Different MK15.x mouth pieces

streamway_explorer

Can someone give me a run down of the different mouth pieces which are found on mk15.5's. I went diving with 4 fellow mk15.5 divers today and I notice one of them had a different mouth piece on his unit to the rest of us. First photo below the mouth piece has the shut off to one side and the others had them in the middle same as the second photo. Is there other models and makes which were put on these units by Carton/biomarine/colkan/SMI etc.

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Michael Collins

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Dave Sutton

Bottom line: Anything fits them.

Original Mark-15's use the old Scott DSV. It's small bore and is more or less a collectors item. Mark-16's use a larger one that is similar. Steam machines makes their own (and it's nice). Draeger Ray ones are cheap and work well. Interspiro ones are excellent and rare. Many divers use the complete Draeger Dolphin hose set and DSV with adapters screwed to the center section outlets. For years, Divematics was the preferred vendor. I'm using KISS BOV's on mine, and will upgrade to a newer one as soon as I figure out what's 'coming', as the existing designs all seem too big mechanically. Many divers use the Golem BOV with excellent results. For hoses, there are any of a large selection, the Coopers being the gold standard, and Draeger Dolphin hoses a second excellent variety. Dolphin hoses can be used with the original Draeger DSV or with any of the large-bore BOV's.

My guess is that if you collect ten Mark-15 users, you'll find 6 different DSV's being used, and *none* would be using the Scott that was originally fitted. In your local area, it seems that Colin is supplying the lot of you, so you seem to be using what he supplies. I'm surprised, frankly, that the number of you are not using BOV's with built in second stage emergency regulators to replace them.


Dave


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streamway_explorer

I'm surprised, frankly, that the number of you are not using BOV's with built in second stage emergency regulators to replace them.


Dave


.[/quote]
Hi Dave, thanks for the info

I was hoping you would tell me what these 2 in the photos actually are (brand ,History). Sure I could ring Colin,But he is taking some time off over the holiday break to work on his 25m long dive boat "ex-warship" at a rought guess. Kane is flat out making HUD for everyone I would say. Mind has done two dives so far and are worth the wait.

BOV on our units, I'm very new to actually diving regular on CCR so its not my place to make coment on if people should have BOV. But its highly likely I will get one before diving deep on the unit.

Dave there is about 10 to 14 of us here in OZ and one in NZ. with another one getting his hands one in Late Jan. Out of these at least 5 do have BOV's from memory I would have to asked the rest what they have done.

"Maybe" 4 dont have dont have them and have been diving for some time.
I know Jason has one ready for his MK15 once he finished restoring it,should impressed people when they see it.

3 of us have only had our unit for a very stort time (4 months maybe) complared to the rest. But 1 has a full face mask on order. He had an inspo before this with many dives loged, unlike Myseft and the other person.

2 of them I think have them for about 12 months out of those two 1 has got a KISS BOV on his the other I'm not sure.

I have only few hours on mind at 10 to 25m depth just trying to get few things iron out (weight placing,hoses,wing inflation,hardness setup etc) without adding too much stuff to the unit in one go. but give me a few weeks and I'll get up to speed with the rest of them over here.

With my setup I dont like the idea of taping into the actual unit inside pipe works (blocks with ports inside the unit on the hard plumbing pipes for extras).The unit on the inside is still how Colin intended to be "colkan standard".

So I'm trying to work out the best way to rig without too many extra tanks but at the same time, make sure they are not on one supply. But yes a BOV is on the list of things to get soon once I work out which one I like before doing dives past 30m on most weekends.

The problem I see with the current basic BOV's like the kiss ones (i'm sure someone is going to tell me this si not the case!). Is they dont have good deep diving regs in them like a apeks TX50 etc,so you dont need to pull the air/trimix out of them at 80metres depth like you are sucking through a straw if you know what I mean . but the last thing one wants is a big reg hanging out of their BOV. So like you waiting for someone to come up with something better but in the mean time it looks like a Kiss BOV is the best option for now. I dont know much about the other brands of BOV so far, next few weeks will go through Rebreather World and do some reading.

Well I'm off to do some more test diving out front.

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Michael Collins

www.trimixdivers.com

chunter

I'm not. Having used a BOV for years, I have ditched it on everything but my Sport Kiss. It creates drag and requires another hose which restricts movement. It also adds a failure point that tends to bubble and annoy. I love the freedom of the way my 15.5 feels without a BOV. As far as safety goes, I feel that a CO2 hit is probably the only reason that I would use a BOV, and I am very aware of my breathing rate, and have a habit of purging the loop when even the slightest thing feels odd. On the 15.x's, and many other units, you can essentially breathe open-circuit by exhaling every breath from your nose.

Hopefully these won't be my "famous last words", but I'm not going to use a BOV on my 15.5 anytime soon.

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Steve

Hi mate,

This isn't true in my experience. I still use the KISS with the Paragon reg and have used it in anger in the 85m range on the Cumberland and tested it down to 125m. It gets a lot of bad press but I have found that if it is serviced and tuned by someone that knows what they are doing it works very well.

Have fun

Steve

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teksimple

Quote: (Originally Posted by Steve)

Hi mate,

I felt that the KISS BOV WOB was unacceptable to me at depth regardless of the regulator used. Compared to my normal DSV at 50m on air, the KISS BOV really sucks. Using the BOV under heavy work itself might necessitate bailing out! Yes, using helium reduces the work, but it is still noticeably harder than my DSV. I have a Golem BOV that has a ball valve and it is a bit better, but still not as nice breathing under load as my PRISM DSV.

[Diving only vicariously in Baghdad]

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