Mermet Jan (Feb) 09 Trip Report

[scububa]

I'll start this off, but am sure others will have much to add.

Made the trip down to Mermet with DDB. The weather was forecast to be sunny and warm. They say it was that way on Friday, but Saturday didn't turn out like that until late afternoon. There is a lot of snow and ice on the ground along with power lines and trees. Quite a bit in evidence. Randy said that they are told it will be 5 to 7 more days before they get power back. Quite a few crews working that afternoon on the way out. Mostly it was foggy and overcast. When the sun came out it really started the ice moving off the trees. I took my old truck down, but eventually moved it, a little concerned that the window could crack as cold as it was.
Bob and I did two dives. Funny that I was colder on the first than the second. But, even so, we were done after the second dive. I was diving wet gloves and this will have to change if I am going to keep diving cold. I will say that my hands were better on the second dive than the first. My right arm got wet on the first dive so I changed my top layer. The second dive was even worse and when I took my suit off, the whole right zip seal came off. I hope it was the fact that it wasn't 100% zipped on that caused the leak. That just means I am a dumb-butt and not having a suit problem. Speaking of butts, ...nah, never mind, I'll let some one else handle that...
It was great meeting the other crews. Brett and Tony were there diving, who I had met before. Brett was so buried in cold weather gear, I didn't recognize him while shaking hands with Tony. Also met the WI guys. They were great and I look forward to being able to hang with them some more. Too much fun, I can only imagine once the deco juice starts flowing. Greg, Todd, Tom and Chris come to mind right off. Also met Phil. (brettbyer, do it easy, divbum, x, b1gcountry, x, skdvr for the handles, I think). I know I forgot a couple, but it was a great group to stand around in the cold with ;-)
The first dive we did was a pretty uneventful tour of the various vehicles. We both breathed stages. The most eventful part of this was that my necklace started freeflowing in the water as I picked up my stage. I probably hit the purge button. Funny thing is I didn't prebreath it, so I was surprised this happened. I had hit the purge button a couple of times gearing up. Anyway, the most significant thing is with a combination of my heaviest insulation and my recent adustments to my back plate (and maybe the overall cold), I couldn't get to my valves as easy as normal to shut down. Bob had to assist. (I may have been able to force the issue, but I knew if I got too crazy I was going to have a wet arm to start off with.) Anyway, we got everything else squared away and when the valve was turned back on, the first stage behaved. Anyway, I have sove this reach issue or not dive cold!
The second dive was along the wall and over to the deep platforms on back gas. Very uneventful dive. A little longer as we returned and did almost a repeat of the first dive. My hands weren't as cold, but since I had a pretty wet arm, I decided not to fill it up with a valve drill. We were on the fence for a third dive when we went in. I probably would have worked the issue if I knew we both had enough at the end of # 2.
Another interesting thing was some of the insulation I saw down there. I hadn't actually seen any of the Fourth Element stuff. I think Greg got a little nervous in the changing room when I came over to him and started fondling his insulation. And, he hadn't even heard about my Tom Mount changing room encounter! Anyway, they had the Artic and the SubZero stuff and I was quite impressed with it. Seems like a great weight of insulation, nice fitting with good strech without being wimpy. And too top it off, it is very nice looking in terms of style and quality. I read a bit last night and saw some comments about the application of each kind to trilam vs neoprene style drysuits. I am pretty sure the WI crew was wearing Artic with trilams, but I'll have to ask a few more questions. I have been reticent to spend a lot on undergarments, especially fleece, but I may change my mind seeing this Fourth Element.
Anyway, after the second dive, Bob and I bagged it. Of course the sun was out and it was turning nice, but we were already core chilled. The WI crew seemed to be done for the day, but Tony, Brett and a couple others did another long dive. We hit the road right after they got out. Nice meeting you all (again, in some cases.)

[skdvr]

I too had a great time...

Just as a FYI on undergarments I use a No-Name brand undergarment that I bought from Rondell on Ebay (http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/rondel101bjrr_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ) If you go over to SB and do a search for "Cheap Ebay undergarments" you can read a lot about them... I use the 4 way antartica and was nice and toasty under my trilam. I think that you may be a little taller than I am but if you want to try and borrow it (no p-valve mistakes in it) you are welcome to it... It is pretty think but I can still do valve drills with mine on without any problem...

