Christian Gerzner wrote:
> 3,500 psi is 238 Bar. IIRC the European standard is 235 bar, not much
> different but different. My point is that, if that is the case, it's
> not the manufacturers (they would not remotely spec to each standard,
> they would spec to the, minisculely, higher standard) but the
> appropriate authorities have a case to answer.
If I calculate right, it's actually 241 bar. I was surprised to find that a
bar and an atmosphere are not the same. The bar is roughtly 14.5 psi and
the ata is 14.7. It doesn't make a lot of difference until you start
getting into the higher pressures. My valves are the same 300 bar ones
you'd find in the UK.
> I get upset if my tanks are not filled to specs, but my tank capacity
> is "only" 7.7 litres (Oh, OK, 2,000 cu ft filled). Then again the WP
> (Working Pressure) of my tanks is 260 bar (3821psi) so any lack of
> fill can be significant (in such a "little" tank).
Yep. I'm more likey to be bothered by an overfill, but I do try to get them
filled right to their rating. I'm easy enough on gas that I don't want
extra gas badly enough to expose my tanks to the extra stress of an
overfill.
> You're taking the tanks with you? If they can't be properly filled,
> why bother?
> Unless you don't want to bother with reconfiguration of your buoyancy,
> IIRC you're pretty keen on buoyancy control.
That's exactly the reason. With my compact 80s, 80 cubic feet at 3,300 psi,
and stainless plate, I'm as perfectly weighted as it's possible for me.
It's hard to describe the joy of being weighted properly and not having to
worry about that extra belt, particularly when you're doing hurry-hurry back
to back dives. There's just about time enough to mark the catch, swap over
tanks and get the used tank started filling before people are setting up for
the next dive. Surface intervals tend to be a bit short, sometimes as short
as a half hour, so you have to watch your deco status and, in my case, my O2
status pretty carefully. Since I pay the extra for 32%, my O2 status is
usually the factor I have to watch most carefully. With my HP-100s, I'm
about a pound and a half more negative than I'd like, making it easier to
dive if I put a bit of gas in my wing at the beginning of the dive.
> I find that rather astonishing. Actually I'm not sure what you're
> saying? Do you mean that just because you use DIN you are not able to,
> adaptors notwithstanding, get proper fills in the timescale?
I'm saying I think that might be the case. There are a limited number of
whips and divers using both air and 32%. All the whips are set up for A
clamp. The mate scurries around like crazy as it is, trying to ensure
there's a full tank ready for everybody's next dive and making her, they're
allways cute young women, put an adapter in mine each time would make it
that much harder for her . . . and me. Then there's the chance of a dropped
adapter going overboard, leaving me with no way to fill my tanks. It's not
so much an issue of can't get a fill, as it is one of conforming to the
standard of the boat to make it easier on everybody.
> Them things is virtually bulletproof. Strike, I'm sure, wouldn't have
supplied
> it otherwise.
As I recall, the dive shop contributed it, but I happen to know that Strike
used to use one himself. Interestingly, it seems to work better now than it
did the first time. Originally, the second stage honked, something others
have reported and Strike has indicated is characteristic of a slight
misadjustment. It's no longer doing that. The first stage is the problem
for me. It can not be serviced here in the States. The second stage can
be. That works out pretty well for present plan, using it on the boat. The
first stage stays dry, extending the period I can get away without having it
serviced. Strike has offered to have it serviced if I'll send it to him,
which I will when I have to, but not until. It's a hassel for me and an
imposition on him which, even though I believe he would be happy to help,
I'll try to avoid until necesary.
> Strike? Didn't ScubaPro release it in the States under License? I'm
> almost certain that they did.
Scuba Pro? There's somebody in California that sells a Sea Hornet, but the
first stages is different. The second stage is the same one I have. I
would be interested in hearing about a US source for first stage service if
either of you knows of one. Strike, perhaps the shop would know?
> I'm (still) one of the people who can properly pronounce his name, as
> he can my surname. ;-0
I suspect I mispronounce both his first and last names, but he lets me get
away with it as long as I don't call him Mike, which on occasion I do
anyway. Language habits are hard to control.
> Sorry, no. The best way I can describe it is that the wing, it IS a
> wing, does not encompass a backplate, does not encompass a DIR style
> "single web" style webbing configuration, DOES use webbing only (no
> silly "comfort" straps to make it even more difficult to sink) but, by
> way of webbing, is relatively "BCD" configured. Does this make sense?
Who knows. It's like pronouncing your last name. I think I understand, but
until I can confirm it, i don't "know" I understand. 8^)
> We've dived these 50 m wrecks for years and years on, shock,
> horror, air and we have no intentions (we're all getting older) to
> "expand the envelope".
My one experience with trimix did not lead me immediately to switch over.
It's hard to describe, but diving trimix provides no change. Diving air, at
least below 100 feet or so, provides a rather pleasant and lazy feeling.
That air feeling is part of what a lot of us enjoy about diving. I don't
find diving on air at the depths I most often dive to, to be a significant
issue and am not likely to change except for some of the deeper wrecks I'd
like to see or for the longer, more logistically complex, dives it takes to
penetrate them. I have not forgotten the "Last Dive" reports of people who
could not remember where they put their deco tanks outside a wreck. I get
the willies every time I think about that.
You still didn't explain your preference for independent twins. I'm still
interested.
> Knowing the DIR attitude to the AIR 2 (they hate it) I suspect that
> your corrugated hose is considerably shorter than mine, by a matter of
inches.
I'm sure it is. It's the standard Halcyon hose and it's shorter than even
the standard one that came with my SeaQuest BCD, let alone the longer one I
used with my AirSource, SeaQuest's version of the Air2. In my opinion, DIR
seems to hate the combination units for the wrong reasons. They keep saying
that they are inferior regulators. There was nothing inferior about mine.
It breathed as well and was as reliable as any regulator I've ever owned.
On the other hand, the Oceanic version, which fits the wings most DIR divers
are using, was trash. Maybe that was the source of the issue. I gave it up
because it doesn't work with my configuration.
> There was a time, not that long ago when I actually wrote about this
> activity publicly, when I commented that I was pretty much against
> SCUBA and the taking
> of game. In accordance with your comments above I've since revised my
> "take" on this matter. I am still, however, totally against
> spearfishing *competitions*, whether on SCUBA, or not.
I've never been in one, but I understand your concern. Let me ask, though,
how do you feel about hook and line competitions? I really don't have a
position on either. I enter fun hook and line competitions my club puts on
once in a while. The fish are brought back and given to the club which then
uses them for a post tournament dinner, free to those who contributed, a few
bucks for those that didn't. The point being that everything that is caught
and kept, is eaten.
> Ahhhhhh. "Visibility".
> How, how do we define that? ;-))
The same way we define correct pronuciation of your name and Mika's, by
whatever standards we apply. In my case, I will dive when I can see the
reef clearly at 25 feet or more. Anything less than that and I find
someplace else to dive or wait until things improve enough so that I can. I
carry at least one light at all times, just for looking into holes. More
often I carry both scout lights, which are backups for night dives that are
occasionally a long way from shore. They're on the shoulder straps and,
generally, it's easier to leave them there than to remove them when I do
daylight dives. This year, I'm probably going to leave one or both of them
on the boat for my spearfishing trip, using an ACR light/strobe as my safety
light, i.e. the one that will get me found in the middle of the ocean 40
miles from the nearest land . . . at night.
Lee
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