Removing The (BOV) From The Kiss Sport (permanently)

Chett.L

A friend of mine who dives the Prism topaz wants a smaller lighter unit and is thinking about buying a KISS SPORT.

OK, most of you will not agree with this logic however, can you remove the BOV from the breathing loop mouthpiece?

Has this been done before?
Is this a big No No?
What are the pros and cons?
Of course, he would create his own separate Bail Out

My answer for pros and cons are as follows:

Pro = lighter, smaller mouthpiece, more comfortable, more hydrodynamic.

Con = changing to bailout is 4 steps instead of 1 step (close loop, remove mouthpiece, find regulator, insert in mouth). In the case of high CO2, people say it is psychologically VERY difficult to close and remove a mouthpiece

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Chett. L

EBT

Its doable, steve copeland fitted an inspo mouthpiece and others have done similar. Beware though that you just lost your backup route for getting dil into the loop if the ADV fails.

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Dave Sutton

Unlike the prior repsondant, who apparently assumed that you meant "can he replace the entire thing" (which *obviously* you can do), I assume that you really mean "Is it technically possible to remove the regulator from the existing BOV and re-use what remains as a simple DSV".

If that is your question, It can be done by making a fairly simple blanking plate out of Delrin and substituting that for the regulator assy.

"Why" he would want to do so is another discussion, but from a simple technical standpoint it can be done with ease.


Dave

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lizardland

Give it long enough with a Paragon fitted and he'll have a DSV with no functioning BOV fitted... Seriously it is quite easy to turn the second stage into the world's largest blanking plate, I dived mine like that for about 18mths. IIRC M&J sell a blanking plug that will seal off the 2nd stage hose fitting.

The problem with removing the 2nd stage and blanking off the hole with a plate is that you lose the drain. If you remove and replace the DSV underwater then you've no way to purge water from the DSV and will be blowing a slug of water into the loop. OK no biggie, but not ideal either. If you leave a f***ed 2nd stage with a blanked off hose connection then you can at least blow water out of the DSV before you open it up and go back on the loop. Personally, I'd just remove it and replace it with something else, I had a Draeger DSV on mine for a while. Nicely made, fits OK and you can purge water from it before opening the loop.

As Zak says, it isn't a step to be done lightly as you are effectively losing the KISS's "manual" add valve.

Cheers,

Stuart

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ccr_ada

the is no way of getting rid of water once its past the mushroom valve anyway is the?

as long as you are happy with just the kiss ADV
as you will have no manual add anymore



ada

lizardland

What I mean is at the moment if the DSV is closed and you remove it for whatever reason in the water and then replace it, if you exhale into it then it purges any water in the mouthpiece out of the exhale valve. When you re-open the loop then it is more or less going to be dry. If you remove that path then when you re-open the valve then you are going to get a slug of water blown into the loop. It's not going to be a lot of water but it is a few cc's contained in the mouthpiece.

As you point out there is nowhere for it to go but exhale hose and into the scrubber.

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Can you imagine drifting along in the sea with your mouth open and a load of f***ing plankton going in? You'd like it, would you?

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aainslie

Ya know, it'd be even lighter and more hydrodynamic if you took those pesky hoses off the sides...

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chunter

If you turn on your side (with the exhale side up) and breathe slowly, the water will back-track into the DSV. Then you can roll it into your mouth, close the DSV, and blow it out of the loop.

If you take the BOV off, you can still add diluent manually by reaching back and pushing on the button protruding from the ADV on the pod. I would also assume that if you took the BOV off, you would put an Air2 or something similar on your inflator hose, which could also be used as a source of diluent by taking an OC breath.

Aloha,
C

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chunter

That is a good point. I wouldn't dream of simply "plugging" the hole in the BOV. It would be much better to replace it with another DSV and using it as designed.

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ccr_ada

thats good if you are a contortionist


would you not end up with lots of water in the loop doing this?

you would end up doing that a lot
don't think i like the idea of that
will you still not end up with water in the DSV?
suppose you could always swallow the water