BSAC Equipment Technician Course – Kento

This two day equipment technician course is extremely popular with the team and professional candidates at Master Divers.  It’s aimed at giving divers a greater understanding of how their kit works.  The course is practiced over the Aqualung range of products and covers both service and repair of balanced and unbalanced regulators as well as power inflators and BCD Repair too.  You may remember we posted Caz experience on this course  and then Donnys experience on the course too.   Here’s what Kento had to say. 

Have you ever wondered how those “regulator things” work? Or are you one of the people that just accepts that they are there to make you breathe underwater? I was always one of the former… one of those annoying people that need answers. I want the truth and I can handle it!!! And in this case I got my wish. On Thursday 16th March, a few Master Divers crew got to attend the BSAC equipment servicing course for Aqualung equipment. Donny, Caz, Jenns and I all arrived at Aquamaster Koh Tao for the two day course ready to fill our heads with learning. We started out with the usual awkward fashion that first meetings tend to have. We met  our instructor Kieran and the other students, and after a short time we were all Besties or BFFE’s (Best friends forever ever. Please read with a humorous tone). It was now time to get down to business. The course was split into 2 days and the first day was based around learning about unbalanced regulators. Kieran started out by going through some of the theory of regulators and the different types of first and second stages, as well as the tools we would need to get the job done. Luckily he had supplied the toolboxes with all this equipment for us. We opened up our toolboxes, and started ripping out all the fun stuff. A lot of it was standard things you would get in a hardware store (e.g. 14″ spanner), but there were some very cool tools that I had never seen before. Have you ever used a special tool, or an O-Ring pick? After a bit more theory and do’s and don’ts, we got to have lunch… A Tuna Niscoise salad and a mango shake. if anyone cares how it was…Amazing!

We looked at the schematics for the Aqualung Calypso, and then we got to break it apart step by step. If you’ve never had a look inside a set of regulators, it’s really interesting, but also confusing. There were a lot of parts that I had no idea what they were there for. What the heck is a crown orifice?! And why do I need to push it with my special tool? Luckily Kieran was there to explain everything, and slowly (very slowly) it made sense. It was really helpful being able to practically break the regs apart, as it gave me a much better understanding of the theory and how regs work.

After breaking each part of the regs down and putting them back together again, we got to do it on our own. This was probably one of the hardest, but most enjoyable parts of the day. I made many mistakes that Kieran had warned us about, but it was good to learn practically, so I learnt not to do them again. After an hours worth of breaking things, it was time to go home. We arrived the next morning ready to go again. Balanced Regs…Bring it on! We got in there and quickly realized that there is a big difference in how these regs work. The great thing about the unbalanced regs is that they are simple and have less parts, but they don’t breathe as well as the balanced regs. Kieran talked us through how balanced regs work and why they have a diaphragm, and how they differ to the unbalanced Calypso regs that use a piston. Each group was handed an Aqualung Titan first stage, attached to a Titan second stage. Once again we looked at the schematics and then Kieran got us to pull them apart step by step. We then put everything back together and then went to lunch. If you haven’t discovered it yet, lunch is one of my favorite parts of the day. After an amazing lunch consisting of a BLT and a coconut shake, we got back to work. This time we were handed the Aqualung Legend overbalanced regulator. I thought the titan (as simple as it is) was complicated with one diaphragm, but the Legend has two. You may be asking why? All this is explained in the course. We did the same steps as with the Titan; Kieran gave us the theory, and then talked us through breaking it down and putting it back together. We then had another break (I love break time!) and then came back to BCD repair and servicing and checking gauges. This for me was a great bit of info, but not as fun as pulling apart the regs and yelling as things wouldn’t work for me. After that we got some more free time to play with all the equipment (and make more mistakes). Kieran was very big on us making the mistakes so we would learn from them. Finally, it was time to pack up. Kieran handed out our cool new B-SAC certification cards, and we stuck around and chatted for a good while. Looking back, I am so glad I got to do this course, and I would recommend it for every diver. Whether your interested in servicing regs (even just your own) or you just want to see how they work, it gives you a great insight and understanding of dive equipment. I think this course has made me a better and more confident diver as I feel I have the knowledge and understanding of what my equipment is doing. My goal before this course was to be able to service my own regs, but I have come away with so much more. And Kieran gave everyone a copy of all the schematics and step by step how to’s of servicing Aqualung equipment. And most importantly I got a free water bottle cooler! If you are interested in learning about the course, you can talk to your local dive shop to see if there is a course running near you. Or even better, come in to Master Divers Koh Tao and meet the crew, who will be more than happy to help you.