Diveing was pretty good. I went down with two buddies. On the first dive we did the normal sight seeing tour. I was going to take them over to the new Fire Truck but I could not find it.. I was mistaken on which direction it was from the train car. One of my buddies was a bit to cold for the second dive, so me and Orchun headed to the deeper secion of the quarry, it was just dark down there, about the only thing we saw was 1 big albino catfish. Then we turned and headed twards the train car so that I could find the firtruck this time. Well I went almost in the right direction this time but still did not hit the firetruck. After that dive I asked one of the Mermet Staff where it was, and I could not have missed it by much on the second dive. The vis was not that great down there, I guess if it had been better we may have seen it.

After the second dive we called it a day and headed back to St Louis, so that we could get the gear cleaned and it still be a decent time.

It was nice to get to meet everyone, even if the Wi guys talk a little funny:D

Phil

[b1gcountry]

I had a good time. I now have to watch the movie "Waiting" but I still don't think it will explain what's wrong with Todd "The Goat". I could hear everyone laughing and making noise when I hit about 3' on my ascent. I couldn't figure out where it was coming from, and then I turned around. That just ain't right.

Tony and I did three dives. I managed to see something new on the last one. There is a large satellite dish under the deep platform around 110' that I'd never seen before. As Tony said "It's really big on air".

On the way home, I realized I had forgotten my coat in the locker rooms. I was halfway back to 57 when I realized it, so I turned around, and headed back in. Randy had already left, so I had to do a little bit of 'trespassing'. I hope they don't mind.

Thanks to Tony and Brett for help getting my little red car unstuck in the slushy snow.

Tom

[DeepDiverBob]

Tony and I did three dives. I managed to see something new on the last one. There is a large satellite dish under the deep platform around 110' that I'd never seen before.

Tom

I thought you was talking about what you saw when you surfaced...lol

I too, had a great time. Good to put some more faces with names on here.

[brettbyers]

I also had a great time. The company and the diving were great. I did two dives Saturday and one Sunday. The Sunday dive was 56 minutes long, one of the shorter dives compared to the other guy's dives, with temp around 43. There were 13 of us diving Saturday and 6 on Sunday, all the MO. boys went home Saturday night. I also have pictures but it will be this weekend before I can post them, too busy. It was nice meeting Phil and Tom? and nice seeing everyone else again. Lets do it again next year.

[DeepDiverBob]

I also had a great time. The company and the diving were great. I did two dives Saturday and one Sunday. The Sunday dive was 56 minutes long, one of the shorter dives compared to the other guy's dives, with temp around 43. There were 13 of us diving Saturday and 6 on Sunday, all the MO. boys went home Saturday night. I also have pictures but it will be this weekend before I can post them, too busy. It was nice meeting Phil and Tom? and nice seeing everyone else again. Lets do it again next year.

You guys are way too much fun. Why wait until next year? I think us Missouri guys need to carpool up to the great lakes in a few months.

I really do have to see that movie first, though.

[scububa]

You guys are way too much fun. Why wait until next year? I think us Missouri guys need to carpool up to the great lakes in a few months.

I really do have to see that movie first, though.

Heck, I am going to go buy a video camera...and next time, I will MAKE a movie. I think we had all the major elements...

[b1gcountry]

You guys are way too much fun. Why wait until next year? I think us Missouri guys need to carpool up to the great lakes in a few months.

I'm planning on heading up there once a month this summer. Let me know. So far, I think I'll be up there April 18-19 on Greg's boat for his Rosinco/Wisconsin trip (180'/130')

May 31-June 3 for Brett's Mackinaw City Trip

maybe the Midwest Dive meetup on June 20 (?) If not, then something out of Milwaukee in July.

I also want to dive out of Chicago in August. Just let me know when.

Tom

[scububa]

I was real interested in the Mac City trip, but it is booked up and regardless, it is during a major event with one of my primary customer groups and I want to be at Ft. Sill that week.

I am trying to figure out about the June trip right now and have a couple of questions out and trying to decide if my non-diving wife would enjoy going.

