Hobbies – Page 106 – Not Your Average Engineer

January 14, 2009November 15, 2021

Want list for my dive buddies and me

This is a list of stuff that my friends and I are looking for to complete our dive equipment inventory. If you happen to be in the Corvallis-Eugene-Salem-Portland area and have some of this gear at a reasonable price, please let me know. If you are one of my friends that wants me to keep an eye out for used gear, also let me know.

Tanks – Aluminum 80’s
Tanks – Steel HP or LP’s 80’s or bigger
Tanks – Pony Bottle with/without regulator (Douglas)
Tanks – Something with a yoke valve that has current VIP and Hydro, and is sub-$50, does NOT have to be SCUBA certified, just for use on the surface (David M)
Fins – Full foot for use in tropical water and pools, size 15 (USA) or at least really big (Douglas)
Fins – Boot-style for drysuit, split-fins, size HUGE (Douglas)
Spear guns – band or air (Douglas and Jacob)
Lead weights – soft or hard
Dry Suit – men’s 6′ tall, size 10-ish shoes (Jacob)
Regulator set – 1st stage yolk, 2nd stage primary and secondary, LP inflater hose, can be warm-water only if cheap, otherwise, must be able to handle ice diving (Douglas for pool and for backup)

These are things that I currently have that I would be willing to sell to my friends or other divers in the area. Ask me if I have checked the gear out or had it serviced by a shop. For the most part, this stuff is as-is and has no warranty but I do expect it to work. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have bought it!

Lead weights – round hockey-puck style made of a lead-tin alloy so it will stand up to salt water, have about 40 or 50 pounds, willing to remold to a different shape if you have a mold and will pay for the fuel to melt the lead (and will throw in a six pack) – $3/pound (negotiable)
Tanks – 2x Steel 95 LP’s – Last hydro in 2006, VIP’ed in Januar 2009, really nice Faber tanks with ScubaPro valves that have both DIN and Yolk capabilities, almost no scratches, tank boots, valve covers, white with huge SCUBAPRO lettering on the side – $200/each.

So far, I have successfully found the following and given them nice homes:

Tanks – 4x Aluminum 80’s – Jacob and friends
Tanks – 1x Steel 95 LP’s – Brenton’s friend
Tanks – 1x Steel 95 LP’s – Lance
Lead weights – 40ish pounds – Douglas

December 17, 2008July 1, 2020

Well that was interesting

This afternoon, Brent and I went down to Eugene Skin Divers Supply to return three tanks that I wasn’t able to use last weekend due to the bad weather at the coast. They were very nice about it and gave me a credit toward renting my next set of tanks or buying tanks. With the crazy good deal they have on steel high pressure 100’s, I decided to go ahead and buy two brand new tanks. About 600 bucks later, I had two very nice fully NITROX-ready tanks.

Of course now I won’t be able to afford buying anything outside of raw necessities for the next several months. But, hey, I saved at least $100 compared to buying those tanks at normal prices. I’ve had my eye on them for a good six months already. Finally took the plunge and now I am quite happy with the results.

Just after I finished paying for the tanks, two maintenance men come in who are working on the big air compressors in the back and say that someone’s Ford Taurus just got broken into. I think to myself… “hmm… I wonder who else has a Taurus here at the shop today?” The answer was no one.

Someone had smashed in the front driver’s window and made off with Brent’s cheap MP3 player. It was sitting in the center console which must have made it a good target. Nothing else was touched, however. My mom’s nice camera was still safely in the back seat. Brent’s couple thousand bucks worth of SCUBA gear was sitting in it’s box in the back seat. All of my insurance papers and other such important documents were still in place. Literally the only two things that had been touched were the window and his MP3 player.

The guys in the shop were really nice and helped us clean up the glass and fashion a temporary window out of some hard plastic form one of their displays. We taped it all up and took off back to Corvallis. The insurance company told me not to bother filing a police report since nothing of particular value had been taken. In total, it will cost me $100 worth of deductible and however much of my time to get the window replaced.

To help pay for the deductible, I am going to sell some extra SCUBA weight that I have kicking around. If you happen to be in the market, let me know. I’m selling it for $4.50/lb and have all hard weights.

The take-away from today is: don’t leave shit that looks like it might be worth stealing in your car in the neighborhood of Van Buren and 6th Street in Eugene. Car break-ins do happen!

November 28, 2008July 1, 2020

Freezing my fingertips off through Alpine

This afternoon, I went on a solo motorcycle ride down the Bellfountain Highway to Alpine and back again up 99W. The sun was out, making it seem warm in its rays. I didn’t put on as many layers as I would have had it been foggy because of its warmth. My thoughts were of a quick jaunt out and beating the sun back before it set. After firing up the bike and stopping to get some gas, I saw the sun already sinking low in the sky.

Heading out past Stoneybrook, I jumped onto 53rd, figuring that somewhere it must connect to the Bellfountain Highway. It turns out that out in the country, 53rd turns to gravel. Rather than turn around, I braved the rock, barreling down a straight stretch to a junction with the highway. It wasn’t too bad of a road but it is a bit scary when my back end fishtails around.

The shady spots on the highway were my first taste of the cold that awaited me. I hadn’t put my glove liners on but instead had stashed them in my jacket. By the time I got to Bellfountain, my fingertips were numb. South of Alpine when I hit gravel and turned around, I stopped for a minute to put on the liners. By that point there almost wasn’t much of a point. I couldn’t feel my fingers at all.

Rather than do my original route, which would have taken me down through Junction City and back up Peoria Road, I jumped on 99W and tried to get home as fast as possible. The sun had set on me while passing through Monroe and it was getting very cold. In Corvallis, I was able to get my bike inside, get my helmet off, and close the door to my room before my hands started screaming at me. It took a half hour and a hot shower to regain feeling in the tips of my fingers. Next time, I will be using glove liners from the start.

The ride was about 50 miles in total. I bought about 2 gallons of gas before the ride with the odometer showing about 83 miles. The gas cost me just over $3. My mileage came out to only about 42 mpg. Either I am working the throttle extra hard, there is something wrong with my bike, or the switch to winter gasoline has really taken a toll on my fuel economy.

In other news, I think my bike is burning oil again. The transmission was a bit hard to get to shift at first, a sign of the troubles I had before. Next time I take it out, I need to throw it up on its center stand when I bring it home to check the oil level.

My Route Map