c/commercial-divers

Split decision on the Kirby Morgan band mask versus full face

Last month on a 60 foot job in Corpus Christi, my dive buddy swore by his Kirby Morgan band mask while I kept fighting leaks with my full face. Three years ago I blew a whole shift swapping between masks on a weld inspection because I couldn't keep a seal with the band. So which setup do you trust for deep or dirty water work and why?

That tip about equalizing slower actually saved me from a squeeze injury

I got told by an old timer in Morgan City that I was dropping too fast and not giving my ears enough time. He said 'take 2 minutes at every 10 feet' and I thought he was being dramatic. Then I had a close call at 60 feet where my mask nearly imploded from pressure difference. Now I take that extra time even if the crew is waiting on me. Anyone else had a veteran diver give you advice that felt excessive until it saved your butt?

That one old timer on the rig near Galveston who changed how I check my umbilical

I was gearing up for a 60 foot dive on a platform repair just outside Galveston when this grizzled guy, must have been 30 years in the game, walks over and says 'you're wrapping your hose all wrong, you're gonna kink it at 40 feet'. He showed me this S-turn method with a simple carabiner clip that I'd never seen before. Has anyone else picked up a small trick from someone that totally changed their whole dive routine?

Swapped out my old Kirby Morgan mask for a neck dam style in 40 degree water

Used a standard mask with a dry hood for months and kept getting neck seals leaking on dives to 80 feet in Puget Sound. Tried a neck dam setup last week and didn't flood once even during a tricky valve turning job. Has anyone else noticed better seal retention with neck dams or am I just lucky?

Rant: Old timer at the dock in Galveston told me dry gloves were a waste of money until he tried em himself

He grabbed my pair before a 50 foot dive in that cold january water and after 20 minutes he came up and said 'damn I shoulda bought these 10 years ago' and now i see him with a brand new set every weekend.

Watched a guy lose his comms at 60 feet in Port Townsend

He was waving his arms around like crazy trying to signal his tender, and it took a full 30 seconds to figure out what was wrong. That moment made me start triple-checking my own gear before every single dive - has anyone else had a close call that changed their pre-dive routine?

Lost air in 60 feet of water off Galveston - here's how I handled it

I was on a pipeline inspection job last June near the Texas City channel. About 20 minutes into my dive, my pneumo started reading zero and I realized my main air supply had kinked at the tank manifold. I switched to my emergency bottle right there, signaled my tender, and slowly went up making a controlled ascent. Had about 3 minutes of air left in that emergency bottle when I hit the surface. Anyone else have a close call where your backup gear really saved your ass?

Visited a dry dock in Portland last week and saw something wild on a hull

I was down at the waterfront in Portland checking out a dry dock job a buddy was on, and I noticed one of the welders had taped a GoPro to his hard hat and was filming the whole thing like he was making a movie. Turns out he was livestreaming it to his girlfriend who works at a dive bar in town because she said she wanted to see "what the fuss was about" with all the grinder sparks. Has anyone else run into weird side gigs or distractions on a job site that almost made you lose focus?

Appreciation post: my $200 Kirby Morgan band mask saved my hearing

I shelled out $200 for a used Kirby Morgan band mask from a guy getting out of the industry last month. My old hard hat was letting water seep in around the ears and I kept getting ear infections and ringing after long bottom time. This thing seals up tight even when I'm hanging upside down on a wreck doing salvage work in Puget Sound. No more moisture in the ear cups and my comms are crystal clear now. I still think $200 was a gamble since it's used gear but honestly it has paid for itself already. Anyone else have luck with a band mask over a standard hard hat for long saturation jobs?

Hit 2,000 feet on a single dive last week and it got me thinking

I've been doing inspection work in the Gulf for about six years now and last Thursday I finally crossed the 2,000 foot mark on a single bell dive. It wasn't anything special job-wise, just a routine pipeline check, but seeing that number on the depth gauge made me realize how far I've come since my first 60 foot training dives. Has anyone else had a depth or time milestone that caught them off guard like that?

Spent $180 on a custom umbilical float and it saved me a whole day of wrestling lines

Spent 4 hours trying to fix a stuck regulator valve on a dive helmet yesterday

The valve was just cross-threaded from the last job but I didn't check that first and ended up taking apart the whole breathing system before I found the real problem, has anyone else wasted a whole day on something that simple?

Switched to Kirby Morgan band masks after years of hard hats

I finally gave in and bought a KM 57 last month for a salvage job off the Gulf Coast. The fit feels different, and I'm wondering if anyone else had a hard time adjusting to the lower profile. Did you stick with it or go back to your old setup?

Rant: Took me 9 hours to find a tiny crack in my helmet hose during a pre-dive check.

