosis hit me different...

I was dead set on doing deep mixed gas work until I read a study from the Diving Medical Center at Duke. They tracked 400 commercial divers over 10 years and found something like 30% had permanent nerve damage from repeated narcosis hits. I always thought it was just a fun buzz you shake off... but that changed my whole mind about chasing those deep saturation jobs. Has anyone else looked into the long term effects and changed their career path?

That $600 Kirby Morgan parts kit that sat in my toolbox for a year

I bought a full replacement parts kit for my KM-48 at a auction last year, thought I was getting a steal. Turns out the o-rings were all the wrong size for my model and the regulator parts didn't match up either. Wasted $600 and learned the hard way to always check compatibility charts before buying used gear. Anyone else get burned buying bulk dive parts online?

Old diver at the dock changed my mind about drysuit valves

Had to pick between a Kirby Morgan band mask and a full face AGA for my first deep job

I went with the Kirby Morgan because my supervisor said it breathes easier below 100 feet, but the AGA was $200 cheaper. Three weeks in, the exhaust valve stuck during a deco stop and I regretted not spending the extra cash. Has anyone else dealt with valve issues on either of these?

Forgot to flush my drysuit zipper after a harbor job in Baltimore and it seized up on me last Tuesday

Had to soak it in warm soapy water for 20 minutes to get it moving again, has anyone else had a zipper lock from salt or mud like that?

My Kirby Morgan band mask seal split during a 60 foot weld repair Saturday

Was 20 minutes into a 2 hour weld repair on a piling down in Port Arthur when I felt that dreaded cold trickle down my neck. Anyone else had a seal blow mid-job and had to bag off early?

Conversation with an old saturation diver made me rethink my gear setup

He told me he never uses a drysuit for anything under 100 feet because it slows him down too much. Now I'm wondering if I've been overbuilding my rig for shallow harbor work around here. Anyone else get challenged on their basic assumptions by someone who's been at it longer?

I keep seeing people say saturation diving is the hardest thing we do, but the numbers surprise me every time

I was reading through some injury reports from the HSE and OSHA databases last week, and I found out that inshore commercial diving actually has a higher rate of serious accidents than offshore work. We're talking about 7.2 incidents per 100 full time divers versus 4.8 for saturation guys from 2019 to 2022. I always thought the deep stuff was way more dangerous, but the stats show a different picture. Most of the inshore injuries were from deck equipment and water movement, not diving itself. Does anyone else focus more on topside safety than underwater risks now?

Got burned on a $700 Kirby Morgan rebuild kit that didn't fit

I ordered a rebuild kit online for my KM 37 last month from a place I'd never used before. Turned out the o-rings were for an older model and nothing matched up, so I lost the whole $700 because they wouldn't take returns on opened kits. Anyone else run into fake parts or wrong sizing for their gear?

I finally had a dive supervisor call me out on my gear setup

This was maybe 2 years ago on a bridge job near Norfolk, and this old timer named Pete just stopped me before I jumped in and said 'your harness is gonna kill your back by noon.' He showed me how he rigs his weight belt lower and cinches the crotch strap tight so the load sits on your hips instead of your shoulders. Has anyone else had a veteran diver just straight up change how you do something basic like gear fitting?

The difference 5 years of cold water made in my air panels

I got into commercial diving around 2018 and back then my air panels looked brand new for maybe a month before they started corroding. Now with the same cleaning routine? They barely show wear after a full season. Honestly I think it's because I finally stopped using hot water to rinse them down. Someone told me about using cold water and a specific soap from a dive shop in Galveston and it changed everything. Has anyone else noticed their gear lasting longer with a different rinse temp?

Ran into a saturation diver who said most of us go belly-up from ear infections not depth issues

After 6 years topside I always worried about the bends but this guy at the dock in Morgan City last month told me his crew loses more time to swimmers ear than decompression sickness... anyone else or is it just me?

Changed my mind about hard hat comms after a job in Port Fourchon

I used to think the basic earpiece and throat mic setup was fine, that spending more was just wasting money. Then last month I got a call to do some inspection work on a platform leg in Port Fourchon, and the noise was insane. My cheap setup kept cutting out, I missed half of what the supervisor was saying, and I almost screwed up a critical valve check. A coworker let me borrow his integrated comms system with noise-cancelling headphones, and I could hear every word clear as day. It made the whole dive safer and way less stressful. I mean, idk if everyone needs the top-tier stuff, but for high-noise environments, it's a game changer. Has anyone else tried those MSA or similar hard hat comms for heavy underwater work?

