thanks to the scubateer crew, and passanger i made it

[RubberDucky]

Oh, yeah -- where did you go and why didn't you take me with you???? (Sierra Vista)

I was in SV just last week. I don't blame you for wanting to leave. Too cold for my bones.

P.S. Way to keep your cool, RYCO. I too am considering getting a spare air when I dive next.

 

[Jax]

Nah, I love SV! It's just so darned far from the water . . . [/whine]

 

[RubberDucky]

A couple hours north gets you to the Salt River, and a couple hours south gets you to Rocky Point, Mexico. Both are fun in the summertime Oh, you wanted to go scuba diving? I share your pain of being in a crappy location.

Edit: anyone ever had to use their Spare Air before? RYCO? I'm thinking that the 300 model sounds sufficient for recreational diving. I'm not too keen on relying on instabuddies. That's a pretty hit or miss situation in my experience.

 

[Jax]

A couple hours north gets you to the Salt River, and a couple hours south gets you to Rocky Point, Mexico. Both are fun in the summertime Oh, you wanted to go scuba diving? I share your pain of being in a crappy location.

Edit: anyone ever had to use their Spare Air before? RYCO? I'm thinking that the 300 model sounds sufficient for recreational diving. I'm not too keen on relying on instabuddies. That's a pretty hit or miss situation in my experience.

A couple! Ha! A couple of hours gets us outside of Tucson . . .

You need to surf this site for Spare Air -- make sure you check the block for showing posts, not threads. Everyone here says that Spare Air makes you think you have enough to save yourself. Most have 40cuft pony bottles . . but hey, I'm novice -- I just read a lot!

 

[lulubelle]

Good work OP, being alive is great isn't it

I learned the lesson about servicing too. My reg had been repaired, I checked it out on deck and it breathed OK, but was difficult but not impossible to breathe through at depth (110 ish). I was calm about it though, kept taking slow breaths, and ended up switching to my octo for the rest of the dive.

Ended up getting a new reg, and took it out to the quarry to dive with it before hitting the ocean. Lesson learned.

 

[SkimFisher]

I have thousands of dives. When a reg goes bad underwater, it's all I can do to keep it together. What helped for me is a completely redundant air source. I dive with a 13 ft3 pony with a redundant regulator bungeed around my neck. You might check something like that out next time you're in the shop.

Frank

thanks, i did have a 3 ft spare air, but i also had 2 dive buddys with me. ill get a pony bottle one of these days.

Do you guys not dive with octo's? Or am I missing something? I guess the obvious question is was the problem in the first or second stage? Based on the OP it sounds like the 2nd...

 

[DandyDon]

anyone ever had to use their Spare Air before? RYCO? I'm thinking that the 300 model sounds sufficient for recreational diving. I'm not too keen on relying on instabuddies. That's a pretty hit or miss situation in my experience.

As suggested, the subject. A 3 letter word doesn't search on V-boards but I think if you use "spare*air*" you'll get the hits you need. I think you will see a lot of opposition to them. A 3 cf model is like a spare 112# of a 80 cf tank - better than nothing but not much.

Or listen to the expert: Wookie dives a 13 cf pony; I'd call that the minimum. I looked at the 13 cf but went with the 19 cf as it's very little more money or weight, using the same reg, but 50% more air.

 

[rodman4085]

Rookie diver here...found a kit on Ebay....got it re-built at my local pool/shool shop.....also got my "Equipment specialist" card there....get your equipment worked on by qualified, certified people.....otherwise, who do you want the dive boat to call...your spouse, the hospital, or the mortician.......? I don't want to make those calls.....! or have them made for me!

 

[BKP]

First, always glad to hear it turned out right...

A 3cf Spare Air, isn't going to do squat for you, if you're past your NDL, at 60 feet or greater.

I'm with SkimFisher... where was your octo? Were you having an issue with your 1st stage, or 2nd? If 2nd, what did you ultimately find to be the issue? Diaphragm? Venturi?

Finally, why was it necessary to buddy breathe? Did your rescuers not have octos either?

You're right, in that you need to confirm servicing, and test equipment prior to ANY dive...

 

[RYCO]

Do you guys not dive with octo's? Or am I missing something? I guess the obvious question is was the problem in the first or second stage? Based on the OP it sounds like the 2nd...

First, always glad to hear it turned out right...

A 3cf Spare Air, isn't going to do squat for you, if you're past your NDL, at 60 feet or greater.

I'm with SkimFisher... where was your octo? Were you having an issue with your 1st stage, or 2nd? If 2nd, what did you ultimately find to be the issue? Diaphragm? Venturi?

Finally, why was it necessary to buddy breathe? Did your rescuers not have octos either?

You're right, in that you need to confirm servicing, and test equipment prior to ANY dive...

yes we did have octos. but i used his not mine. i think the reasoning was, we couldnt tell if it was the first stage or second stage causing the issue, but we didnt care. i wasnt going to dive with the bad 2nd stage any way. so we tried to make minor adjustments and then i used his octo to get to the top. im glad i did. this did 2 things. i could try to relax and get to the top on his pace, being that this was my first "real" dive i needed that assurance that i wasnt going to fast and it was comforting to know i was in "good hands" and i just had to worry about breathing and relaxing.

the spare air was just an extra little bit of air. i dont plan on using it as a pony replacement at all.