Quote: (Originally Posted by JimG)
I dive my KISS classic in caves. As long as you carry enough gas for bailout at your deepest penetration there shouldn't be a problem. I have a lp hose coming off the diluent manifold to a QC fitting so I can plug in offboard diluent. I use faber 20 cf tanks for onboard gas but usually use diluent from a stage during the dive. My unit certainly isn't any higher profile than the Faber LP 112s I used to dive with. I have followed sidemounters through some modest restrictions without problems.
I also use the 17 inch breathing hoses because the longer ones were getting snagged and abraded in tight passages. The problem with the 17 inch hoses is that they should be about 19 inches as they tend to push the mouthpiece into my mouth and the inside of my mouth gets sore (especially last month with 45 hours underwater over a ten day period).
I think the inability to recover from a loop flood is not a major concern as long as you have sufficient bailout. The longest I have stayed on my loop in one dive is about 3.5 hours.
JimG
Tampa
I dive what sounds like an identical rig to Jim, including an APvalves QD from the manifold. To be honest i am not sure when I will use this and am thinking about removing it. I used it initially for air flushes after deep dives but now that seems to be a no-no, I have left it there in case I wish to go off-board. But when do we ever need to do that on a KISS? If the loop is flooded on a KISS it seems irretrievable and you go OC...no advantage breathing through the DSV when I have a nice Cyklon on the tank. Can't forsee a situation when the Dil will run out (I suppose I could lose a 1st stage or hose on the DIL, but then the loop might not be gas tight anyway). Is the presence of an extra hose/fitting wirth the possible usefulness, or have I not got the real purpose for it clear?
I have found the KISS (which is lower profile than most) more difficult for penetration than a set of twins...maybe mine floats up a bit at the top. It always catches on the back of the round protecting plate on top of the scrubber.
Good info about the 17' hoses...I have just ordered mine 'cos I couldn't bear looking at photos of myself with hoses higher than my head!
As I progress into longer/deeper caves, I am considering going eCCr because I worry about task loading, low viz and manual CCR. 2 options are KISS Hammerhead and Meg. Money is an issue! Any thoughts?