Info needed for a recommendation

[BB1]

Hi Tobin.

I've sent an email in to find out shipping charges for my little wish list.

Another thought has crossed my mind.

How does changing down to a 3mm suit affect the calculations??

This would be for when travelling to nice hot countries!

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hi Tobin.

I've sent an email in to find out shipping charges for my little wish list.

Another thought has crossed my mind.

How does changing down to a 3mm suit affect the calculations??

This would be for when travelling to nice hot countries!

Not much. Warm water in a 3mm suit + al 80's will require about 8 lbs of ballast, ~4 lbs for the 3mm suit and ~4 lbs for the al 80. (At 6'4" tal your suit will be 5-6 lbs positive)

A SS plate and harness will provide about 6 lbs (8 for a LP plate) and your reg about 2 lbs. Bingo, that's all the ballast you are likely to need.

Of course you could use smaller wings in warm water, as you rig will be only about -12 lbs with a full tank, and your wife's will be only about -10 lbs, but if you plan to use one wing for "home and away games" you have to size the wing for the more buoyant suits.

I would not change my previous recommendations.

Tobin

 

[BB1]

Ordered! Thanks for all your help!

 

[BB1]

Hi Tobin,

Well it all arrived in Australia with no problems bar our customs taking a healthy bite out my wallet for the privelage of buying DSS.

Spent a fun couple of hours putting it all together tonight and doing a rough fit for both rigs.

Off to Fiji on Friday staying in a resort with unlimited shore dives so should have lots of time to dial it in for both of us.

Any tips on buoyancy checking as I recall you have a different take on doing them and I can't find it with the search?

Thanks once again for all your assistance and a great looking product - can't wait to dive it

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hi Tobin,

Well it all arrived in Australia with no problems bar our customs taking a healthy bite out my wallet for the privelage of buying DSS.

Spent a fun couple of hours putting it all together tonight and doing a rough fit for both rigs.

Off to Fiji on Friday staying in a resort with unlimited shore dives so should have lots of time to dial it in for both of us.

Any tips on buoyancy checking as I recall you have a different take on doing them and I can't find it with the search?

Thanks once again for all your assistance and a great looking product - can't wait to dive it

Glad to hear the goods arrived, and thank you for the kind words.

I assume in Fiji you will be diving in 3mm suits with al 80's.

That means you will need about 10 lbs of total ballast, 6 lbs for the suit and 4 lbs to offset the buoyant empty al 80. (Your wife will need a bout 8 lbs total as she is not 6'4")

The Stainless Steel plates and regulators should get you pretty close, your plate and harness is about 8 lbs and your reg is 2, and your wife's plate is about -6 and her reg is about -2.

I'd suggest adding about 2 lbs of lead for the first dive, and then with ~500 psi at your shallow stop ~ check and see if you have any gas in your wing. If you do you can probably loose the 2 lbs for the subsequent dives. If you feel a little light, swim down a bit, and add a couple lbs for the subsequent dives.

Don't be surprised if you end up with significantly less ballast than you have used previously. BP&W's unlike many BC's, are not inherently buoyant, and can be fully vented. That combines to reduce the lead required.

Tobin

 

[BB1]

Hi Tobin,

Well we're back from Fiji and we had a ball............

Had to re adjust the wifes rig a few times to get to where she was happy and the 1st stage was not banging the back of her head. I seemed to get lucky and was pretty much spot on straight away.

Neither of us have the shoulder straps tight (can fit a fist under just) and we both LOVED the DSS rigs!!!!! We cant imagine going back to a jacket BCD now. We were both horizontal with ease.

Wife no longer wants a pro fit harness as she realises it fits properly everytime with the HOG harness.

We both seem to be carrrying some bioprene as we both needed lead. She knows she is slightly overweighted at the moment but preferred that to being light and will refine as she gets more and more omfortable with it.

I was very careful to check buoyancy at 500psi at 15' safety stop. With 6lbs of lead I sank with a full exhale, was static with a half breathe and started to rise with a full breathe (big lungs). I can live with 2 weights on a belt and will try and drop 1 or 2 lbs more later as I get better at diving and even more comfortable.

Thank you very much for all your help and patience with my many questions!

1 last question to round things out, do the rigs look set right with tank placement etc in the pics?

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hi Tobin,

Well we're back from Fiji and we had a ball............

Had to re adjust the wifes rig a few times to get to where she was happy and the 1st stage was not banging the back of her head. I seemed to get lucky and was pretty much spot on straight away.

Neither of us have the shoulder straps tight (can fit a fist under just) and we both LOVED the DSS rigs!!!!! We cant imagine going back to a jacket BCD now. We were both horizontal with ease.

Wife no longer wants a pro fit harness as she realises it fits properly everytime with the HOG harness.

We both seem to be carrrying some bioprene as we both needed lead. She knows she is slightly overweighted at the moment but preferred that to being light and will refine as she gets more and more omfortable with it.

I was very careful to check buoyancy at 500psi at 15' safety stop. With 6lbs of lead I sank with a full exhale, was static with a half breathe and started to rise with a full breathe (big lungs). I can live with 2 weights on a belt and will try and drop 1 or 2 lbs more later as I get better at diving and even more comfortable.

Thank you very much for all your help and patience with my many questions!

1 last question to round things out, do the rigs look set right with tank placement etc in the pics?

Thanks for the freeback and kind words.

Rig position and tank position look fine to me.

Tobin

 

[divesergeant]

BB1,

How did your wife deal with the head banging? I ended up rotating the tank so the valve opening pointed 45 degrees over my left shoulder. I PM'd a few times with Tobin on our last trip and he got right back with me with tips to eliminate it.

Like you, I can't imagine diving in a full BC again. The DSS BP/W is so streamlined that it is hardly noticeable, swimming about is easier and my air consumption went down as a bonus.

DS

 

[BB1]

Hi DS,

The key was adjusting the length of the shoulder straps to make them a little longer.

This dropped the plate a little further down her back, we set up the top rubber grommet through the 2nd hole down and set the top tank strap at about an inch below where the tank starts its curve up to the neck.

Readjust the crotch strap to control the amount the rig can move up and you're set to go.

Anyhow that's what worked for us/her and YMMV, took me a while to figure it out though. Free checkout shore dive helped as well and wife is now completely comfortable after doffing and donning the rig so many times in the water.

I agree about the effort of swimming required and our air consumption improved by about 10+ minutes each !!

 

[divesergeant]

Thanks BB1. I'll try some of these adjustments when we next dive. I suppose there is no problem with the rotated tank, it just looks funny though!

The improvement in air consumption was a huge boon for me. Mrs DS kind of has gills, so me being able to add some minutes to each dive was great.

DS