Mark 15, 15.5, or 16

jont

Looking for feedback and opinions on the above units....

What would you go with and WHY?????

More details the better

Thanks All

ROB DAVIE

Jon,

Hi! Until one of our Mark users, or our Rebreather history experts comes along, I'll give you a brief answer.

As I understand the situation, the Mark 15 was the direct predecessor of the 16. The 15.5 is a later combination of the best features of the 15 and the 16.

In any case, the available units are few and far between, expensive to get, and REALLY expensive to rebuild. Parts are hard to get, and the folks who can really rebuild them well are usually doing other things, so your rebuild will always take back-burner.

This is not to say that you can't have and dive one. Off the top of my head, I know quite a few people who do just for grins.

Try PM'ing Dr. Mike on this Board. He dives one and can give you a lot of info. Good luck!

Rob

__________________
[SIZE=2]"CC Rebreathers will become a viable part of tech diving [U]WHEN PIGS FLY[/U]!!"--GI3[/SIZE]

DrJM

Mk15 too much condensation on long dives
Mk16 officially impossible to have as a civilian (and anyway what more than the 15.5 ?)

Mk15.5 still the best Rebreather IMHO: reliable, compact, robust, 12h on the scrubber easy; had it for three years w/out ANY problems cf www.snoopyloop.com

For financial reasons I had to let him go to a good home of another deep cave-diver

Rgds

Jerome

caveseeker7

The CCR1000/MK15 is likely the easiest to get a hold of as they were in production by several companies including some that sold to civilians. As Jerome pointed out, they have some disadvantages. Among them also higher WOB (smaller diameter loop), shorter duration (smaller metal cann) and pita filling (small opening on the side of cann). They are smaller than either MK16 r 15.5 though, giving them the edge in close quarters.

The Innerspace Porpoise Pack One was one of the civilian versions marketed.

The MK16 is hard to get a hold of as they are still in use by militaries and never have been sold to civilians. The solve or improve the problems mentioned above. On the other hand they are the largest of bunch. Most likely all of them have been modified as I have yet to meet or hear of someone having the piezo-electronic injection system. There are a few civilian ones around, 'bubbleboy' here has one.

The MK15.5 falls between the two in size and has the MK16 loop (slightly different connectors) and hence advantages. Just a few dozends of these were build from moulds that no longer exist. These were and in Australia are still build for civilians, afaik they never entered military service.

The Steam Machines SM1600 is an example of a MK15.5.


'koputai' has a very good side by side comparison of his MK15 and a MK15.5 on his website, too.

The final iteration are MK15 1/2 or Hybrids. People (or custom shops such as Divematics) adapting a MK16 centersection into a MK15 shell.

All MK15 and some MK15.5 were build with analog electronics that usually have (or should) been replaced by now with digital electronics from Smithers/Juergensen, Steam Machines, Divematics or Colkan. The last few years the Hammerhead seems to be the electronic of choice.

Another common mod is a Whitey valve for off-board gas, and some kind of BC.

Personally, I like the MK15.5 or a well done MK15 1/2 the best.

__________________
Cheers
Stefan



"Political Correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a turd by the clean end.!"

jont

Thank you very much Stefan (I should have known)

Cheers