What does the future hold for rebreathers?

[Houseplant]

Originally Posted by SoggyFox

depends on your diluent, if its air its just like breathing off a normal cylinder but smaller..

in idle moments when my mind drifts to projects that i'll never do anything about, i was thinking that a 7 litre diluent cylinder would give a more realistic bailout option for recreational depths at least.

[BJ]

What do you do if you are diving OC with a single tank and one regulator (people often do) and you have a failure? (I did two weeks ago.) If you get CO2 poisoning on a CCR you are unable to think, so you'd better make sure everything is OK before you hit the water.

[SML]

Dont really want to reply as I'm doing my MOD1 in a couple of weeks but you should always have enough bailout either on OC or CC if the shit hits the fan.

[wreckweasel]

Originally Posted by Sipadan

in idle moments when my mind drifts to projects that i'll never do anything about, i was thinking that a 7 litre diluent cylinder would give a more realistic bailout option for recreational depths at least.

I dont tend to post much nowadays, since usually its subjects that have been done to death, but today Im working on something really dull, so.....you could carry a 7L side slung with its benefits;

- Can split the weight for carrying.
- Its always full and you're not tempted to 'stretch' things because you cant be arsed/are too tight to refill your dil.
- Comes in handy when you need to hammer something *cough*
- Is fully independent from your RB (1st stage failure wont spoil your day)
- Can be passed off to a buddy/random who needs gas.

To be honest swimming a 7L around is a piece of piss. Theres no denying that alpinist is cleaner/more fun, but then so's free diving.

[AlanP]

I have just been reading about this, and it looks really cool and a really positive step.

Will watch this with interest POSEIDON - The Ultimate Dive

[Cussy]

The original question is what will the future hold. Surely a big advance would be CO2 monitoring (if it doesn't exist already).

I've looked at the Poseidon. The idea of a RB for my kind of diving has some appeals, but I rarely go below 30 and have never gone below 45, so many of the RBs on the market would be like cracking a walnut with a sledge hammer for me. As an underwater photographer there have been many occasions where I've seen something good right at the end of the dive and I have to miss out as air will become an issue. Although saying that most skippers I use want a maximum of an hour and that's usually the limiting factor.
Rob

[SoggyFox]

more full face masks and auto-bailout, CO2 or prolonged high PPO2.

[Drmike]

Originally Posted by Sipadan

with my limited knowledge, diving a RB without bail out would scare the hell out of me.

with my extensive knowledge diving a RB without bail would scare me too


An rb is not the right tool for shallow recreational dives. It adds considerable unecessary risk, complexity, cost and hasle.

yeh yeh yeh you can get close to fish and you can look cool and sexy - but is that really worth the added risk?

On average there one death every month on rbs!

If you think carry a bail bottle is a pain try dragging an rb around prepping it just for bimble dives your buddies are doing on a single tank

[Okeanos]

Originally Posted by Sipadan

Bear with me as I have very little knowledge of rebreathers, but what if something like flooding the loop or electronics failure happens or you get a feeling that something isn't right (CO2?), what do you do without bail out? Do you have time to get to the surface?

These are genuine questions by the way, I'd just like to know more

In the case of total failure you breath your Diluent, this is enough to get you to somewhere safer i.e. to your buddy or to/near the surface from a no-stop dive. I have a reg on my Oxygen too, so I have 3L or air and 3L of Oxygen for bailout on no-stop diving. If I intend to go into deco, I take an extra cylinder suitable for the max depth I am diving to. I have an Ali 40 for 40m dives, then Ali 7's for long 40m and up to short 60m and Ali 80's for deeper. I will always have the dil and oxygen on board as a last resort in case my side slungs run out.

[nigelH]

Originally Posted by Sipadan

Bear with me as I have very little knowledge of rebreathers, but what if something like flooding the loop or electronics failure happens or you get a feeling that something isn't right (CO2?), what do you do without bail out? Do you have time to get to the surface?

3 litres is masses provided you don't hang about.
On the YBOD you stuff the AutoAir wing inflater in your mouth, signal <me><problem><up> to your buddy and go. You probably have enough for a safety stop.

Back when I started putting a reg on the O2 was common so once you got to 6m you always had gas for a stop. People don't seem to do that now.
As I say I only carry offboard bailout for serious deco. I'm not going to sling tanks if I don't need them even if something breaks.