Not Halcyon but DIR OK?

[Hogloop]

Ah, it is that time of the year when we all are hoping to get a little something extra is that not so ?
I am hoping my family are taking my hints about to do more diving and will be giving me money intead of more books so that I may buy new dive kit.
But I looked at Halcyon prices ! Too much for my little pockets, but what other cheap kit is OK for DIR.

I am liking the prices for apeks TX regulators and I know these are approved of, and am of course getting these with long hose so I can be like my nickname   but is AP Valves Tekwinggood for DIR?  It has not the "bondage" straps and looks to me very minimalist and the price is very good I think for we students.

Also I am thinking that I want a lightwait BCD for travelling both back to Switzerland for holidays and for my year out when my studies are completed.

Also, how does one dive in the DIR manner when one travels? It may be that you cannot pick your dive buddy so how do you dive safely with divers not à la mode with DIR ?

Salut!
Pierre

[Dominic]

The Tekwing as-bought is non-DIR - plastic backplate, over-long corrugated hose, pull-dump on hose, clips on harness, suicide bottle...

On the other hand, if you replace the horrible plate & harness with a steel or alu plate with a decent harness, get a non-dumping elbow for the corrugated hose, shorten the hose, order it without the bottle, et al, you wind up with a wing that the DIR mob will snigger at for being non-Halcyon but can't actually complain is stroke gear

[chrisch]

I have to say I like this bit of kit also.  The mini bottle is wierd - why do they even think of such a thing I have yet to see a (display) wing in a shop with one fitted - I don't think anyone that would buy a wing would buy such a stupid device.

Like many divers I am not DIR but I like to steal the odd idea...

What is the issue with the length of the inflator hose??  You can disable the pull dump easy enough so while you are at it chop a length of pipe out...  Just curious what the thinking is as I had not come across this bit of DIR before.

Chris

[Dominic]

The mini-bottle is a carry-over from the days of ABLJs with no direct feed - inflation was done orally, they added the bottle so you could surface in an emergency. It's an anachronism that should have died out long since.

The issue is that it reaches almost down to waist level - it's a total PITA. DIR calls for the corrugated hose to be just long enough to reach your mouth, and no longer.

One of the first things I did to my Tekwing was to replace the dumping elbow with a proper non-dumping one (it was too bulky, caused problems with the twinset) and chop about half of the hose to make it a manageable length.

So long as you have no problems with the idea of modifiying your kit, the Tekwing is a great buy. I couldn't recommend anybody use it as it comes tho..

[Dominic]

P.S. An article I wrote a whiel ago about the Tekwing & what I did to it:
Tekwing mods

[Kate R]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Hogloop @ Dec. 21 2003,17:16)]Also, how does one dive in the DIR manner when one travels? It may be that you cannot pick your dive buddy so how do you dive safely with divers not à la mode with DIR ?

<font color='#000080'>isn't that exactly what you're not meant to do?! &nbsp;

[Mark Davies]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (Kate R @ Dec. 22 2003,15:37)]

isn't that exactly what you're not meant to do?!  

<font color='#000080'>Rule number 1, I presume?

Well, Wetlettuce came to Anglesey with us a short while ago. He was the only DIR diver but still got wet, so I'm sure not all DIR divers follow the code that strictly. Perhaps Andy could give his point of view on this? Do DIR divers always travel in pairs for instance?

[Tim Ingmire]

AIUI, the DIR phil. is not to dive with strokes ie. someone with a very dangerous / cavalier attitude to their diving. &nbsp;But then, Ben and that helmet...

[Mark Davies]

<font color='#000080'>Ah but Tim, Andy did dive with Ben and The Helmet, which clearly disproves the point.

[Gavin Yates]

<font color='#000F22'>Don't call me The Helmet !!!