Alternate air source

jerseybones · Oct 6, 2003

Looking for recommendations on alternate air sources for use in extreme harsh conditions. have been doing alot of digging with my scooter and finding alot of silt and sand in my octo. I was considering an "Air Buddy" as it seems there would be very little area to get fouled, but any input on this subject would be appreciated.

gzscuba · Oct 6, 2003

Out of curiousity, what do you mean by "digging with my scooter"? Are you really digging into the bottom with your scooter's propeller??? Why would you do this?

I remember seeing some octo keepers at my LDS that actually pretty securely covered the mouthpiece. These had the disadvantage that they caused a free-flow due to the air inside compressing at depth. You needed to pull the octo out, and reseat it underwater, IIRC.

Doc Intrepid · Oct 6, 2003

directing the propeller wash from his scooter downwards towards the bottom. It is a relatively common technique for removing layers of sand to look for artifacts in the vicinity of wrecks. It no doubt has other uses as well, but creates a bit of a 'blizzard' of sand around the diver.

JB -

One thing you might try, don't have any idea how useful it would be. Some companies manufacture small nylon bags that thread onto the hose of a regulator, and velcro in place over the second stage. They are ostensibly used to isolate the second stage of a regulator attached to an O2 bottle, so that it is not mistaken for another stage or deco regulator. Given the somewhat unique circumstances of your diving, such an arrangement might keep some of the particulate out of your second stage. It would be worth a try, so long as you are able to get it off in about a millisecond should you ever need your backup regulator.

Doc

jerseybones · Oct 6, 2003

Thanks GZ and Doc, Doc is right! and yes "scooter digging creates quite a blizzard!! it gets in everything and fill up the open areas of an octo pretty quickly, thanks for the idea of " bagging" it Doc I have seen those covers you mentioned and will give it a try but am still curious and the "Air Buddy" and would like to hear the pro and con from anyone who has used one! JB

'

DiveTub · Oct 6, 2003

First impression of the Air Buddy

Did a search and read heaps about it.
I would say in two words "Death Trap" you would not catch me in the same ocean as that thing !

Northeastwrecks · Oct 6, 2003

Sydney_Diver once bubbled...
First impression of the Air Buddy

Did a search and read heaps about it.
I would say in two words "Death Trap" you would not catch me in the same ocean as that thing !

This doesn't appear to be an actual demand regulator. It looks like you need to manually activate it and deactivate it. When activated, it will vent air until deactivated. Essentially, you are trying to breath off a free flowing LP hose.

The closest I've actually come to seeing one of these things used for anything is the manifold/valve failure drills some tech agencies conduct.

I wouldn't get in the water with a diver using one of these for life support.

If you've got a decent set of second stages, you might want to consider buying a hose kit, a couple of zip ties and some bungee cord. The primary reg goes on a longer (5 or 7 foot) hose, while the backup goes on a short hose and is bungeed around your neck.

The benefit to this configuration is that the octo doesn't get dragged around. In addition, you always know where it is. Finally, if you need to donate, you are handing off a reg that you know is working.

There are a ton of threads on this configuration. PM me if you want more details.

jerseybones · Oct 7, 2003

know all about the DIR principles, actually agree with most of them too! the problem is not with anything dragging around the bottom, all my regs are secured and easy to get to. the problem is with the ones not being used, meaning my spare and my pony reg. getting fouled in the clouds of silt caused by our digging efforts. guess i will try bagging them as doc suggested, thanks JB

mwilding · Oct 7, 2003

Do you use an ole' fashioned scum ball?

jerseybones · Oct 7, 2003

use the ones that are shaped to the mouthpiece, they work fine except ya have ta clean them regularly, the main problem is with the sand and silt getting into the other ports on the regs. we are usually diving pretty shallow and digging alot with hp120s we are down a long time so with tide and current changes its inevitable that you get snowed on quite a bit , my concern is that if i do ever need one of the spares it may not function when nearly full of dirt. so far i am thinking Docs suggestion is the way to go might even just use a plastic bag with some rubber bands, cheap and always available....but i am still open to other ideas, JB

JHAM · Oct 7, 2003

Pony bottle!!!!!!

Alternate air source

Please register or login

jerseybones

Registered

gzscuba

Contributor

Doc Intrepid

Contributor

jerseybones

Registered

DiveTub

Contributor

Northeastwrecks

Contributor

jerseybones

Registered

mwilding

Contributor

jerseybones

Registered

JHAM

Guest

Similar threads