Hello guys,
as i have been a member of this forum for over a year now, and since then i can honestly say that through the forum i learnt a lot from more experienced divers, got answers for questions i had, made friends and generally feel pretty good about the existance of this forum, i have decided to do this post in order to show the set up of my unit. i have been spending most of my recent free time on finding the best setup and each time i was changing this to that, that to this etc... and now i am finished. i think i have the final set up and this is how i would have my unit. therefore i took some pictures,
and posting these here, in order to show what is what and why. i expect some feedback, info or comments on this. you never know. you mind end up making me change the whole set up again. just justify it for me.
Thanks. i hope you'll enjoy it.
1. i started diving my meg with the white 3L steel tanks, which i did not like a lot. i prefer my unit to be black/ dark so since then i was trying to find some tanks that can stand upright, something which the ones i had could not. i ended buying some catalina 3L cylinders, same ones used in the zeagle rapid diver system. the problem was that if i was to use them with the tiger gear, they ended "widening" the meg a lot, therefore i could not pass through a few places in a wreck i dive a lot. so i got rid of the tiger gear and got the shadow mounts. the good thing is that the catalina with the steel cylinders are exactly same weight!!!
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2. for doing so i had to adjust the webbing because it was ok to place to steel tanks, but the "fatter" tanks would not go on the unit. it was also hard to place the shadow mounts, but once you placed them at the right place, then it was ok. now, i have 4 tanks, so i can travel and have extra set of tanks in the boot or boat for diving. very easy to clip them on. here are the pics. is easy to see the difference.
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3. i had purchased a T bar made of stainless steel from Andy. it was supposed to be a handle bar so it would have been better for carrying the meg around, which is indeed, but then the idea came to me to place a weight pocket and have the weights there. i have tried it and its very good. its also no problem with the neck. you actually don't feel that the weight is there.
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4. now on my regs i have placed 2 Y-Blocks, one on the O2 reg and one on the Dil. the reason for this was that i have placed a Bov there fore i would need an extra hose, and then the idea of placing one on the O2 came to me in the thought that i usually dive alone. i always carry at least one bailout tank which has same as dil mix, and if deeper i carry another bailout having 50% nitrox. in the event that i would go on OC then i have the bottome mix, then the 50% for deco and also, because i placed some quick fittings, i can change the dil hose to my bov with the O2 hose and then i have another mix of pure 100% o2. you never know when you might need to accelerate the exit from water...or what might happen. anyway, there is not a hassle, and is easily done when needed.
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5. i am currently using an oms wing, which is a good one but the ends of it where "hanging" too low, resulting in giving me some hard time when placing the meg onthe floor or so, so i had some bungee tied to them lifting them up. the wing has served me very well, but i am in the process of purcharing a CCR-35 from halcyon. that is the only change that i plan to do unless i get some advice to act otherwise...(which we'll examine)
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6. now, i after setting them all together, i took some pictures with my legs showing so one can estimate the width of the meg with the "fatter" catalina tanks. also after placing the whole unit together, the total weight of the meg is 37.3 Kg. i dont think that is bad. how much is yours? this includes the 4.5kg i use for diving, which is in the pocket, and also having a complete new sofno amount in. as it is, the meg is ready to dive.
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7. you have see the picture with the bov, and you can see the hose with the green tape on it, next to the left counter lung with the QC on it. that is the hose for connecting O2 to the bov for OC use. also you can that i have placed all gas inlet (dil + O2 to the left lung) in the thought that this would be easier to handle. either when diving or scootering etc.
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i hope you enjoyed this one. i have tried to include as many pictures as possible as i like to watch pictures when i read posts myself. please give me your comments, the downsides, the upsides of it, and you never know. you might be either giving me more trouble, or making me a very happy diver.
Take care all.
Spyros
