Dive 2007

The Dive 2007, held annually at the National Exhibition Center in Birmingham, UK is a show I had been looking forward to all year. Ever since I visited it the for the first time the year before. Even more so as Closed circuit Research would be introducing their Sentinel CCR to the public.

Louby Lou and Beanie, my gracious hosts for the night again, picked me up at the airport and we drove over to the NEC. Turned out the Rebreather World stand needed setting up, and I had been volunteered. The way across the parking lot is further than from the airport to the NEC grounds, so it was quick ride. First thing we did was ... wait.



Barry was stuck in traffic, good thing, too. After waiting for the day at the office to be over, waiting in a traffic jam en route to the airport, waiting to get my luggage inspected, waiting for the inspectors to decide on the faith of my cell checker, waiting in line to check myself in, waiting in line to get through security, waiting again at the second security check and waiting for the late take off I hadn't been waiting for anything since I retrieved my luggage from the carousel. It did give us some time to catch up though.



Barry and Andrew arrived soon enough, and we started unloading the truck. Luckily, someone else had already delivered some spare sorb Barry had.



Slowly but surely things came together. And we went off for dinner and a couple of drinks.




The Rebreather World Store booth was right across from the rebreather pool that would be busy all day.


Rebreather World Store

Saturday morning we were came early to finish up the stand and Andrew hooked up his computer.



The 4th Element undergarments in the bags on the wall sport the Rebreather World logo and is very nice. Got myself a set, very cozy and toasty.
Finishing touches here and there, but we were ready for the crowds.



We had Narked @ 90' Meg/Kiss stand at the booth, as well as one of Dive Design's Aliboxes.



I was suprised by the weight, or lack thereof, of both. The Alibox is very light and beautifully build. The Meg/Kiss stand weights next to nothing.



The display cabinets were filled with a broad variety of goodies, from gas plumbing and decanting hardware to gas analyzers ...



deco computers from DeltaP, ...



Shearwater Research, here plugged to Narked @ 90's Beanie cell holder, ...



... and the new cell checker. Great job on this piece of gear, very well done, guys. But beware, the competition doesn't sleep and will catch up.
Bean Engineering has been secretly testing a cell checker of their own!




Deep Pursuit



Also at our stand was the Deep Pursuit.



Build around the new Shearwater Pursuit decompression computer, the Deep Pursuit not only displays the pO2 of all three cells and computes OC/CC N2/He decompression, it also maintains the setpoint. It's a complete replacement lid for the Inspiration Classic that also includes the separate and independent tripple LED HUD display.



Unlike the original, the Deep Pursuit is a nice clean design. Just look at the layout and the cables. Always wondered why AP seems to measure in yards where inches would be sufficient ... maybe they're as confused by imperial measurements as the rest of Europe. The solenoid can be seen behind the right cell. Sensor plugs are clearly marked, and there are three separate battery compartments in the head. The one on the left holds the battery for the HUD, which with its own power supply, calibration button and 3 LED displays is completely independent of the setpoint controller/deco computer. The two compartments on the right supply the solenoid with power, and each of the compartments is properly sealed. The handset has its own power supply. Well thought out, and well executed.


Closed Circuit Research

First stop on my walk around the show was of course Closed Circuit Research/DeltaP Technology. And right there it was, the Sentinel CCR!



As you can see, Kevin was thrilled to see me early in the morning and on a sober stomach.



He just knew I would take quite some of his time. Still, he was nice enough to hold cowling up to his new rebreather for a picture or two and answer my questions. It's a prototype in the picture, but close up and corrected for the angle it should look something like this:



The cowling is usually attached by fabric straps on this side, the slots are visible above. On the other side Jeep-style buckles keep it closed. I hope to get more updated shots soon.



Without the cowling single, rear-mounted counter-lung is visible between the mounting plate and the scrubber. This is the diluent side of the loop, with the ADV and the 2 liter diluent tank. Stock on the trimix units, it is replaced by a larger 3 liter tank in the Sport version for additional onboard bailout gas.



The O2 side of the unit, the buckles visible. Note the LED display mounted to the inhalation hose. It's similar to the HUD, conveying the same information and warnings to the buddy, safety diver or instructor. Not as nice and elaborate as on the Ouroboros, but I appreciate that they choose to have a buddy display. Anything that let's someone know you may be in trouble increases the chance to get out of it.



From the rear, the over-pressure relieve and water purge valve on the bottom of the canister is visible. Any water coming down the inhalation hose gets accumulated at the bottom of the canister and can be drained. It's a balanced valve, the relieve pressure can be set at the surface and will remain the same no matter what position in the water column the diver is at. Below that is the adjustable and removable stand of the unit.



On the front, the diver's HUD is mounted to C2R's new BOV. The Level one system's HUD just displays a simple system status, green for all systems okay, yellow for low consumables, either gas or scrubber, and red for bailout to OC. The 60m Level 2 and 100m Level 3 versions will get the same 4 LED HUD as the Ouroboros, signaling system, solenoid operation, deco and pO2 status. Seen above is a somewhat large prototype of the DSV replacement that will be stock on all three versions. OC gas is supplied by a compact, high-performance Poseidon 1st stage. Clipped to the harness are the new, small displays.



Another view of the new BOV, as well as the updated gas management hardware. Manual gas addition (and on the 100m version) off-board gas connectors are similar to the Ouroboros', but finger holds have been added to ease operation.



All three flavors of Sentinel include the color primary display. Just the features of the software vary between the 3 levels.



Both displays are beautifully slim as the computer, batteries and trim pots are placed in the head of the Sentinel. The thick cable dwarfs the display.



The displays plug into the head, which also houses the batteries for the system and the calibration pods for the secondary display. Also visible is the stainless steel plumbing. There isn't much of it, but as on the Ouroboros it's beautifully executed. Instead of solid plumbing throughout, the Sentinel uses hoses rated at 200 bar for most of the system. Nor are there any high pressure hoses as the gas supply is digitally displayed on the primary display.



On the opposite side sits the Automatic Diluent-addition Valve.



The hose connectors on the Sentinel are also new, requiring a quarter turn and with a push-button safety lock.

The scrubber assembly can be seen below:



The two-piece canister in the back, the bucket for the sorb in the front, and the spring-loaded mount with the temperature sensors to the right. This scrubber gauge has been tested thoroughly by and licensed from the US NAVY, and is the first implementation of their technology for civilian divers.



Another view of the scrubber assembly, with the bucket mounted and the canister apart. The bottom part on the left holds the over-pressure relieve valve that allows draining the canister, and the bucket mount allows quite some water to be trapped on the bottom.

The Sentinel also allows the use of pre-packed OEM cartridges as well as the Micropore Extend-Air cartridges.

Of course the mighty Ouroboros was also on display, with its scrubber and cowling removed.



Those bits very lined up against the booth and also ready for inspection. The serial number on the plate was 95, quite an achievement for such an expensive rebreather.



This was, by the way, not the only Ouroboros at the NEC.


Deep Blue Tech

Deep Blue Tech also had an Ouroboros at their stand. And it wasn't the only CCR.



It was displayed side-by-side with Megalodon, Inspiration and rEvo II CCRs, with 'decodiver' Dave Cooper in attendance to answer the many questions. Great to see the rigs lined up like that, easy to compare different features, layouts and sizes of the various CCRs. The corner display with several scooters stacked up also attracted good attention.

Discuss this article here.