Old timer told me to stop using steel brushes on hot tie-ins, now I use a grinder with a flap disc

I was doing a pipeline repair near Port Fourchon and a diver with 30 years in said I was embedding debris into the weld by brushing too hard. Switched to a flap disc and my last three NDT reports came back clean. Any of you guys had to unlearn a tool habit like that?

Old timer in Port Fourchon told me my lift bag setup was all wrong

I had a guy with 30 years in the Gulf look at my bag setup and say I was asking for a blowout. He showed me how I was routing the dump valve line wrong and had too much pressure from my surface supply. Switched to a single 150 pound bag with a proper dump valve and it made my last salvage job in 45 feet way smoother. Any of you guys had an old hand save you from a dumb mistake?

That job in the Mobile River last Tuesday was a total mess from the start.

The viz was maybe six inches, and my umbilical got tangled in a sunken log pile on my first descent. Spent over an hour just getting myself free, and the whole time the current was pushing me into the muck. My dive partner topside said all he could hear was heavy breathing and cursing. Anyone else have a day where the water just felt like it was fighting you personally?

TIL commercial divers can get decompression sickness from flying too soon after a dive

I was reading the NOAA Diving Manual last night and it said you need to wait at least 12 hours after a single no-deco dive before you get on a plane. For multiple dives or deco dives, they recommend a full 24 hours. I always thought the big risk was just from the dive itself, not the flight home. How strict are you guys about this wait time after a job?

Appreciation post: that old salvage diver in Mobile Bay who showed me the trick with the shackle pin

Three years ago on a bridge piling job, I watched him tap a seized pin with a hammer twice, then pour hot coffee on it... came right out. Everyone else was ready to cut. Anyone still use that method or is it just lost knowledge now?

I finally switched from my old Kirby Morgan hat to a Divex helmet for shallow work

I was doing a lot of bridge inspections in the Mobile River, maybe 30 feet max, and the Kirby just felt heavy and slow to set up. The Divex system, especially the UltraLite, is way faster to get in and out of for those short, repetitive dives. The comms are also a lot clearer, which is huge when you're calling out measurements. Anyone else made a switch like this for lighter duty jobs?

I finally had to pick between a $1500 Kirby Morgan hat light and a $900 generic one for a murky harbor job in Seattle last month.

I went with the generic light to save cash, but its beam was too narrow for the silt and I ended up working mostly by feel, so what's a better mid-range option for low-vis inspections?

Finally stopped buying the cheap dive gloves after a $400 drysuit flood in Seattle last month.

The seam on the left wrist gave out at 80 feet, and the repair bill was way more than the $50 I saved on the gloves.

Serious question, my old dive partner in Seattle swore by using a 6-inch crescent wrench for every bolt on a job, but that advice nearly cost me a finger when a corroded flange nut slipped.

Has anyone else had a mentor's 'one tool' rule backfire in a way that made you change your whole kit approach?

Tried a different way to keep my slate clean on a cold water job

I was working on a bridge inspection in Portland last month, and the water was about 45 degrees. My slate kept fogging up inside my drysuit, which was a real pain for writing notes. Instead of the usual spit and wipe, I tried a tiny drop of baby shampoo mixed with water in a small spray bottle I had in my kit. I gave the slate a light spray and wiped it with a cloth before the dive. It worked way better than I thought, no fog for the whole 90 minute dive. The real surprise was that it also seemed to make the pencil marks wipe off cleaner at the surface. I learned that a little bit of that soap film can really cut down on the condensation. Has anyone else found a good trick for keeping a slate readable in cold, murky conditions?

Watching a diver in Halifax handle a silt-out completely changed my approach

I was on a harbor inspection job up there last fall and saw a guy get completely blinded by a cloud of silt after he kicked a pipe. Instead of panicking, he just froze, felt for his umbilical, and let the current clear his mask while holding his position. I used to try and swim out of it, which just made things worse. What's your go-to move when you lose all visibility?