A chat with a retired salvage diver in Seattle changed how I see our gear

I was up in Seattle last month for a job and met an old timer named Frank at the dive shop. He worked salvage back in the 80s. We got talking about helmets and he said, 'We used to fix our own hats with a hammer and a prayer. Now you kids have a computer in your face and a hotline to the factory.' He wasn't being mean, just stating a fact. It made me think about how much we rely on tech now instead of just knowing the gear inside out. My Kirby has a heads-up display for everything, which is great, but I realized I couldn't tell you how to manually adjust the exhaust valve if the screen went black. Frank's whole career was built on that hands-on fix-it knowledge. It's got me wanting to learn the old school basics on my own rig, just in case. Has anyone else made a point to learn the manual overrides on their newer helmet systems?

3 comments

3 Comments

emeryj6616d ago

Totally get that. My instructor always said if you can't fix it with a wrench, you don't really own it.

logan_wells16d ago

Guess that's why my toaster feels like a temporary roommate.

lily5716d ago

Yeah, that hits home. My shop made us strip down a Kirby to the bare shell during training, no power. Felt like learning a whole new language, but now I know where every o-ring sits blindfolded. That old guy Frank is right, the screen is great until it's not.