caveseeker7 once bubbled...
In all fairness, so far I've only heard one side of the story, and not quite as detailed as I would like. Before I decide for or against anyone or -thing I always try to get both sides of it.
Even Todd wasn't entirely unhappy with the training, so the detailed story might come across a bit different. He knows it, after all. You guys paint him like a moron, which I doubt he is, and that's not fair to either him or Jeff. I for one appreciate Todd's report, and hope he clears a few things up and stays here.
These are very well reasoned sentiments, irrespective of my potential level of moronality
. Is too a word. I have heard Jeff's "side" of the story. I accept it. I did not write about my experiences so that Jeff would come off badly or that I was somehow wronged. In fact, I *tried* to write my class report attempting, and failing, to minimize those exact points while still sharing my actual experiences. I have learned so much at ScubaBoard. I know that there will be some folks who might be interested in rebreathers that read through all of these posts, as I did, to gain some information or insight. I just tried to write what happened to me so that others might take away a few examples of what not to do
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caveseeker7 once bubbled...
I'm also a bit suprised that while y'all tearing up Todd and Jeff nobody's mentioned the seller of the rig. You Hammerheads don't wanna upset the big Kahuna? KJ sold the rig, he services MKs, and is an instructor for them.
I wonder why bits and pieces were missing, the rig undivable.
Todd, did the rig come with a list of parts to be replaced? Where you aware how many of them were missing or in unusable condition? Or were you left with the impression that this was a new rig with some dust on it ... ?
Makes wonder how the two other divers and their rigs did. And while I'm usually more intrested in Prisms than MKs, in this case I'm more curious about the 15.5 as it is closer to Todd's.
Kevin gets off unharmed. He sold me the unit and told me about its exact condition. The missing piece is actually a giant rubber band, which was included in with the unit. Kevin told me that many Mk-15 divers used electrical tape instead of the rubber band. I just put the electrical tape in the wrong place
. Duh. If I had it to do over again, I would have paid Kevin to completely service the rig before shipping it to me. The reality is that it *is* a new rig with some dust on itsome of the parts just sat a bit too long in the case.
The other two divers did great in the class, neither having any problems whatsoever. The Mk-15.5 diver had a completely different scrubber, so he did not face the issues that I did.
caveseeker7 once bubbled...
How long before you noticed, how severe where the symptoms, how long to recover? Where you the only one realizing you got hit while still UW?
Was it caused by the same missing/missassembled/damaged part both times?
So am I. How long before you noticed, how severe where the symptoms, how long to recover? Where you the only one realizing you got hit while still UW?
Was it caused by the same missing/missassembled/damaged part both times?
The general story:
By the time we got to the pool, I was a giant ball of stress. Every, single day was both long and intense. I was delaying the other two students from getting in the pool, and felt quite badly about that. There were parts issues, as in if I, or, more accurately, Peter, could not locate a certain part then I would not be able to participate in the class at all.
Another factor in all this is everything that I have heard and read about the breathing resistance of the Mk-15 (not good). So, I am a stressed diver who thinks his rebreather likely breathes like a pig, especially with the Scott (original) mouthpiece.
Given these two parameters, what happened in the pool could make sense in a way that is unrelated to carbon dioxide buildup. I was stressed in the water. I found the unit hard to breathe. It does make some sense. I was not in any pain nor did I experience any headaches as we were in the pool, and if I got "stressed" or found the unit "hard to breathe," then I just popped up. I typically would stay down about six to eight minutes at a time in the pool.
The first open water dive did not go well, but in a sense it went better than the pool. I stayed down twenty minutes before calling the dive, thanks in large part to that leaky mask
. I did not feel great coming out of the water but the scrubber, as it would just have to be, was on the last dive before its scheduled change. Hey, things went better, might have had a little break through at the end. I said these things, Given the circumstances, it all made sense.
The next day, a new scrubber, and a very unpleasant dive. I called it. I had a headache. I was angry at everything. At this point carbon dioxide was the obvious culprit. I went back to the dive shop and followed the path of the gas, and realized where bad things were happening.
It was always the same part. The worst headache went away in a little over a hour. And I was the only one who noticed underwater.
By the way, the unit now breathes quite nicely, thank you.
Todd.
