Another New Guy

kirwoodd

I keep getting a message asking me to introduce myself, so I guess I better...


I have been diving for a few years, I own a dive boat near Boston, not a charter, a personal dive boat. My friends and I try to boat dive once a week but the weather doesn't always hold up. I have not done a beach dive since my certification.

When I first started diving I thought "rebreathers? Not for this kid", which as a noob was probably the healthy way to go. This week we had a new guy on the boat with a rebreather, a megalodon, ZOWIE! Lighter weight, increased down time, decreased deco commitment, high tech. <sigh> So much to love! So now I am researching rebreathers and I found this excellent community!

I am a recreational diver and happy with it, I don't find myself below 100', I tend to dive around 60'-80' chasing lobsters and taking photo's. I am perfectly happy viewing a wreck from the exterior and caves hold no fascination for me. I have seen several threads on this forum that suggest that divers that fit my profile would be better served sticking with their OC gear. Might be true, and I might feel that way as well after a month of research, but right now I still want one. So my plan is to continue to soak up information from this community, try to make an informed decision by next spring and get into a rebreather class. Who knows, maybe this will make me feel like doing deeper dives.

diverreb

Welcome to the board....

As long as you are not trying to financially justify diving a rebreather compared to OC there are still lots of advantages. You mentioned weight issues, longer bottom times, and less deco time on shallower dives. There is also the possibility of doing four to six dives on the same set of small tanks. Fill times are a lot shorter and more convenient. You can bank some gas at your home and fill from those tanks. Dragging less gear on and off the boat for a weekend of diving is also a plus.

There is also stuff on the negative side, which include, cost (Gear, training, & supplies), complexity, higher risk factors, extra time to maintain and do pre-dive checks, availability of supplies (O2 & scrubber materials).

These lists are only partial and I'm sure as you do your research you'll come up with more of each, then you can balance it all out and make an informed decision.

Don't let the fact that you do most of your dives in the shallow range be the determining factor. If everything else tips in favor of a Rebeather for you.... Go for it!

Richie

UWshutterbug

Welcome aboard,

I second that you should not let the fact that you do most of your dives in the shallow water.

I publish the online magazine the Underwater Journal. In our latest issue (click: Download Latest Issue), rebreatherworld member Doug Ebersole did a great article on using CCR’s for recreational diving. In it, he covers some of the advantages while at the same time exposing some of the myths about using Rebreather’s in this capacity. Me and Doug dive our KISS rebreathers quite regularly in depths less than 100 feet.

By the way, Doug is a Scuba and KISS Rebreather instructor. Me, I don’t consider myself a tech diver, I just incorporate tech diving equipment and practices to dive where I want too.

Walt Stearns
www.underwaterjournal.com

bourskov

Hello and welcome...

As a relative new Rebreather diver (got certified Jan 2007), I would say in addition to the other replies, that you can consider rebreather diving as a kind of lifestyle. I only have one CCR buddy around, but as he works for a week at a time, many of my dives is with my OC buddies, and still I take my RB with for a beachdive, time after time... Yes, I'm new, and got a new unit in May, so lot of it, is because I need some hours and expirience on the unit, but I still think I'll put the RB in the car instead of my OC gear. RB diving is just so different than OC...

Just my opinion...

Good luck with the search...

Best regards
Bo Urskov