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I enquired in techdiver:-
> A UK newspaper recently described something called `snuba' and said that
it was a cross between snorkel diving and scuba diving. What actually is it?
(I have learned not to trust newspaper reports of technical matters by general
reporters.)
On 12 May 94 10:15:08 EDT chris.mayer@an*.co* replied:-
> Perhaps it was a new Japanese fad I heard of - a small rebreather which
only is good to 6m or something like that. It has two small O2 cylinders (a
few cm long, about 1 cm wide), a small scrubber. The counterlung is a flexible
tube which loops around the neck. O2 cylinders were in the side of the
mouthpiece. About 20 - 30 minutes dive time. Very compact, weighs only a few
kilo, should be wildly successful here until someone goes to 30', something
goes wrong and they get a high PPO2, they die of convulsions, and their
relatives sue the company until it bleeds.
A rebreather that small doesn't seem very sturdily built or reliable against
knocks on things underwater or on land. If I want a small light rebreather,
give me any day the good old UK Siebe Gorman Salvus! (popular as an industrial
breathing set, and a handy short-duration (c.45 mins.) diving set in the Navy
etc. Weight without absorbent 21 pounds (say 10 kilos). If the canister is too
small, it will be too easy to beat it on working hard, producing (a) being out
of breath, (b) risk of `shallow-water blackout'. And cylinders that small (a
few cm * 1 cm diam) seem too small, or else too high pressure to refill
easily. The Salvus's cylinders are designed to screw directly into the top of
a big blowtorch-type oxygen cylinder, for refilling. It is sturdily build, all
good metal and strong rubberized webbing, and no brittle plastic. Alas it is
no longer made. If it was made again, a Kevlar-reinforced breathing bag and
oxygen tubes, and a hardened breathing mask, would be useful in rough diving.
As regards the depth limitations, that is a part of oxygen rebreather div- //
ing. I have heard that there are or were diving clubs in USA (and one in //
Canada) that used (oxygen presumably, at the time) rebreathers only. (If //
I was running such a club, I would be tempted to insist that rebreathers//
_____ ___ _______________________ / /
/ \ / \/ __||__ \____________________________/ /
/___ | | \ x=(______) \___________|__ /
/O | | | \ |=| | =|=====> | \/
| |__/| | \/==| | _________________||_____|__ \
\__/ | |\ \ /|_____|______/ \ \
\\=============\ \/ \ \
\___/===\ \ A.Appleyard, E28d, UMIST, Manchester Univ\ \
\ \ UK. a.appleyard@fs*.mt*.um*.ac*.uk* \\
______________\ \ [The set shown here is the Salvus] \\
===--| | \\
===--|____________________/ were to be used only on organized club dives,
not on casual dives not arranged by the club.) I have used a Salvus twice;
they are very handy and agile and you can go into small places, and they leave
the back and the chest free. If they were made again, how much bulk would be
needed to `mixture-ify' the design? (i.e. add another cylinder the same size
for diluent, and a PPO2-detector and its battery and readout).
I use an aqualung; but in low visibility UK waters I tend to find that most
of what is worth seeing for me is within 30 feet depth anyway.
(Note: this is the Neck Salvus. There also was a Salvus with the bag hanging
loose at the left hip, for use out of water (e.g. industrial & sewermen) only)
From what the Salvus looks like, it might be possible to wear it under an
aqualung like a lifejacket, e.g. for oxygen decompressing on after a deep
dive without having to find the decompression rebreather or change sets.
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