Equipment Techniques course: understanding and caring for your dive gear

SSI covers the components of your total diving system and basic preventative maintenance; PADI covers how your gear works and how to manage basic repairs and adjustments. Typically:

• how a regulator reduces pressure, and what a free-flow means
• how your BCD inflates and dumps air, and why it might leak
• cylinder valves, O-rings and the markings on a cylinder
• rinsing, drying and storing gear after a trip
• small fixes before a dive: a mask strap, a fin strap, a leaking O-ring

Equipment checks before you get in can reveal issues such as a leaking O-ring, a stuck inflator, a loose strap. A diver who understands the gear finds them during the buddy check instead of underwater. It also helps you decide whether to rent or bring your own gear, and what to look for when you buy it. Regulators and BCDs still need regular professional servicing; this course is about care and simple fixes, not technician work.

SSI suggests 3–6 hours, so with us it takes half a day to a day, and you can combine it with your Open Water course. Today's price is on the SSI Equipment Techniques course page.