Has anybody heard what happened to the inspiration diver.....

[madmole]

Yes, you check all these things the night before when you refil the unit, not on the boat

You have other checks to do before you go diving and yes you leave the cover on

>>You don't check to see that the scrubbers lid is fastened down?
You don't check to make sure the bolts on top of it are tight?
Make sure all hoses are connected and haven't been dislodged from the scrubber?<<

Yes, you do positive and negative pressure tests that check all these, dont need back of to do this. Do you test the individual valves on your BC, no, you puff it up and see if it leaks. If you dont test your BC before each dive a RB isn't for you

>>Make sure your electronics are still connected? And haven't been pulled loose?<<

Handsets do self diagnostics when turned on, you check their operation and calibration. back stays on for this. They check batteries and each other

>>Make sure your regs aren't loose from the bottles?
Make sure your hoses aren't loose to your bottles?<<#

Easy, breath from them an watch contents guages for movement, same as OC, do you take your tank off and eyeball the Din valve before a dive? Nope, cover stays on

>>All this can be done with the cover on???<<

Yep, dont try and teach grandmother to suck eggs, you make the mistake that a lot of people do in that they think they understand rebreathers. If you are not trained in them you DO NOT understand them. If the rumours turn out to be true this is the fatal error Tomas made. OC experiance is NOT ANY USE on a rebreather, nor is experiance on another unit.

Only reason the cover would come off on a boat would be if there was a problem or to refil scrubber (and a boat is not the best place for this)

 

[padiscubapro]

madmole once bubbled...
Also nobody dives an Inspiration without its cover, the drag is terrible and why is his VR3 with Inspiration adpater in the list of diving bits and bobs. Again why would he dive without it

Lots dont add up here. Tomas is definatly dead, which is bad enough, I have seen lots of stuff from his work colleages (see link below), but nothing to confirm it was a diving incident let alone a RB.

All I see are about 2 original posts being copied around and around becomming another urban legend. Does anyone have any facts

http://thescratchpost.com/features/march03/features1.shtml

I wouldn't say that.. alot of divers in the US dive the inspiration without its cover (I did it myself for a while)
Up until AP had valves for us tanks it was nearly impossible to get valves that would allow the use of DOT tanks and the Inspiration cover..

I dove without a cover until I located a suitable valve from Australia and enlarged the valve holes on the inspiration. I also used the unit without a cover when I traveled with aluminum 14 cf cylinders (weights about half the 3l US DOT steels) the diameter is too large and cover woun't fit.. The US steel tanks are about 30% heavier than the UK tanks and have a lower pressure rating to boot.

I don't have thi problem anymore as you can see on
http://www.therebreathersite.nl/joe's_titanium_turtle.htm

This is not the normal dive config (Its designed for 4 cylinders 2 CCR/2 bailout).. I have had some mods done since the posting.. I'll take some pics and have the page updated..

The only time I found the drag without the cover to be un-acceptable was on the surface swimming backwards, the remaining cover acts like a scoop..

 

[madmole]

Hey nice titanium bits!!!

I've got an ABS 7l housing for mine

I tried the unit lidless on a wreck dive and couldn't move in the slight current, and that was in bod standard config.

Although I've a video of our club using the lid as a breakfast bowl for conflakes!!!!

Yes we are lucky with our higher WP cylinders here. the vast majority of ours are 232 or 300 bar, The inpsirations originals are 300's. Although most O2 fills here are 200 bar here

Didn't realise the US had such a problem with the cylinders, send em to us if you dont want the originals, I'll give em a good home

 

[Scubaroo]

Heading off-topic, but OMS now has DOT and TC approved 20cf cylinders for the Inspiration - about half way down this page:

http://www.omsdive.com/news.html

 

[padiscubapro]

How much does the abs housing weigh..

My chasis is about 7kg. Its almost entirely titanium.. just the clamps, hinge, fastner and bolts are stainless.. The place the 2 3l cylinders are mounted are where the 7l bailout cylinders go, the 3l cylinders belong on the quick release spring clips located directly infront of the bailout cylinders (closer to the wing) as can bee seen in http://www.therebreathersite.nl/images/Radomski/Picture04.jpg

I could have the weigth reduced if I have the bracket on the bottom reduced, its about 2x the size it needs to be.. even at the it only weighs about 2.75 kg

Enrique is now building a chasis for a caver in hong kong, designed to carry SIX cylinders.. For the most part its identical to my unit..

Your ABS chasis was definately moe affordable than titanium.

 

[madmole]

ABS housing is about .5 Kg heavier than original and only about 2" wider and higher, Its a direct replacement and exactly the same shape, but bigger. Takes all the same fixtures and fitting and most people wouldn't even notice it was different

Guess it was cheaper though, it was < $200

 

[padiscubapro]

Scubaroo once bubbled...
Heading off-topic, but OMS now has DOT and TC approved 20cf cylinders for the Inspiration - about half way down this page:

http://www.omsdive.com/news.html

the tanks have never been a problem (they are just 3l fabers) that are restamped with OMS.. Its been the Valves (in the past) that are the problem.. the solution many divers used was to get a maifold valves (left and right handed valves) and cap them.. the regs now sit infront instead of to the side so the cover doesn't fit..

standard vales are 90 degree config while inspiration valves are straight through design..

 

[madmole]

APD now claim they can supply the unit with US approved cylinders and valves. Might be worth asking the new US importers what they come with

 

[Mverick]

nm

 

[madmole]

Good, we'll make a rebreather diver of you yet

A positive and negative pressure test is a very quick and easy way of testing the whole of the loops integrity in one go, and stresses it more than you would be while diving. You can do it easily while kitting up and is a normal part of the pre-dive process

Download the Inspirations manual from the APD website or from my website and have a read. It will answer a lot of your questions