DIR lesson 1

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>Okay then. I'm interested and here to learn.

I have a fairly unusual rig presently, which is a transition between single cylinders and an inverted twinset (inverted because I could never reach valves behind my head due to injury).

It is a transition merely because I haven't got the money to by a full twinset rig all at once.

I've already adopted a long hose for my main DV with the secondary necklaced. As soon as I saw it , it made perfect sense.

My next move will be to buy a harness/backplate/wing etc. I would need to be able to use it with single cylinders for the time being, before getting a first set of twin7's. After that, I'd need to use it with both until I got a second set of 7's.

Is there something that meets my needs that would also be DIR. If so, what? And if that, why is it better than the alternatives? What about it makes it DIR and why?

[Lanny]

Hi Mark,

How serious is your injury? &nbsp;My left shoulder is fairy inflexible due to an old rugby injury and I can still shut my valve, admittedly with a bit more effort than my right. &nbsp;If you can touch your second vertebrae (a bit below your neck) without a suit on, then you can do shutdowns. &nbsp;The limiting factor is likely to be the inflexibility of your suit.

To dive DIR with a twinset you need to be able to do shutdowns. &nbsp;The single tank Hogarthian rig is very comfortable and streamlined however, and the great thing is that the system is modular, so you can use the same backplate and harness for both singles and twins. &nbsp;If you get the Combro plate and rig the harness yourself it is very cheap in comparison to other systems. Wings are fairly pricey, but you can get a single tank system for less than most suposedly &quot;technical&quot; BCDs.

Hope this helps,

[Mark Davies]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Lanny @ Aug. 31 2003,23:47)]How serious is your injury?  

<font color='#000080'>Bad enough! When I first tried out a twin rig I couldn't reach the valves wearing a T-shirt, let alone my dry-suit!

Could I do some stretching exercises to improve my reach? Yes, perhaps. But it would take a hell of a long time and I'm no spring chicken anymore. Life's just too short.

Inverting the tanks provides an instant solution and I see no problem with it. It's not DIR because it doesn't fit the pattern, but as long as my buddies are familiar with it I don't see any intrinsic faults.

So, can the Combro plate be used with inverted tanks, twinned or single?

[Phil Ennis]

<font color='#0000FF'>Mark, I can't reach the valves out of the water either. Once in the water it is a different matter. If you haven't taken the plunge with the inverts allready then hang on and try again with a backplate. Not that I am saying there is anything wrong with inverts before I upset 2 Tanks and others.

If you are ever heading up to Capers then PM me and I can always sort something out for you, weekends are out as usually I am too busy but if you can make it midweek I can sort backplate harness wing and some sevens. Let me know if you are interested and give me a bit of notice, wednesdays are usually good as it is late night aswell. &nbsp;

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>Thanks, Phil.

A kind offer which I'll certainly take you up on. Midweek suits me best aswell. I'll be in touch.

Another point about SS backplates (which I presume the Combro is). A few weeks ago I dived with Andy2Tanx who had a SS backplate. One of the screws through the plate punctured his suit - result, elephant legs. Very funny for us, less so for him! Though Andy said it had never happened to him before, and presumably not a regular event, it struck me as being inevitable, none the less. It seemed to make sense to have some kind of back pad to prevent this.

Is this DIR or not?

[Mark]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Mark Davies @ Sep. 01 2003,00:47)]Is this DIR or not?

<font color='#0000FF'>Nope, having bolts that are too long is obviously not DIR &nbsp;

Regards,

Mark.

[Dominic]

There's a V-shaped channel in the backplate that SHOULD be deep enough for your bolts to lurk in so they don't touch your drysuit.

The Combro plate can handle inverts as easily as uprights, there's no practical difference from the plate's point of view..

There's no DIR solution for one wing that does twins &amp; singles, you'd need two wings.

[Davey Willo]

Hi Mark

Do me a favour mate and reach back behind you with either hand and touch your spine.. how far can you slide your hand down your spine?, I'll bet even with your injury you'll still be capable of reaching to at least your second vertebrae and as Lanny said, if you can do that then you can reach your valves.. honest guvnor!

When I got my twinset I couldn't even get close to my valves.. I had to get my buddy to turn my air back on after an instructor had turned off my primary during a course... very embarrasing

Now at that time I thought I'd never reach, I thought the problem was physical and that I just wasn't flexible enough, I knew that I couldn't progress my training until I could reach my valves and so decided to sell my perfectly good Oceanic Aedura and then had a made to measure suit from Otter.. result... I can shutdown my primary in seconds and can reach all three valves with no problem at all, infact during dives I've trained myself to keep reaching back and manipulating all three valves while repeating to myself &quot;It's open, I can close it, It's open, I can close it, It's open, I can close it&quot; This also helps to develop the muscle memory so that I can hit the valves toot sweet if I need to.

Selling a perfectly good suit may seem a bit rash but if that suit proves to be restrictive then it's a much better option investing in a new suit then it is completely bastardising a perfectly good hogarthian rig to make up for problems with a drysuit.

Once I sold my Aedura it cost me an extra £200 to get my new suit.. I imagine thats not a lot more than buying valve protectors, custom hoses etc and the end result is my rig is the correct way around...

The point of this post is don't give up Mark, I'll just about guarantee that with the correct amount of flexibility in your suit and your harness set up properly then you WILL reach your valves....

Good luck mate

Dave

p.s. I do have a link to a dive fitness website with lots of pictures of shoulder stretching exercises because I believed I needed them.. but once I got everything configured as it should be there was no need for the excercises.. for me anyway.. when I get home I'll post a link

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>Well Dave,

Yes I can reach the second vertebrea, so from what you say I shouldn't have a problem.

But my inability to reach my valves has nothing to do with my suit. As I've said above, I couldn't reach them even when only wearing a T-shirt! It will have something to do with the set-up, I guess. Hopefully I can get that sorted by trying the rig that Phil's got for me.

[Dominic]

Did u try it underwater? As has been mentioned, the weight of the twins pulls them too far down to reach when standing up, you need to be in the water to reach the valves.

Failing that, are you sure the cylinders were mounted high enough? Divers have a tendency to wear their cylinders far too low..