Dive Report at Stoney Cove

zepp · 19th March 2006, 20:16

This is the first trial of my IDA based mCCR.

I arrived at Stoney Cove at silly o'clock just to make sure I got on the bottom car park which meant getting up at 4am and out of the house by 5am.
The moment I got there, I realised that I had forgot my Divelog card, so £15 please Sir......"My God!", I thought, "This had better be worth it"-Not a good start me thinks!
I had put everything together Saturday night and checked again for leaks etc, but wasn't happy with the way I had connected the mouthpiece to the DSV. I found it gave me jaw ache in the pool after only 20 minutes so I ended up down at my fathers garage until 10pm bashing a piece of old brass pipe into an oval shape to braze on the brass-bodied DSV; a bit of a "Heath Robinson" affair, but it worked so what the hell.
I kitted up, using the back of my pick-up as a platform, plugged in my suit inflator from my side slung bailout cylinder and discovered the hose was leaking from the crimped hose end...Thanks to John for the spare.
Anyway, here I was sitting at the waters edge trying to rearrange my harness and displays, when there was an almighty rush of gas, "Oh Sh#t!!!!", so I turn off my bail-out cylinder (10ltr with 35%), thinking it was coming from my Jetstream, but no, I had caught the direct feed to my wing which made the connector come off the inflator hose coupling, this wouldn't normally be a problem, but the inner valve had blown out leaving an open tube from the 1st stage. This few seconds caused me to lose over 100 BAR of diluent from my already small 2 litre cylinder. I was now unsure whether to dive or not, but I was assured that the remaining 50 BAR or so would be OK for a shallow dive to 10 mtrs.
John and Neil were now ready and were going to 'baby sit me' for the dive.
At the start and down to about 6 mtrs I found my weight to be about right, but what I couldn't understand was why after a couple of minutes I had to pick up a rock from the bottom. Descending further to ten metres and swimming around to check the PPO2 was staying within the limits, I found that I was becoming bouyant once again. I exhaled through my nose to lose some volume from the counterlung and all seemed good for a few minutes. I gave John the 'OK' signal and I descended to 15 mtrs, still keeping an eye on my monitors. I was now 20 minutes into the dive, so decided to turn around and make a slow ascent up the roadway to 6 mtrs to try out certain skills. After a couple of minutes I had noticed a gurgling from the loop, so ended the dive just incase my botched up mouthpiece I had thrown together only 12 hrs earlier hadn't self destructed.
Back at base, I stripped the unit down and found only about an eggcup full of water in the exhale hose, none in the scrubber and only a bit of condensation in the counterlung.
To sum up.....Lets forget the couple of 'minor' problems before I dropped in the water..., I am 100% pleased with the results and with a few minor alterations, I should have a rather unique mCCR that will be capable of much more challenging dives for a very reasonable cost.
I would like to express my thanks to John ( Narked at 90 ), and Neil (Silent) for their offer of buddying me to what was for them a rather short and shallow dive.
Thanks go to Neil for the pics...

Skipbreather · 19th March 2006, 23:17

Hi Zepp-

New rig looks nice. I'm sure you've got many great dives w/ it ahead- I know I’ve enjoyed mine immensely. If you have not read this thread:

http://www.rebreatherworld.com/home-...ighlight=ida71

you'd best do so before you dive it again. The 71 is for the most part a very robust rig, but there is a life threatening Achilles heel waiting for you inside the bag. It’s explained in the above thread.

Best,
Ken

zepp · 21st March 2006, 07:41

Quote: (Originally Posted by Skipbreather)

Hi Zepp-

New rig looks nice. I'm sure you've got many great dives w/ it ahead- I know I’ve enjoyed mine immensely. If you have not read this thread:

http://www.rebreatherworld.com/home-...ighlight=ida71

you'd best do so before you dive it again. The 71 is for the most part a very robust rig, but there is a life threatening Achilles heel waiting for you inside the bag. It’s explained in the above thread.

Best,
Ken

Hi Ken, Thank you for the warning. I discovered this potential problem a while back, also GKAM had metioned it also when I first aquired it. If you look here... http://www.rebreatherworld.com/photo...ery.php/cat/48 ,at my photos, there is a step by step of the mods I did, some have since been improved further.

