Home
|
Depth Gauge, Compass, Bottom Timer RiggingA bottom timer, depth gauge, and compass are important instruments for the technical or cave diver. All these instruments should be wrist-mounted rather than on a console. Consoles are unwieldy, clunky, and are an entanglement hazard. There's no convenient place to stow a console while diving, and they take up more space than wrist mounted instruments. Consoles can't easily be moved from one rig to another since they're usually attached by the high-pressure hose. The bottom timer and depth gauge should be combined into one instrument. The device made by Uwatec is an excellent example. It's sealed with a 10-year battery life-expectancy, displays time, depth and temperature in clear, easy-to-read numbers, and it keeps a log of your last 10 dives. On the surface, it tracks surface interval time up to 24 hours. These instruments are rugged and well-designed and they're worth every penny. The only drawback is that the model currently being manufactured is good only to 328 feet. You can dive it deeper, but it will not display depth beyond 328 feet. OMS and other manufacturers also sell the Uwatec instrument rebranded. Your compass should be fluid-filled and easy to read. Suunto makes several very good compasses; I like their model M-9 Wrist Compass. It comes with a velcro strap, but I like it rigged with bungee as shown below. They also make the A-30L Woodsman compass with luminous markings which is good for cave surveying. The bottom timer / depth gauge should be worn on the right wrist so that you can reach back to your wings' dump valve with your left hand while watching your depth gauge on your right wrist. The compass must go on your left wrist to minimize deviation caused by the field around your scooter's motor. If you don't own a scooter now, chances are you will eventually, so you might as well get used to having the compass on your left wrist now. It's much easier to learn the correct way to do something from the start than it is to break an old habit once it's engrained. Below are some pictures of the best way to rig your instruments.
|
