BTS Report

Dave Sutton

Started this post on the BOV thread in "Accessories" to comment on the dual-loop BOV shown by Golem and then realized that BTS needs a thread, so here it it....


Spent today among friends new and old, and had a great time. Saw guys that I last saw in the late 70's as well as people like Bruce Partridge who I have corresponded with for years but have never met. Plus all of the usual East Coast buddies that we see regularly.

Basics:

Golem Dual BOV takes prize as "Neatest Goodie". Allows two loops to be fed from one BOV. Idea came right from the forums here, so we are empowered!

New rig at the OMS booth takes prize as "Neatest New Rebreather" (spent two hours talking to it's designer and it's *very cool*). Might be the "Next Neat Rig". Going to do some design consulting for it, and hope to be able to positively influnce the electronics. The chassis and head are GREAT. Definately uses some NICE design principles.

Saw Kim for a bit and played with the new KISS displays. Need them. Good stuff. VERY nice. Think there were almost as many KISS rigs at the show as YBOD's, which is saying something. YBOD's were as common as goose-shit. About as interesting.

Titan Rebreather takes prize as "Most curious POS shown" for not having manual add valves, only the electronic control of the diluent and 02 solenoids. What will they foist on unexpecting Rebreather divers next? Between that and complete inability to use anything other than the small bottles, this "why bother?" rig doesn't seem to be useful for anything more than tourist-tropical. Saw enough in the first 30 seconds to rule it out for any use that I might consider. Just a non-player for me. Totally unimpressed. Priced like a Meg? Give me a break.

Optima is surprisingly neat. Not a rig for me, but it's not bad for a rec rig. Gets a "recreational rig thumbs up" from me.

New Meg stuff arriving for those who like Megs.

Not a single SCC rig of any type was shown by anyone. It's a dead end and is *dead* from a marketing standpoint. Not a Dolphin to be seen, nor an Azimuth.

Runner up for "good news of a new goodie" is that Oceanic will sell the Military version of the HUD mask to civilians, meaning that we will be able to buy a stripped down version with depth, time, and PSI on one screen while deleting all the unusable open circuit modes. I'm in for one. Plus they had their HUD Full Face Mask too..... neat.

Prize for "Funniest Display" goes to friend Pat Duffy (Oxycheq), who has such a case of laryngitis that he was literally speechless. He had a slate with a series of answers written on it, and was pointing to the appropriate one for each occasion. Choices included "Don't ask me any questions", "What do you want to buy?", and my favorite: "Do you have a younger sister?".

Coolest thing that I cannot afford: Carl at Sartek with his thermal imager camera. Trust me, it does cool stuff. Definately tells you "who is hot" and "who is not".... (and where they are hot and where they are not and more than this I cannot say.....but.... well..... there *was* this chick in a wetsuit who was... well..... naah..... too much information. Trust me here folks. You need one of these.... )

Might be buying the 10 foot tall by 12 foot diameter steel diving tank on a trailer with the 4 x 8 foot lexan view port for my own test tank. This is the one that the historical diving society working equipment group was using. I founded that group, and since the tank is for sale I may buy it, use it as a test tank, and then lend it back to the society for future BTS use. Be the ultimate backyard rebreather toy.


Plus there was beer.

Nice to see all the guys, and had fun. EXPLORER goes into the water next week, and *diving season is here!*

Dave

__________________
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"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"


Professional Small Boy: Never Successfully Cubicled.

CharlieT

Dave

Two loops, one Golem BOV?

Are we talking about a dual rebreather system?

Sorry, we're just not all in the "loop"

Charlie

gafftape42

Dave I am looking at moving to CCR this summer and will want a unit that can be used for tech diving. Would you mind elaborating on why you say the Optima is a good rec rig? And are you saying you would not use it for any tech diving?

Frankie Pellegrino

I was also at the show and chatting with a few Rebreather World People. It was nice to put a face with a screen name. I was very interested with the material that the OMS rebreather was made out of

(dimensionally stable non-off-gassing,glass filled urethane/nylon)

Does any body know the pros and cons to this material???

In a video the designer took a piece of the material that the kit is made out of . (about a ¼ inch thick and the size and shape of a big wrist slate). He then put it on his arm and heated it with a blow torch. The material barely transferred the heat to his arm showing the incredible thermal properties it had . It also seemed to have the same strength of something made of steel but it felt like very hard plastic .Also it is very corrosion resistant. If any body has any knowledge of this material please post.
Cheers Frankie

Dave Sutton

Yes and Yes... a BOV for a dual loop rebreather. After a long discussion here on the topic, the Czech Gnomes went to work in their cave and came up with a dual loop DSV with integrated bailout regulator. This missing link will open up the bailout rebreather design field totally.

Calling DrMike: We need these....


Dave

__________________
.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"


Professional Small Boy: Never Successfully Cubicled.

Dave Sutton

It's a nice ightweight design, Micropore cartridge scrubber, and cleanly integrated. Not a "Heavy Duty Expedition" rig, but a nice all around little rig. Ihad not seen one before and was not unimpressed.


Dave

__________________
.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"


Professional Small Boy: Never Successfully Cubicled.

diverklondike

I have posted the PICS of the Golem BOV on this thread....

http://www.rebreatherworld.com/bail-...tml#post104801

Mark

dive2dive2000

Hi Mark,

Sorry I missed you and Dave... I must say I was very impressed with Jakub and Golem gear. All of his stuff is very well made I bought his isolator valves and will be ordering some quick connects and a manifold as well as his BOV. These are from M & J engineering very well made. I must say even though I was only a $30.00 customer I was treated just like a $1000 one my hats off to Jakub and Golem gear

__________________
Safe Diving,
Martin

"but what's the fun of getting what you need, instead of what you want?"

USSMEG

Dave, Frankie, Chuck, Jakub and the many others I got to meet and put the name and the Face together "It was great to meet you". Looking forward to seeing you again, sometime on the High Sea's.

The Show was a good time and as I said above it was great to meet new friends and see old one's. I got to look at some new items and some I had already looked at back in Nov @ DEMA. All in all it was a fun weekend.

Later Paul

Dave Sutton

You also missed the chance to meet Mark , Frankie, and I when you hiked right past us last December at the quarry with your rig on your back, and never saw the 'Boris, Mark-15, and "Used to be a YBOD but is now different" sitting on the picnic table 15 feet away from you........

Roger-All on Jakub. You got off light, he got $80 from me... nice CJEN compatable QD for the BOV feed hose. Great stuff. Great guy. 100% . Not the last $80 he's going to extract from me.


Dave

__________________
.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others"


Professional Small Boy: Never Successfully Cubicled.