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At 10:59 AM 2/15/97 -0500, you wrote:
>I'm in the process of putting together my first doubles rig and have a
>question about the use of only 1 pressure gauge.
>
>As shown in "Doing it Right", the rig only has 1 gauge. I'm sure this
>question has been answered before but what if the 1st stage w/ the gauge
>needs to be isolated from the system? Then since the air gauge is
>basically inoperable how is air mang. dealt with?
>
>I seem to remember George mentioning something about just turning the
>bad reg on for a moment, long enough to read the gauge. Is this correct?
>
>Thanks,
>
>Mark
__________________________
1. Mark, I can't speak for George, but I see the answer as follows:
a. If you are following the rule of 1/3's, and you have a problem
with that side on the way in (ie. before you reach 1/3's), then you should
have no "gas management" issues - you turn and leave, and unless you have
gone in on a siphon and are going out against the flow (bad idea!!) you will
have more than enough air to get back to your deco bottle(s).
b. If you are following the rule of 1/3's, and have already turned
and are on your way out, then (same as a. above) you should have more than
enough air to get out without having to see it and manage it.
NOTE: In both the above examples, you've got the air to get out (whether you
can see it on a gauge or not) if you are "Doing It Right"!
2. If your cave dives are "No Decompression" dives, then you've got enough
air +1/3 to get back to the surface in open water. In the case of
decompression diving, you've got enough air +1/3 to get to your deco
bottle(s), then switch and decompress on that gas.
3. Obviously you could turn the reg on momentarily, but I would deem this a
risky loss of precious air, and not advisable! That's my $0.02 worth, good
luck!
DIVE SAFE! Dave M.
p.s. If you are doing some other type of diving, where you are not using
the 1/3's rule, then it would still be advisable to end the dive upon
encountering a problem like this. Therefore I would still maintain that gas
management would not be a factor. Who cares? You only need enough air to
get up, and what good is turning on your leaking regulator going to do? Are
you willing to lose air just so you can know how much you HAD (past tense -
because you just lost some more!!)?? It doesn't make sense to me, just call
the dive and fix the problem!
See ya'! Dave M.
*******************************************
* Dave Montague, LT, USN *
* Andros Island, Bahamas
* subterraneous-submarine-speleologist *
* aka: "Deco Dave - the Dive TERMINATOR" *
* rso@wp*.nu*.na*.mi* *
*******************************************
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