Jason

19th March 2006, 20:16	#1 (permalink)
zepp "Dyson with Death" daddy Current Rebreather/s: Classic Kiss Other CCR Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Other CCR Home Build Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: midlands Posts: 284	Dive Report at Stoney Cove This is the first trial of my IDA based mCCR. I arrived at Stoney Cove at silly o'clock just to make sure I got on the bottom car park which meant getting up at 4am and out of the house by 5am. The moment I got there, I realised that I had forgot my Divelog card, so £15 please Sir......"My God!", I thought, "This had better be worth it"-Not a good start me thinks! I had put everything together Saturday night and checked again for leaks etc, but wasn't happy with the way I had connected the mouthpiece to the DSV. I found it gave me jaw ache in the pool after only 20 minutes so I ended up down at my fathers garage until 10pm bashing a piece of old brass pipe into an oval shape to braze on the brass-bodied DSV; a bit of a "Heath Robinson" affair, but it worked so what the hell. I kitted up, using the back of my pick-up as a platform, plugged in my suit inflator from my side slung bailout cylinder and discovered the hose was leaking from the crimped hose end...Thanks to John for the spare. Anyway, here I was sitting at the waters edge trying to rearrange my harness and displays, when there was an almighty rush of gas, "Oh Sh#t!!!!", so I turn off my bail-out cylinder (10ltr with 35%), thinking it was coming from my Jetstream, but no, I had caught the direct feed to my wing which made the connector come off the inflator hose coupling, this wouldn't normally be a problem, but the inner valve had blown out leaving an open tube from the 1st stage. This few seconds caused me to lose over 100 BAR of diluent from my already small 2 litre cylinder. I was now unsure whether to dive or not, but I was assured that the remaining 50 BAR or so would be OK for a shallow dive to 10 mtrs. John and Neil were now ready and were going to 'baby sit me' for the dive. At the start and down to about 6 mtrs I found my weight to be about right, but what I couldn't understand was why after a couple of minutes I had to pick up a rock from the bottom. Descending further to ten metres and swimming around to check the PPO2 was staying within the limits, I found that I was becoming bouyant once again. I exhaled through my nose to lose some volume from the counterlung and all seemed good for a few minutes. I gave John the 'OK' signal and I descended to 15 mtrs, still keeping an eye on my monitors. I was now 20 minutes into the dive, so decided to turn around and make a slow ascent up the roadway to 6 mtrs to try out certain skills. After a couple of minutes I had noticed a gurgling from the loop, so ended the dive just incase my botched up mouthpiece I had thrown together only 12 hrs earlier hadn't self destructed. Back at base, I stripped the unit down and found only about an eggcup full of water in the exhale hose, none in the scrubber and only a bit of condensation in the counterlung. To sum up.....Lets forget the couple of 'minor' problems before I dropped in the water..., I am 100% pleased with the results and with a few minor alterations, I should have a rather unique mCCR that will be capable of much more challenging dives for a very reasonable cost. I would like to express my thanks to John ( Narked at 90 ), and Neil (Silent) for their offer of buddying me to what was for them a rather short and shallow dive. Thanks go to Neil for the pics... __________________ I'm not a bad person.....HONEST my homebuild photos http://www.rebreatherworld.com/photo...ery.php/cat/48 CLASSIC KISS #052/shearwater The Dyson is back Last edited by zepp : 19th March 2006 at 20:36.
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19th March 2006, 23:17	#2 (permalink)
Skipbreather Reads the fine print Current Rebreather/s: Megalodon Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet MK 15.X Home Build Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA Posts: 584	Re: Dive Report at Stoney Cove Hi Zepp- New rig looks nice. I'm sure you've got many great dives w/ it ahead- I know I’ve enjoyed mine immensely. If you have not read this thread: http://www.rebreatherworld.com/home-...ighlight=ida71 you'd best do so before you dive it again. The 71 is for the most part a very robust rig, but there is a life threatening Achilles heel waiting for you inside the bag. It’s explained in the above thread. Best, Ken
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21st March 2006, 07:41	#3 (permalink)
zepp "Dyson with Death" daddy Current Rebreather/s: Classic Kiss Other CCR Home Build Other Rebreather/s: Not Bought Yet Other CCR Home Build Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: midlands Posts: 284	Re: Dive Report at Stoney Cove Quote: (Originally Posted by Skipbreather) Hi Zepp- New rig looks nice. I'm sure you've got many great dives w/ it ahead- I know I’ve enjoyed mine immensely. If you have not read this thread: http://www.rebreatherworld.com/home-...ighlight=ida71 you'd best do so before you dive it again. The 71 is for the most part a very robust rig, but there is a life threatening Achilles heel waiting for you inside the bag. It’s explained in the above thread. Best, Ken Hi Ken, Thank you for the warning. I discovered this potential problem a while back, also GKAM had metioned it also when I first aquired it. If you look here... http://www.rebreatherworld.com/photo...ery.php/cat/48 ,at my photos, there is a step by step of the mods I did, some have since been improved further. Jason __________________ I'm not a bad person.....HONEST my homebuild photos http://www.rebreatherworld.com/photo...ery.php/cat/48 CLASSIC KISS #052/shearwater The Dyson is back
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