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AD_ward9 · 30th December 2007, 11:38

Quote: (Originally Posted by mverick)

There is one thing that is suprising to me now that I think of it.

With everything Engineered to the nth degree not to let you kill yourself on your unit. Seemingly taking away a lot of the controls for the Experienced diver. You all of a sudden throw in that you want to remove the BCD. Which, in my opinion would be more of a Well experienced unit. Not a Won't kill you unit.

If you can be trained to work without a BCD. Can't you be trained to do the other things you've engineered out?

Yes, it does seem like a more advanced thing to do, but I think it really is the opposite.

Removing the BCD forces divers to sort out their buoyancy, and then not change things without checking out everything in a very shallow dive. This is a probably a good thing. It is a good think for me anyhow, as it means I have less weight to carry along.

The clutter is my motive and it has the effect Jasondrake has pointed out: the beauty of diving without any clutter. This is also a safety thing: how many times have you wasted minutes hunting for a contents gauge or line cutter that you can't find because the CLs are in the way, the BCD hose is there, etc.

I have got rid of the handsets, all tank senders are RF to an OLED HUD, there is a wee cable to the PDF with its voice annunciation (in addition to the HUD), but that is routed alongside the Rebreather breathing hose, so is not noticeable, and there is an autobail out hose in that bundle too. This leaves the BCD hose as the only item that flaps about, or is in front of me.

The BCD does impinge on CCR safety negatively, in that people usually use the same gas as the dil. An equipment designer has no control over how much they syphon off for the BCD, and some divers play with their BCDs as they go up and down over obstacles underwater. Getting rid of the BCD except as the lifevest on the surface, brings in a different thought process.

You mention training to do without something, but the problem is the BCD is generally used to allow people to dive that should have sorted these things out first. Take away the BCD hose, and they have no choice but to do it.

The main practical problem found so far is the increase in buoyancy as gas is used from tanks. Especially if you carry big bail out tanks like me, and use them. Without the BCD carrying some gas in it to compensate, then there is a strong upward pull by the end of a dive. Thinking how to deal with that one...

Alex

30th December 2007, 11:38	#24 (permalink)
AD_ward9 So much more to learn Current Rebreather/s: Other CCR Other Rebreather/s: Other CCR Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Scotland Posts: 1,862	Re: Getting rid of the last bits of junk ... Quote: (Originally Posted by mverick) There is one thing that is suprising to me now that I think of it. With everything Engineered to the nth degree not to let you kill yourself on your unit. Seemingly taking away a lot of the controls for the Experienced diver. You all of a sudden throw in that you want to remove the BCD. Which, in my opinion would be more of a Well experienced unit. Not a Won't kill you unit. If you can be trained to work without a BCD. Can't you be trained to do the other things you've engineered out? Yes, it does seem like a more advanced thing to do, but I think it really is the opposite. Removing the BCD forces divers to sort out their buoyancy, and then not change things without checking out everything in a very shallow dive. This is a probably a good thing. It is a good think for me anyhow, as it means I have less weight to carry along. The clutter is my motive and it has the effect Jasondrake has pointed out: the beauty of diving without any clutter. This is also a safety thing: how many times have you wasted minutes hunting for a contents gauge or line cutter that you can't find because the CLs are in the way, the BCD hose is there, etc. I have got rid of the handsets, all tank senders are RF to an OLED HUD, there is a wee cable to the PDF with its voice annunciation (in addition to the HUD), but that is routed alongside the Rebreather breathing hose, so is not noticeable, and there is an autobail out hose in that bundle too. This leaves the BCD hose as the only item that flaps about, or is in front of me. The BCD does impinge on CCR safety negatively, in that people usually use the same gas as the dil. An equipment designer has no control over how much they syphon off for the BCD, and some divers play with their BCDs as they go up and down over obstacles underwater. Getting rid of the BCD except as the lifevest on the surface, brings in a different thought process. You mention training to do without something, but the problem is the BCD is generally used to allow people to dive that should have sorted these things out first. Take away the BCD hose, and they have no choice but to do it. The main practical problem found so far is the increase in buoyancy as gas is used from tanks. Especially if you carry big bail out tanks like me, and use them. Without the BCD carrying some gas in it to compensate, then there is a strong upward pull by the end of a dive. Thinking how to deal with that one... Alex Last edited by AD_ward9 : 30th December 2007 at 11:46.
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