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> Here's the point, with the advent of tech diving, BCDs became much more
> important and relied on. They've "evolved" by adding glistening hardware,
> but they basically work the same way the old horse-collars do. A week ago I
> saw someone (a very experienced diver) dive a very complex rig with no LP
> hose connected. "I'll just mouth inflate if I need it", he said. At >200
> fsw!!??
Hi Pete,
If you're not talking about me above (and I think you are), then you
missed the fact that neither Ken nor I had any LP hoses attached to our
BC's. Why? Because neither of us happened to bring one (nor did we bring
a Scuba tool, channel-locks, knife, spare o-rings, crystolube, etc. - but
that's another issue ;-) So, why was Ken willing to dive to 200+ (twice),
and I willing to dive to 280 once and 360 once with no power inflator?
Because we were properly rigged in the first place. In other words, our
rigs were damn near neutral with everything deflated. I never put a puff
of gas in my BC on either of those dives - never needed to. I know one of
the things that keeps you up at night is the concern of buoyancy change
with a flooded loop. Maybe on the BM this is a real concern, but I did a
quick calculation for the the buoyancy change with a flooded loop on my
rig, and it comes to something like -4 lbs. There's an easy solution to
a flooded loop with no power inflator - inhale through the OC mouthpiece,
exhale into the BC while swimming up. It only takes a few breaths and/or
a 10-20 feet of ascent to get some good positive buoyancy going.
You may have also noticed that Pete B. didn't have an LP inflator hose
either - but then again, with no BC, he had nothing to connect it to
anyway.
Having said all that, I agree in basic principle with you that many of
the "tekkies" do not think through the consequences of lost BC's
adequately enough - especially with those rediculous steel cylinders.
Aloha,
Rich
Richard Pyle
Ichthyology, Bishop Museum deepreef@bi*.bi*.ha*.or*
1525 Bernice St. PH: (808) 848-4115
Honolulu, HI 96817-0916 FAX: (808) 841-8968
"The views are those of the sender and not of Bishop Museum"
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