RIB diving - abuse?

Tim Franks

I'm in that position which I suppose many of you found yourselves in, before making the leap from open to closed circuit. I'm currently weighing up the pros and cons of buying my first rebreather and, of course, deciding which to buy. At the moment I favour an Inspiration Vision. During the summer most of my diving is in the North Sea from a basic, but powerful, RIB. I have several reservations about seeing my new pride and joy bounced about and slammed into the bottom of the boat for several hours at a time. I wondered what effect this treatment may have on;

a) The reliability of the unit in particular the electronics.

b) The effect on the sofnolime in the scrubber canister - and ultimately its effectiveness.

Does anyone have any experience?

lizardland

I've never dived from a RIB in the three years since I've got the KISS. I'm not worried about anything averse, it just looks like hassle. I like a bit of space and a bit of time to kit up, neither of which you get in a RIB. I also don't fancy schlepping a bailout cylinder either, most RIB skippers (certainly at Puffin) whinge if you have a twinset.

I'm a miserable bastard these days, I like comfort

Cheers,

Stuart

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Captain Nemo

Hi Tim, I have been using Rebreathers for twelve years now and most of my diving has been from Ribs up to 36 miles off. I have never missed a dive or had to abort one. Top tips... Have a good bottle rack and make sure your rebreather is ready to dive before you put it on the boat.... Safe Diving

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Sutty

I did keep a thick piece of packaging foam to put under my unit when bungied to the RIB tank rack to cushion the jolts a little. Mainly concerned about impact/vibration damage to the cells.

Neil

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Beanie

Mine's been ion lots of RIBs
Has survived so far.

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nigelh

OK we did bounce everything once and I broke the catches holding the yellow back panel on but I've done quite a lot of RIB diving on mine and we've both survived.

The biggest snag is that the bungees that hold tanks to a rack don't align up with anything to grip on the Rebreather so it's worth taking the time to fabricate up some webbing and a clip to strap things in place.
It would have saved me shelling out for 4 new case clips if I'd done it before rather than after...

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rewrites

If you buy the inspiration vision, invest in a camera pouch, or similarly robust, cover for the wrist-mounted handset. This thing is the most expensive item on your unit and has a destructive affinity to other people's cylinders, weight belts, and any other unforgiving fixture on the boat.

Also, try to stow your unit at the back of the RIB (at the end of the tank rack). This part of the rack is often about rebreather sized, and the back of the boat usually has a lot less 'bounce' and a bit more room for kitting-up.

Integrated weights (if you keep the stock harness) are nice to dive, but render the unit ridiculously heavy out of the water. Unless you are built like the side of a small housing estate, you will probably need help donning the unit if there is any chop to the water.

But then, apart from a simple single tank setup, no diving gear is much fun to kit up on a RIB.

Never had an electronics problem that was due to adverse conditions on the boat. I would echo the good advice above and prime your unit before getting on the boat. If you have a long car journey and a long rib ride, maybe pack your scrubber when you arrive at the quay/harbour. That way you minimise settling. Again, have not had an issue with this.

Have fun!

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TheMacallan

I dive regularly from Ribs and its never been a problem.
Puffin? again absolutely no problem.... and we have dived half a dozen times with them. I always specifically say we are diving Inspirations and they are utterly unfazed..... in fact they couldn't be nicer. The very first time we were the only ones on the boat and the "head honcho" helped us to carry our gear! ...knowing fine well he was going to make a loss on the charter.

Odin

I always strap my Inspiration to the end of the bottle rack.
I supply/ and use my own webbing strap.
Never had a problem
I use the Dive Rote integreated weights.
Put unit on side of tube, slip into harness, add weights.
pre-breathe whilst sorting out torch gloves mask etc...

I strongly recommend a SS handle across the top (Custom Divers).
This gives the boat crew something to hold onto when lifting the unit onboard.

Paul

matt crane

The club I belong to has 7 Rebreather Divers and we use nothing but the club ribs with no problems.

As others have said the Custom Divers Handle is a nice addition stops the cox or anybody from just grabbing the loop to drag it up onto the boat.

And find a way of securing your handset while your still in the water as when its pulled up it is conveniently placed that it hangs down just below the base level of the unit in just the right place for that 32Kg box of goodies to be put down on top of it.

The major problem with the Inspirations on ribs isn't damage to the electronics etc but keep an eye on the case itself it has two notorious weak spots on either side of the base.