TRAINING continued
Note that in addition to being approved by your training agency, many rebreather manufacturers also mandate that you must meet their approval as instructors. They often work with the training agencies to help vet and qualify the persons that they wish to have teaching on their units. In some cases, manufacturers prefer instructors who are brand loyal to their units. Most require that the instructors own their own unit, or have unlimited access to the same, through their dive shop, as an example. Some manufacturers also limit the number of instructors in a given geographic area, helping ensure that the instructors have the ability to remain profitable without a great deal of com- petitive stress in attracting local students. Instructional Economics: These few paragraphs cannot adequately explain all aspects of what you must consider when teaching rebreathers. As with open water scuba instruction, economic factors in- clude both fixed and variable costs, mul- tiple revenue streams, and limitations imposed by instructional channels. Rather than a comprehensive discussion on the topic, I am going to focus on a few key items. Additional fixed costs include owning your rebreather and the associated maintenance. Rebreathers are significant in- vestments. New units average over $10,000, and minimum annual maintenance generally involves replacing one to several sensors at about $100 each. Even used units typically run into
model or various configuration options to address this re- quirement. A future article will address this topic in more de- tail. Instructional liability insurance is another concern. Not all professional liability policies will cover rebreather instruction. Some underwriters offer rebreather coverage as a supplemental policy, increasing your annual insurance cost. DAN will include rebreather instruction at no additional fee, so long as you disclose your activity and the units upon which you instruct when you apply for the policy. They then issue a rider
providing such coverage. However, if you allow students to use your personally owned rebreathers, an additional insurance fee is required to cover such use. Increased variable costs include the cost of supplies, like absorbent and oxygen fills. Batteries may represent another cost that increases directly with use. The more the rebreather is used, the higher main- tenance costs are likely to be. Income streams are similar to open
Multiple Units are Ideal
circuit scuba instruction, but often magnified. As one example, tuition for a beginner scuba class may range from $99 to about $350 per student. A beginner rebreather student may pay $1,500 to $3,000, roughly ten times more than for open circuit training. Thus, a single student may offer the same income as 8-10 beginner scuba students. This is obviously an attractive proposition.
the several thousands of dollars, on top of the general open circuit equipment that you must own. Manufacturers (through RESA, the Re- breather Education and Sales Association) generally mandate that instructors use the exact same unit as their students during in- struction. The justification provided is that they want the instructor to be able to demon- strate skills during instruction, allowing the students to see exactly what it is they are sup- posed to do. Unfortunately, from an economic perspective, that means that if you wish to teach on multiple platforms, you must own multiple rebreathers. Even if you are using
Student divers need the rebreathers they will be using. If they purchase them through the instructor, or through a dive store with the instructor’s guidance and support, the instructor often earns a commission or profit on the sale. The same may be true of open circuit gear, but with rebreathers the revenue to the instructor may exceed $1,000 per student, eclipsing the commission amount of a typical equipment sale to an entry-level open circuit student. Due to the high purchase cost of re- breathers, some students opt to rent rather than buy units. In many cases,
Rebreather Type Rating Limitations
the same rebreather, it may not be configured identically (front versus back mounted counterlungs, for example, or BOV (bailout valve) versus DSV (dive/surface valve)), meaning that you may be required to have multiple units of the same
students will rent a rebreather for the duration of training, often paying $500 or more for the 5-7 days that training entails. This revenue stream may accrue to the dive store, the instructor, or be shared between them.
PAGE SEVENTEEN | SCUBA DIVING INDUSTRY
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