Equipment Care

AIM

To acquaint the diver with the maintenance requirements of modern diving equipment, fault finding and rectification, what maintenance the owner may safely undertake and what should be left to a trained repair technician.

Instructors

Either the Chief Instructor should be a BSAC NQI, with trade service and repair and testing experience. Or Any BSAC NQI supported by at least one other instructor who has extensive (trade) equipment service, repair and cylinder testing experience, preferably that person should be ASSET Certified Technician grade or higher.

Facilities

Suitable classroom with space for 10 persons at trestle type tables and room for inspecting their own (or provided) kit. There shall be a workshop area with suitable facilities for regulator and other equipment servicing together with cylinder testing. Ideally the workshop should be working to ASSET codes of practice, the cylinder testing facilities should be IDEST approved.

Course Registration

Course Registration applies.

Syllabus

As long as the core subjects listed below are addressed, the scope of and content of the syllabus may be varied to suit Instructor specialities and student requirements, (for example switch emphasis from dry to wet suit maintenance) and to some extent the facilities at the venue (a demonstration of servicing and cylinder testing must be included).

Instructor briefing.

Assemble, Introductions, administration.

Classroom Lesson (20 min)
General Introduction
Documentation and warranties

Classroom Lesson (15 min)
Basic Equipment
Typical problems
Owner maintenance
What to leave to the Professionals

Hands on - Basic Equipment (20 min)
Equipment inspection/care
What did/might we find
Examples badly maintained/Damaged basic equipment
Which can the diver deal with?
What to leave to a pro
Each student to list what they find, list to stay with that Item
Anything found to be potentially dangerous to be emphasised

Classroom Lesson (15 min)
Instrumentation
Typical problems
Owner maintenance
What to leave to the Professionals

Hands on - Instrumentation (20 min)
Equipment inspection/care
What did/might we find
Examples badly maintained/faulty instrumentation
Which can the diver deal with?
What to leave to a pro
Each student to list what they find, list to stay with that Item
Anything found to be potentially dangerous to be emphasised

Classroom Lesson (20 min)
Diving Suits
Typical problems
Owner maintenance
What to leave to the Professionals

Hands on - Diving Suits (30 min)
Equipment inspection/care
What did/might we find
Examples badly maintained/Damaged wet/dry suit
Which can the diver deal with?
What to leave to a pro
Each student to list what they find, list to stay with that Item
Anything found to be potentially dangerous to be emphasised

Classroom Lesson (20 min)
SCUBA Cylinders
Typical problems
Owner maintenance
What to leave to the Professionals

Hands on - SCUBA Cylinders (30 min)
Equipment inspection/care
What did/might we find
Examples badly maintained/Damaged cylinder and valve
Check test/visual dates, in test? When next test/visual due?
Which can the diver deal with?
What to leave to a pro
Each student to list what they find, list to stay with that Item
Anything found to be potentially dangerous to be emphasised

Classroom Lesson (30 min)
Regulator/Octopus
Typical problems
Owner maintenance
What to leave to the Professionals

Hands on - Regulator/Octopus (25 min)
Equipment inspection/care
What did/might we find
Examples badly maintained/Damaged regulator (internal components/cutaways if possible
Which can the diver deal with?
What to leave to a pro
Each student to list what they find, list to stay with that Item
Anything found to be potentially dangerous to be emphasised

Classroom Lesson (25 min)
Buoyancy Compensator
Typical problems
Owner maintenance
What to leave to the Professionals

Hands on - Buoyancy Compensator (35 min)
Equipment inspection/care
What did/might we find
Examples badly maintained/Damaged BC
Which can the diver deal with?
What to leave to a pro
Each student to list what they find, list to stay with that Item
If time allows check and discuss correct fit on the owner
Anything found to be potentially dangerous to be emphasised

Workshop - Cylinder Testing (40 min)
Demonstration
The main elements of the testing process
Opportunity to see inside a rusty cylinder
Examples of failed cylinders - how they got that way
Thread gauging - why divers shouldn't fit their own valves

Workshop - Regulator Servicing (40 min)
Demonstration
The main elements of the servicing process
Opportunity to see a dismantled regulator
Examples of incorrect set up - have them breathe from in/correctly adjusted reg.

Workshop - Wet/Dry Suit repair (30 min)
Demonstration
The main elements of the repair process
Opportunity to see various types of adhesive techniques (sample repairs on scraps by students?) and
examples of major repairs - cuff, neck, zip etc. (preferably in various stages of completion)

Regulations, the role of ASSET and IDEST (35 min)
Regulations
HASAWA and HSE - amateur/professional jurisdiction
When does amateur equipment become professional equipment?
Why amateur should comply with the spirit of the law
Why equipment must comply with HASAWA when being serviced, tested or filled
ASSET, Workshop Standards, and Codes of Practice, Technician training/certification
IDEST, Cylinder Test Station inspection and approval

Open forum (45 min)
Emergency repairs on site
Personal spares and tool kit
What can you reasonably do on land, in an inflatable, rolling around a hard boat?

Course debriefing

Issue course Certification

Disperse

Instructor debriefing

Notes:

1. The order in which the syllabus is listed is the recommended sequence for the course, logistics may require the order to be changed but classroom must proceed workshop for each subject. The course may be spread over a series of short (evening?) sessions if required.

2. Workshop sessions 15, 16 and 17 can be set up as bases if desired with groups of students passing from one to another.

3. Students should bring or have provided for their use the equipment to be inspected in sessions 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 14 this kit should preferably be well used and likely to contain subject matter for discussion.