Meg Course with Ted McCoy

[tbone1004]

Crazy whirlwind of a week, but here goes.
I've been lucky enough to have a Meg 2.7 on permaloan to me. Running through the list of instructors, talking to them, and talking to some very respected cave CCR divers all seemed to lead me towards taking this course with Ted. He's a Long Island guy, so while we have to agree to disagree on the color of our clam chowder and baseball teams, we have a somewhat similar outlook on tech/cave diving in general and hit it off which I think was a relief for both of us. Took a full Mod1 course on this thing since it has been years since I've been on any CCR and never had any formal training on them and felt that if any bad habits had developed, we would at least have the 2 extra days to iron them out.
Meg came to me needing a couple repairs and while I took care of most of them myself, my molex connectors were delayed so we took day 1 to head to his house, get that fixed and kind of scope each other out on how the week was going to go. Swung out to IANTD HQ where we went over some Meg specific stuff due to the backwards loop flow with O2 on the inhale side and created the framework for a checklist. Ted believes that the ISC checklist is far too involved and most people will stop using it after class because it is too clunky. At 42 items I can't disagree with him, so we went through and throughout the class mine evolved a bit but is 8 main points, with 10 total sub-bullets. A couple showed up the hard way *mouthpiece integrity, and running my canister light cable before putting the loop on*.

Day 2 was off to spend an ungodly amount of time in the basin at Orange Grove which thankfully was clear water without too much duckweed. What was interesting and painful to note here was that on CCR's I've previously dove/built you do have a bit of buoyancy help when you hold a full exhalation or inhalation. Nothing like on OC obviously, but it will at least help you start/arrest an ascent or descent. Fun fact, running min-loop on OTS lungs with the Meg means it does absolutely nothing for you which was painful for about 2 hours while I was trying to get sorted out. Started out without offboard dil plugged in and the plan was to add O2 only until 20ft, then open the ADV to allow dil to come in for a bit of ease on descent. I don't know if the plunger was off on the wrong angle, or this was tuned a bit too stiff, but after about 30 minutes of having to open the shut-off, press on the ADV, then close the shut-off, I gave the one finger salute to my ADV, plugged in off-board, and didn't touch it outside of gear checks for the rest of class.

Day 3 I got a break since I had to present at a conference in Orlando, then for Days 4-5 it was more of the same for the next few days with comfort levels getting much better, but the "failures" getting worse and worse, and naturally showing up in the least convenient orders all while piling on top of each other. Lots of frustration, but lots of satisfaction getting everything sorted out.

Class was very much a worthwhile investment for me because Ted is truly a thinking instructor and tailors the course to exactly what you need as a diver. That only comes from his extensive experience as a diver and an instructor, particularly on the really big cave expeditions. He's been at CCR's since the 90's and had some great stories about the first HUD and how it saved Will Smithers on the first dive with it, some scary stories about the Cis-Lunar scrubbers, being the first instructor to do his Cave CCR Instructor course in a sidemount rebreather, etc. Ted definitely is the kind of instructor that I would go out of my way to take a CCR course from even if you are not planning on purchasing or diving one of the units he teaches on. I have a general issue with most technical training because of how the industry is moving, but he has kept that BS out of the course and is really training you from the "old-school" which was a breath of fresh air for me.

 

[The Chairman]

Thanks for the write-up... Ted is high on my list of competent instructors and it's good to see that you got what you were looking for!

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks for the write-up... Ted is high on my list of competent instructors and it's good to see that you got what you were looking for!

It's unfortunately very rare these days that I'm pleasantly surprised by courses and instructors, and I am free to admit that I'm high maintenance with borderline unreasonable expectations, but he not only met, but exceeded those expectations so color me shocked!

 

[Jack Hammer]

Nice writeup Tom, glad you enjoyed your class.

 

[rjack321]

You ADV was/is broken, to properly conduct a dil flush on the Meg you need an ADV as well.
Not following the manufacturers checklist is a standards violation, just sayin'

 

[OceanEyes]

As you have already deduced, the ISC checklist is really a build sheet. Everyone that I know who dives a Meg or Pathfinder has pared down the build sheet and developed a practical check list from it. Stick to your revised check list until experience dictates that you make any alterations.

As your generous friend has seen fit to give you a Meg on permaloan, you might do him or her, (and yourself), a good turn and replace the troublesome ADV should an effective repair/adjustment prove unsatisfactory. Your instructor may have provided you with an ISC end user form which you fill out, have witnessed and notarized, then return to ISC. This will allow you to purchase parts directly from ISC. (I believe that they charge full retail on all orders to non-dealers, but getting a direct shipment is a very convenient service for which I’m willing to pay a modest premium.)

