As a way to stay active and involved in the diving community during Central PA’s diving “off season,” I signed up for PADI’s Equipment Specialist class with West Shore Scuba.  Since the Equipment Specialist course is a non-diving course that only takes a few hours to complete, it was a great way to spend a cold Monday evening in December.

The PADI Equipment Specialist course was described as being “designed to familiarize divers with the operation and maintenance of scuba diving equipment.”  The course offered actual hands-on experience in the maintenance of gear, in order to prepare participants to save that special dive and aid others with equipment problems.  The goals of the Equipment Specialist course were to provide a better understanding on how scuba works, what you can and cannot maintain yourself, what tools you will need and how to recognize and deal with common equipment problems.

Before heading to the 3-hour class, I went ahead and did the course’s reading that was pretty quick, simple and straightforward.

The key points that were covered during the Equipment Specialist course, were theory, principles and operation of scuba diving equipment; routine, recommended care and maintenance procedures; recommended equipment storage; how to overcome common problems with equipment; and recommended professional maintenance procedures.

Overall, I felt like the Equipment Specialist class was a good, solid class and it gave me a better understanding of how my equipment works and how to take care of it so that it lasts for a really long time.