(She is an ace at entertaining herself if there are things to do. She has gone with me on a couple of business trips lately and man, I could never keep up with the touristo pace she sets. We were in DC for a week. I started out the weekend with her, then she wore out two other wives on the trip, struck out on her own and then nearly wore me out the last day and a half (no, unfortunately, not that way) right up to getting on the plane.)

If I enjoy the June trip, I'll probably be up for another one this summer.

[vtach67]

It was nice to meet you all at Mermet. We had a great time diving and hanging out (literally :p) with all of you. Glad you all are good sports when it comes to shenanigans. It's all business when it needs to be but as you can tell, we like to have a bit of fun when out of the water. I am looking forward to getting to see a few of you more this dive season and hopefully we can plan another midwinter retreat to Mermet again next year.

Jim, I was wearing a DUI TLS 350 with the Xerotherm SubXero insulation and I was warm as toast. We did 80+ minutes on Sunday and I could have gone 2 hours without a problem. Mike (MiniMe) was wearing the same setup and he was a bit cold by the end but he was diving open circuit where I was diving CCR. Probably why I was warmer. Good warm drygloves are also worth their weight in gold.

Again, nice meeting you all.

Todd

[DeepDiverBob]

Good warm drygloves are also worth their weight in gold.

Todd
As long as they dont get knocked into a bucket of water anyway. :D

[scububa]

Jim, I was wearing a DUI TLS 350 with the Xerotherm SubXero insulation and I was warm as toast. We did 80+ minutes on Sunday and I could have gone 2 hours without a problem. Mike (MiniMe) was wearing the same setup and he was a bit cold by the end but he was diving open circuit where I was diving CCR. Probably why I was warmer.

Good warm drygloves are also worth their weight in gold.

Todd

Thanks for the insulation input.

And, I hear you on the drygloves. I was never as motivated to consider the dry gloves as Saturday. Getting out from the first dive when it was still overcast, my hands were hurtin' puppies. Oddly, they were fine on the second dive and it was warmer with the sun and getting out didn't seem so bad. But, if this insanity gets habit forming, I may have to 'glove up'.

[do it easy]

Thanks for the insulation input.

And, I hear you on the drygloves. I was never as motivated to consider the dry gloves as Saturday. Getting out from the first dive when it was still overcast, my hands were hurtin' puppies. Oddly, they were fine on the second dive and it was warmer with the sun and getting out didn't seem so bad. But, if this insanity gets habit forming, I may have to 'glove up'.
Drygloves and a p-valve are the only way to go!!

I did the 80 minute dive with Todd and Mike on SUnday. The water temp was about 43f. My core wasn't cold, but my hands and feet got a little chilly at a few points. I was trying to move the air around by spreading out and raising my arms one at a time- kinda looks like the underwater hokey pokey.

I had a great time and hope to see you guys around the neighborhood.

[divbum]

Hi Guys,
I had a ton of catch up work since getting home, and still not there yet. We had a blast over the weekend. Hats off to Randy for getting the place open for us considering the conditions.

Todd and Mini Mee had on Fourth Element Sub Xero's top and Salpoattoes (sp) I wore the sub xero bottoms and the Artic top most of the weekend and was very comfortable. The dives were 60 some minutes each.

I highly recommend a good road trip, four guys in a truck can be very entertaining in a humorous sick kinda way. But next time I am not letting Todd bring his booster in our room unless it is before he starts drinking =)

It was really nice to meet everyone in person. Next road trip is to TN at the end of February!
Any of you guys coming up to Our World Underwater?

[skdvr]

I had planned on going up for Our World Underwater, but we had a last min job come in for the 21st. I am trying to talk my wife into running up just for the day on Sun. but one of our boys has still been having some breathing problems so I am sure that we will just stay home with them...

Phil

[brettbyers]

Here aresome pictures I took.