If you’ve disassembled the Meg completely, you already know that the ADV is simply screwed into place like the loop tees, no tools required. You don’t have to send the counter lung to ISC as the ADV is simple to install.

 

[Sam Miller III]

Great article about a great class taught by a great old fashioned instructor !
Thanks for sharing

Sam Miller, III

 

[tbone1004]

@rjack321 it functions fine, it is just tuned very stiff and when running min loop, the plunger moved off to the side so it wasn't firing easily when I pulled on it. It moved more than ample amounts of gas when you pressed on it, and we did perform a flush using the ADV once. That said, I did not like that method of dil flush, neither does my instructor, so we did it on the first wet day, and then did the "better" dil flush method. This is essentially sucking the loop down, exhaling completely from your nose, then use the MAV while inhaling to a normal breath, then repeat 3 times. Less buoyancy issues, and much easier to do while moving in the cave, especially on a DPV.
The issue with the ADV is that I won't be using it once the iBov gets here and I move to bmcl's in about a month so starting to rely on it didn't make sense. I will have the ADV in the iBov and will likely use it for dil flushes using the method above vs. the MAV, but to perform the dil-flush with the existing ADV, having to open the shut-off and make sure the plunger is oriented properly just didn't make sense.

Regarding the checklist, most instructors I know, especially the cave instructors, have students make their own checklists. We went through the ISC checklist on the first day and took out things that we felt were extraneous and would drive me to just stop using it. I do not need a step on the checklist to "charge o2 and dil bottles" which is part of later items anyway, I do not need it to tell me to analyze my bottles which are analyzed long before I get to the point of firing the rig up, same with mounting the bp/w. It already has the first item as clean and inspect all o-rings, so why does it repeat itself on specific o-rings?
The main point was that if the checklist is too long and has too much minutia in it, then you are going to be more apt to not use it. With that being historical fact from rebreather divers, why not make a checklist that works for you and is something you're actually going to use and follow.

@OceanEyes I have a couple good buddies set up as dealers who are local to me for parts, so that helps but didn't know about being able to buy direct from them. ADV comes out of the lungs to dry vs. disconnecting the hose, so it's out quite regularly. I'm sure I can retune it to be easier if I wanted to, but getting to that balance point just isn't worth it to me

 

[Seya]

Ted is amazing. Sounds like you had a great time.

 

[wedivebc]

@rjack321 it functions fine, it is just tuned very stiff and when running min loop, the plunger moved off to the side so it wasn't firing easily when I pulled on it. It moved more than ample amounts of gas when you pressed on it, and we did perform a flush using the ADV once. That said, I did not like that method of dil flush, neither does my instructor, so we did it on the first wet day, and then did the "better" dil flush method. This is essentially sucking the loop down, exhaling completely from your nose, then use the MAV while inhaling to a normal breath, then repeat 3 times. Less buoyancy issues, and much easier to do while moving in the cave, especially on a DPV.
The issue with the ADV is that I won't be using it once the iBov gets here and I move to bmcl's in about a month so starting to rely on it didn't make sense. I will have the ADV in the iBov and will likely use it for dil flushes using the method above vs. the MAV, but to perform the dil-flush with the existing ADV, having to open the shut-off and make sure the plunger is oriented properly just didn't make sense.

Regarding the checklist, most instructors I know, especially the cave instructors, have students make their own checklists. We went through the ISC checklist on the first day and took out things that we felt were extraneous and would drive me to just stop using it. I do not need a step on the checklist to "charge o2 and dil bottles" which is part of later items anyway, I do not need it to tell me to analyze my bottles which are analyzed long before I get to the point of firing the rig up, same with mounting the bp/w. It already has the first item as clean and inspect all o-rings, so why does it repeat itself on specific o-rings?
The main point was that if the checklist is too long and has too much minutia in it, then you are going to be more apt to not use it. With that being historical fact from rebreather divers, why not make a checklist that works for you and is something you're actually going to use and follow.

@OceanEyes I have a couple good buddies set up as dealers who are local to me for parts, so that helps but didn't know about being able to buy direct from them. ADV comes out of the lungs to dry vs. disconnecting the hose, so it's out quite regularly. I'm sure I can retune it to be easier if I wanted to, but getting to that balance point just isn't worth it to me

How do you retune the cracking pressure on the ADV? Since it is a schrader valve with a built it spring you can't really alter the spring tension
I would suggest if your adv is not firing because it does not hit squarely against your chest then an adjustment of your counterlung or possibly taking the twist out of the breathing hose between the T-piece and the head will fix that.