[Ben Field]

All good stuff, thanks everyone but keep them coming, don't be shy...

(Big thanks to DrCat for making me laugh, oh to be a fly on the wall when he's cornered for questioning!)

[lizardland]

I much prefer the experts who won't speak to you but will point out to their buddy that "that's a rebreather". Then they go on to explain to him what they are ("they mix helium and nitrox together so you don't get the bends"), often followed by "when I was in the special forces..." (must be the biggest regiment in the military and surprisingly seems to recruit either chronically skinny IT technicians or clinically obese plumbers, interesting mission profiles in the post-Cold War era). I was in a pub the other day where one guy was explaining how his Cis Lunar Mk6 was on order (he'd bought a Draeger to practice on) and everything it does... I may get one based on his description...

Quote: (Originally Posted by Drmike)

I have toyed with the idea of making a laminated Q and A sheet I can just hand someone when they start bugging me as the questions are always the same.

I remember reading an interview with Sean Connery after he'd had throat surgery. He couldn't speak so got a set of cards made up. The first one for when someone asked a question read: "I'm sorry, I cannot speak". The second one for when the same person inevitably asked "why not?" went along the lines of "f**k off, idiot". Worth considering.

[Sutty]

Kiss Classic, on MOD2 course:
Using rental Inspo cylinders, had put new cyls on the unit and not rotated them as much as I should to make the valve easier to reach.
O2 free-flow drill at near 60m, struggled to reach valve to turn it off, so basically doing isometric exercise at depth. Got valve off with difficulty, straightened up, got acutely and very short of breath. Turned valve back on (also difficult), and was then Very unpleasantly breathless (breath "catching" mid-inhale). Remember looking toward surface and thinking "not an option" but can understand the instinct people have to go for the surface and all that lovely low-WOB air! Signalled instructor and bailed onto OC. Took a few mins to get breath back on OC with a very reassuring Martin Robson in direct contact with me face-to-face (thanks Martin!). Went back on loop, all OK, finished dive.
Lessons learnt: 1. Make sure you can reach the valves easily! especially if you change your set-up at all, I'd had no problem previously with inspo cyls but hadn't turned the valve into the best position. 2. Avoid too much exercise at depth, I wonder if isometric exercise is worse because you tend to hold your breath as a way of bracing your body - avoid it as you are then more SOB than ever.

[Dsix36]

OK, this one really really taught me a valuable lesson about checklists. The only thing that saved my ass is the fact that I am very organized and things are always in there proper place.

I had done 2 hours of diving and was at home to clean my gear. I was going out again the next day. I took my unit apart and disinfected and rinsed all of it. I got out my checklist and began the assembly. When it was assembled and all the neg. and pos. checks passed I began to clear off my bench.

My unit was ready to load in my truck and go. I put the checklist away and put my Optima in the case.

When I went to throw away the empty cartridge can, it was not empty. I did not put the cartridge back in.

I now double check every item on the check lists.

PS - Hope my instructor doesn't read this post

[silent running]

Quote: (Originally Posted by Drmike)

When my dive buddy Kevin Denlay asked during his presentation at OZtec if there were any questions, me and Craig C were chuckling like school girls when I said "Is that a rebreeeeeather?"

LOL Mike!

[WhiskeyBravo]

SK-MOD1 course-Turned off O2 in knee deep water waiting 10mins for buddy to get Inspo squared away. PPO2 down to 0.14 before I noticed 'sparklies' in corner of vision. Opened valve quickly but discreetly to save face.

CK-MOD2-During near continous drills, forgot to close DSV when going to a buddy air-share. Closed DSV and completed drill, then bailed out and dumped out unneeded water from scrubber.

CK-On my own-Sprung a leak in drysuit diving a 38F lake. Decided that it wasn't so bad (WRONG!) and completed 30 min at 240'. Started shivering so bad couldn't hold BOV in mouth, led to CO2 near-miss and short-term hypothermia. Had to temporarily bail-out to get breathing under control. A lot of lessons learned there, but all that expensive training kicked in despite my best efforts at terminal stupidity.

[Håkan K]

During MOD 1 (first course on CCR) I let some water in the moutpiece, got some problems with my breathing, bailed out and went shallower and the to surface.

The displayunit (SubSea systems) flooded due to my stupidity. I had replaced the strap to bungycords. In order to do so I undid the screws holding the two small brackets to the backside of the housing of the display. After assemblying the four screws I neglected to apply threadsealant on the screws. On the second dive (I believe) after this, the back panel/ lid was just enough loose to let some salty Atlantic Ocean water in. The display unit went dead, I went OC and aborted the dive. Luckily I had my original displays along with me, so only one dive was affected.

[smokey]

YBOF H/H (Yellow Box Of Fun)

O/C dive,At 55mtr pressed suit inflation, it jamed and inverted me holding on to wreck, pulled off hose and after venting all the gas carried on the dive feeling rather wet and a bit squished. (this could happen to a under serviced manual inflation valve)

During Mod 1, at shop with instructers watching, connected O2 cylinder to Dill side 'oops' would have made an interesting dive.

Hand set crashed twice aborted dives, watching HUD very closely and manually inflating O2.

Pressed O2 manual inflator at 6mtr flush to find it had unpluged its self, could the conector be woren ?

Quote: (Originally Posted by Drmike)

When my dive buddy Kevin Denlay asked during his presentation at OZtec if there were any questions, me and Craig C were chuckling like school girls when I said "Is that a rebreeeeeather?"

Dont think I would be asking if that is arebreather or not.
Question: Do diving rebreathers always give you red pointy ears ?

[UKSteve]

MOD 1 Course.. Inspo Vision. Suit inflation hose that I had bought to course was much too long... from days of diving with an inverted twin set. Dealt with this by running hose across unit, out right hand side at top, over shoulder and down to suit inflator.

While getting ready to dive the O2 hose came loose from the manual injector and in a rush to be ready to get in the water I managed to switch O2 and air connectors...O2 to suit and air to O2 manual injector!

Drills were going fine until it came to manually flying the unit (we were not oblidged to fly the unit manually the whole time!!). In 20m of water I inject "O2" ...and the ppO2 drops!! This is first time doing this drill and I think "Huh??" Try again and same thing happens.. ppO2 drops further.

I show my handset to my instructor and he cant figure it out... asks if Im breathing!!! Little presses turn into full blown purge and still the ppO2 falls rather than climbs. Finally Instructor checks over my gear, realises what I have done and advises me I am a D1ckhead!!

I then compound matters by convincing myself that my callibration must be wrong too and decide to bail out and surface. Am further "councilled" by my instructor and then resume the dive rather sheepishly.

Moral of the story.. . always do a check pre-dive of hitting the manual O2 addition and checking for sensible response on handset!!

Enjoy...

Steve

[gerstl_ossi]

In 85m the solenoid on my first homebuild stopped to fire. My handset indicated "bat low". So I called the dive. In 50m the handset display went black with no PPO2 indication (battery empty). I forgot to recharge the NC battery before the dive. I immediately bailed out to OC and went back to the loop in 6m for the last deco on 100% oxygen (shortened also some deeper deco - fortunately no deco-problem) .

Conclusion:
don't forget to charge batteries before every dive and more important don't dive a eCCR at a deep which was not designed for (only one handset, no HUD...) and always bring enough OC bailout