I was chasing a constant air leak that only showed up at 40 feet, and it turned out to be a hairline fracture hidden under the rubber sleeve that I must have missed 5 times even with soap tests; has anyone else spent a whole day on something that dumb?

Almost quit diving after a union hall interview in Louisiana went sideways

Guy told me I'd never make it without 2 years of offshore experience first, even though I had my certs and 60 logged dives from the inland program. Walked out thinking he was full of it, but six months later I saw three other new guys get blackballed from the same hall. Has anyone else run into gatekeeping like that at a hiring hall?

Took me 3 hours to fix a leaky drysuit zipper that should have been 20 minutes

Last Saturday I had a tiny weep on my SI Tech zipper. Thought it was just lube buildup so I wiped it down, but nope, still leaking. Ended up taking the whole zipper slide apart, finding a piece of old wax stuck in the track, cleaning it out with a toothbrush, and then rewaxing. Rookie mistake not checking the track first. Has anyone else found random junk jamming up their zipper that took forever to track down?

That time I showed up for a weld inspection with a rusty crescent wrench instead of my torque wrench

Back in 2018 I was still green and used to just grab whatever tool I had in the truck for underwater weld checks. I climbed down to 30 feet on a repair job off Port Fourchon and realized I packed a crescent wrench that was crusted with salt from the last gig. The client rep watched me try to torque a flange with that thing and just shook his head. Now I keep a dedicated inspection kit with a calibrated torque wrench and a labeled Pelican case. What dumb gear mistakes did you make when you first started?

I think the push for all-electric tools underwater is overblown

I've been diving commercially for about 8 years now, mostly pipeline work in the Gulf. I keep hearing everyone talk about how electric tools are the future and pneumatics are dead. But in my experience, that electric thruster I tried on a job in 2021 was a nightmare. It kept shorting out in the salt water after maybe 5 or 6 dives, and we lost a whole shift waiting on a replacement. Meanwhile, my old pneumatic impact gun from 2017 still fires up without a hitch every time. Has anyone else had better luck with a specific electric brand for heavy mud work?

Debate: Should we use hot water or cold water for saturation dives?

I was working out of Port Fourchon last month on a 300-foot bell dive, and the debate came up again about whether hot water suits are safer for decompression or if the old cold-water method has its place. A guy from Murphy Oil swore by cold water to reduce heat stress issues, but my supervisor said the hot water system prevents DCS better. I've seen both ways work, but I'm leaning toward hot water because of a 2018 incident where a diver got bent after a cold-water run. Has anyone here switched methods and noticed a real difference in safety or bottom times?

Debate: Do you stick with surface-supplied or go back to scuba for shallow jobs?

I’ve been thinking about this since a job in Galveston last month. We were doing hull cleaning on a docked ship in about 30 feet of water. The surface-supply setup took an extra 20 minutes to get all the hoses and comms sorted. But my buddy was on scuba with just a tank and he finished faster. Problem is, he had to surface every 20 minutes to swap tanks. I stayed down longer but felt tethered to the boat. Which side do you lean on for shallow work? I’m starting to think scuba might be faster for quick jobs under 40 feet, but surface-supply feels safer. Curious what others do.

Saw a lockout tagout violation at the San Diego shipyard and it bugged me all week

I was down at the BAE Systems yard last Tuesday picking up some gear from a buddy, and I watched a tender pop a valve cover without checking the pressure gauge first. The supervisor was twenty feet away on his phone. I get that we all cut corners sometimes, but that's how you get a face full of seawater at 30 feet. Has anyone else noticed safety getting sloppy on the big commercial yards lately?

Changed my whole dive plan after a salvage job in Galveston went sideways last month

I've always argued for the old-school rule of never pushing past 30 minutes of bottom time in cold water, but after that 65-foot wreck recovery took me 48 minutes and I came up fine, now I'm wondering if the new dive computers and heated suits are making the old timetables obsolete, so who here has actually tested the limits of their tables and come out on the other side?

Wish I hadn't ignored that old timer about my drysuit zipper

Last month this diver at a job in Port Angeles told me to stop using silicone spray on my Si-Tech zipper. Said it attracts grit and will wreck the slider. I figured he was just stuck in his ways, so I kept spraying. Now my zipper is grinding and skipping teeth on every zip. The repair shop quoted me $220 for a new zipper install. Anyone else had a zipper fail from using lube the wrong way?

Used to crank the weights way too heavy, now I drop down 20 pounds and actually feel my back working

Almost lost a thumb on a thruster repair in the Gulf

Was working on a platform leg near Port Fourchon last October, replacing an anode on a 36-inch thruster. My tender lost comms for maybe 45 seconds, and the current swung me right into the blade housing. Got my hand pinned against the grating before I kicked off. That half second of silence taught me to always run a backup line to the cage, not just the tender. Anyone else rig their own safety tether separate from the comms line?