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Saw a diver work the Cape Cod canal locks for 3 hours, and it flipped my view on full face masks
Was up at the Cape Cod canal last month watching a crew do lock inspections. This older diver ran a full face mask with comms the whole 3 hour shift, and I always called those overkill for shallow work. I'm a band mask guy, 12 years now, figured the extra gear was just something to snag on rebar. But he never resurfaced once to talk, just kept reporting cracks in the concrete to the tender like it was nothing. Anyone here made the switch for shallow canal and lock work, or am I still right that it's overkill under 40 feet?
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perry.lee29d ago
I get why that run looked slick, but one good diver on one easy day is not proof the gear pays off. Three hours with no resurfacing sounds great until your comms cut out or a seal starts leaking at 30 feet and now you are stuck dealing with a flooded mask instead of just spitting out your reg and surfacing. Band masks are simple, and simple is what keeps you alive when the water goes muddy and the vis drops to nothing. You also gotta think about that tender, because every extra hose and wire is one more thing to manage on deck when the current rips through that canal. For shallow lock work I would still take the band mask and eat the hassle of surface chats over hauling all that rig around. Different strokes, but under 40 feet I am not calling it an upgrade.
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