Tecstream - MV Fraser

Tecstream - MV Fraser
By Mark Chase



Just got back from a weeks diving with Tecstream on MV Frazer. On the boat there were 7 Inspiration Rebreather divers and 1 OC diver who had only got Mod1 so decided to leave his unit at home.


Aaron and Paul at Tecstream were very helpful on the lead up to the trip and they managed to get 14 inspiration cylinders ready for us and adequate bailout tanks for all the divers. Emails were promptly returned and details were efficiently handled which was a huge comfort as I was doing all the arrangements. Strange they said they could not get Sofnalime and offered us Dragersorb but on the day they had two tubs of Sofnalime to supplement their 15kg we each shipped out for the trip.

The kitting up space on the boat was inadequate for technical diving but I was assured the additional benches would be available for future trips. Paul was our tec guide and he was OC. He was also very calm and laid back in the presence of 8 reasonably sorted divers, which was nice.

The boat had a Haskel, so fills were not a problem but we still only got 180 bar most of the time. The Trimix fills on the 3ltr cylinders were a mile out but 3ltrs are a sod to fill so that not a big criticisms. However, the fact they did not have a Helium analyser IS a BIG problem. We are told that they are getting one at the show in March but frankly, if one of our group had not brought one along we would have been in trouble. My 12/70 mix came out 9/75 and then it came back as 14.5/74 when they tried to fix it this was for a 105m dive. They should never have put this trip together without one.

My advice is Heliair and never trust Trimix fills blind on 3ltr cylinders.

They charged per fill for O2, which was a surprise so no topping up of O2 cylinders between dives. They also charged extra for Trimix fills so Heliair saved money. My gas bill for the week was £160 including hire of the tanks; generally, it was around £200 per diver with the one man on OC paying £400. Sofnalime was 11euro per Kg so it was cheaper to pay the £30 for 15kg of Sports equipment charge for Britannia Airlines and take your own.

Its early days for Tec diving trips for Tecstream (we were only the second group they have had) the people are friendly and Aaron is an experienced CCR diver so he understands your needs but mistakes were made on this trip in terms of logistics. We had a broken echo sounder and no GPS numbers for the wrecks so the itinerary was limited (if you want wrecks) and there was little thought to deco stations and drop tanks for the divers despite some dives planned between 80 and 120m.

I would use them again but I would have a little list of prerequisites before I booked. The good news is I think they are open to suggestion at this time.

Mind you, I think the suggestion of putting a lift on the back fell on deaf ears

ATB

Mark Chase