Golem BOV on Inspiration

Golem BOV on an Inspiration
By Mark Nix


As promised I wanted to share with everyone some feedback on one of the newer BOV’s that is available on the market and how I integrated it to my Inspiration


Why the Golem BOV?

I had been looking at various alternatives for over a year. My first preference would have been the AP BOV if it had been available. Unfortunately, we all know the situation there. Here were some of the things that I was looking for in a BOV:

• Good WOB at depth – 250-300 fsw
• Native threads for the Inspiration hoses
• As low a profile as possible
• I wanted to physically see the BOV before purchasing it

I considered all of the normally discussed choices, KISS DSV, Divematics, V4Tec etc… They all had their own positives and negatives including the Golem. While at Beneath The Sea in New Jersey I had an opportunity to see the KISS, Divematics and Golem units in person. I ended up choosing the Golem BOV after spending an hour or so with Jakub from Golem Gear while at the show.

Here are a couple things that I liked about the Golem BOV

• Secondary parts are from an Apex regulator
• The supply hose can feed into either the right or left side
• Standard inspiration thread connections were available. Connections are also available for the Meg and other Rebreather’s
• Extremely well built

The down side was that it was new to the market and did not have a track record.


Here is the BOV installed. I did add a swivel to reduce the resistance when turning my head to the left. It took all of 10 minutes to replace the standard DSV with the new unit.


The above picture shows the BOV from the bottom.(Sorry for the glare in the picture)

Removing the diaphragm provides you with access to 4 screws. To reverse the hose you simply remove the screws and rotate the regulator portion of the BOV. (See pic below)


The below picture shows the BOV with the secondary removed.


When I initially installed the BOV I plumbed it directly to the manifold for a couple test dives in the quarry. Before hitting the water I did my normal negative check and it held without any issue. Once in the water I was pleased with the WOB and ease of use to change from CCR/OC. The regulator initially had a slight tendency to free flow if I removed it from my mouth underwater. A simple adjustment resolved that to my satisfaction.


Now Here Comes The Fun…

One of my goals with installing the BOV was to have it supplied from either my Dil or off-board gas. Since I was going to all of this effort I also wanted the capability feed the off-board into the Inspiration manifold.

Here is an overview of my approach to solving this.

Gas to the BOV is supplied from a small gas block. The BOV is connected to it via a Swaglock QC6. (See pic below) This allows me to easily remove the BOV, loop hose, HUD etc from the rig The block with the quick connect is located on the outside of the case on the exhalation side of the kit.


The other hose coming from the top of the block is the feed in from an off-board gas source. This hose is routed down the side of the exhalation counter lung and is secured at the bottom. (See pics below)


I used an elbow at the bottom of the hose to make it easier to hold when plugging in another gas source.

The hose from the bottom of the block goes to the Dil side of the standard gas manifold. I have installed a Whitey valve in this hose between the block and the manifold to allow me the ability to isolate the off-board supply from the manifold if I choose so. (See pics below)


Note: The hose from the bottom of the block passes into the case via a hole that was drilled at the bottom. The hose then crossed the bottom to the Whitey valve that is accessible from the outside of the case.


The Whitey valve is very easily reached right in front of the Dil bottle valve. (See pic above)

The below pic shows how nicely the bock and hoses fit behind the wing. It also shows the hose from the BOV plugged into the quick connect. This hose then goes around the back of my head and down the inhalation hose to the BOV.


From a connection point of view the Whitey valve and Swaglock connections all were purchased with ¼ inch NPT female connections. I then used fittings that were ¼ inch NPT male on one side and one of the following on the other…. 7/16 inch male or 3/8 female.


Summary

I have a couple dives on this set-up and am very happy with it. Everything is easy to reach and use. I definitely like the elbow on the bottom of the off board supply hose. It makes things easy to find, hold, and stow away. I have added a couple extra steps to my pre-check that include testing the BOV and Whitey valve.


DISCLAIMER – This approach to hose routing, use of quick connections etc is simply my home grown way of making stuff work! Any use of this information to do it yourself is done at your own risk!!

Dive Safe….

Mark



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