[scububa]

Just as a FYI on undergarments I use a No-Name brand undergarment that I bought from Rondell on Ebay (http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/rondel101bjrr_W0QQ_nkwZQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZQQ_mdoZ) ... I use the 4 way antartica ...if you want to try and borrow it (no p-valve mistakes in it) you are welcome to it...
Phil

A great big thanks to Phil! He lent me his 2-layer fleece garment to try. He also lent me his glove system. I returned them today and thought I'd better get my promised report up.
But, first, the best part was I got to meet his sons. Way too cute and I am glad I am not him, whew...let's see, Anthony and Adrian...did I get that right? Two more sets of tech gear, two hot rods and all at the same time...And, Phil also has a dog that reminds me too much of me...way to old to act as frisky as she does!
So, a bit of a report on the insulation...
Conditions were certainly not ideal. The flow was high. The idea was to do one dive to check if I had made any improvements to a leaking wrist seal. The second dive I was going to try Phil's dry gloves. Well, the flow was enough that the second dive didn't happen.
The first dive was enough work and flow that I certainly got water in the wrists. But, I stayed penty warm. The thermals are kind of thick, with the two layers. I seemed to have pretty good range of motion, but I didn't try the valve drills with the flow being up. I knew I'd be wet from the flow already and it wasn't the time or place, given the conditions.
When putting on the drysuit, the thick fleece did grab the inside of my drysuit(450). It wasn't impossible to get on, but it could have been easier. The cuff seams are a bit thick on both the hands and the feet. Not a huge problem, but noticeable.
They really did do a good job of keeping me warm! There was no doubt there. In fact, for the conditions, they may have been too much. (Certainly not a fault of the garment.) A combination of the water temperature and the flow probably had a lot to do with that. With the work load to get in and the work to swim against the flow...built up a lot of heat. I noticed when I undressed that my base layer was visibily wet, in the crouch, the arm pits, and the chest. This normally doesn't happen to me.
I would say that I am motivated to order the nylon faced style that Ron has. The fleece is not as thick and the nylon would help with not grabbing the dry suit. I would also talk to Ron about the cuff style. A longer cuff would keep the bulk away from the edge.
The fit of the large was pretty good, too, but I understand many of the comments that I heard about being 1" more in the torso. Again, not a show stopper, but another inch would be welcome. From the reviews I understand that it is not too expensive to get it customized.
So, design wise, a little torso length and longer less bulky cuffs are the only things I see. The style and layering is simply a matter of matching the garment to the situation. I think I won't dive too much colder than RBD very often, so the 2 layer fleece is more than I need. But, value wise, I think the nylon faced, thinner weight would be the fit to my diving.

I really liked the way the Fourth Element stuff looked, but I read enough conflicting reports that I am skiddish to spend that kind of coin on something that might not have a commensurate level of performance.

[skdvr]

Anthony and Ayden.... Got it close though....

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll34/pebalsamo/Boys/IMG_6693.jpg

Brandi is my puppy. Well she is 9 but thinks she is a puppy...

Here is her when she is happy and smiling

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll34/pebalsamo/IMG_0839_copy.jpg

And then again when she is a bit more docile. She is great around the boys even when they had all the tubes for O2 and the cords for their monitors...

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll34/pebalsamo/IMG_6274.jpg

Glad that the thermals worked out for ya... I think you will like what you order from Ron. I wish that you could have had a chance to try the drygloves. For me personally it is a night and day difference. I would have a hard time going back to wet gloves in cold water...

Phil

[scububa]

Anthony and Ayden.... Got it close though....
Phil

Ayden!, dang it...sorry about that. Guess there is no sense telling you I could tell them apart :-)

... I wish that you could have had a chance to try the drygloves. For me personally it is a night and day difference. I would have a hard time going back to wet gloves in cold water...
Phil

I am having trouble going back to COLD water!

[nauifins73]

Phil -

Off topic a bit....your boys are so cute! Our twins are 27 and divers. About the hot rods - you maybe ok it was our daughter that had 3 wrecks and 3 tickets before she got out of HS. Our son still has a spotless record.

Enjoy them
Becky

[DeepDiverBob]

The flow was high.
I dont think I have ever felt flow at Mermet. Where was this at?

I think I won't dive too much colder than RBD very often
I knew Coz was going to ruin you.

but another inch would be welcome.

Insert your own joke here.

[scububa]

I was starting to get a little worried about Bob. But, I see he's okay, (In the most relative sense of the term.)

[theskull]

scububa - "but another inch would be welcome"
deepdiverbob - "insert your own joke here"

ROFLMAO!

[SLIM]

Man I like how this went from a report to report of all kinds of stuff and we were able to get DDB off guard.

SLIM