Bardo and Boris sitting in a tree... ;)

[Bardo]

My buddy has been diving a Boris for over a year now and is constantly trying to badger me into getting one myself. Now despite my DIR-leanings, I'll admit that I'm definately starting to look at a CCR as 'the way to go', purely from a gas logistics point of view.

Now I've always really liked the KISS as it's probably about as close as you can currently get to a 'DIR friendly' CCR but the Ouroborus is clearly a different league again. Designed by reknowned technical diver Kevin Gurr, the Boris is an extremely well thought out unit that gives a whole new meaning to 'fail safe' and redundancy - in a nutshell, it seems Kev has thought of just about every 'what if' situation a CCR user could encounter! The Boris is built like a Sherman tank too - comparing the build quality of the Boris to something like an Inspiration is like comparing a Bentley to a Ford Escort!

Now by my own admission, I'm no CCR expert so my opinions of the unit are those of a CCR layman. There are aspects of the unit's design that I've never really like - namely the horrible Custom Divers wing and harness which, I'm led to believe, even CCRB are now changing in favour of a OMS wing. I haven't seen the OMS wing they're planning to use on the Boris but anything will be an improvement over the Custom Divers wing that's currently in use!

Knowing what a Halcyon fan I am, my mate thought he'd make the Boris a bit more Bardo friendly by fitting his Ouroborus with a Halcyon Explorer wing and a standard Hogarthian harness. Now this isn't the first time I've seen a Halcyon wing on a Boris - Phil Short has a 60lb Evolve wing on his Boris - but it's the first time I've got to dive one with a Halcyon wing for myself! Now a Halcyon wing will not go onto a Boris without a couple of minor modifications - mainly, it's neccessary to cut two 'L'-shaped slots into the wing to allow the over the shoulder gas injector blocks and the handset & PO2 displays to be routed around to the diver but this is a fairly simple and straightforward modification that anyone can do.

Once we'd sorted out my weighting (too much weight made the unit difficult to trim out and kept pushing up the loop volume), the Boris was surprisingly easy to dive, even for a non-CCR diver like myself. Whilst I found the VR3-style operating software a little too complicated for its own good (despite having it explained to me *twice*, I still couldn't get the unit to change set point!), the unit itself was a pleasure to dive. Obviously bouyancy control takes some getting used to if you've never dived a rebreather before but the Halcyon Explorer and its 'over the shoulder' inflator gave me a real 'comfort zone' feeling that allowed me to just get on with flying the unit rather than struggling with my own bouyancy.

Would I buy one? If I had the money, yes. Unfortunately, the £8250 asking price is a little too rich for me but who knows - maybe one day when my lottery numbers come in! I'd certainly *love* to own and dive one as it's a very well thought out and solidly put together unit that's clearly aimed at the more technical rebreather diver. Whilst the Boris will function perfectly happy on a 30m bimble, it doesn't take a CCR expert to see that - thanks to its radial scubber and mission critical design - this unit is geared towards the more adventurous exploration-level trimix depths. Even if you're not diving the Britannic on your day off, though, the safety and redundancy that is the cornerstone of the unit's design will clearly benefit any diver...

To say I'm smitten would be an understatement!

[Ken]

Interesting Boris stuff on RB world related to covers and such:

Boris floods - Rebreather World Forums

[Steve L.]

Where was the photo taken. It looks a bit like Cromhall Quarry

[Rick Huggins]

Omg

[divingniknaks]

Knowing the 2 involved I would guess Vobster but it's not green and murky so maybe not

Good write up Jason.

.

[Simon TW]

Interesting to note you used the words "fail safe" Boris isn't as reliable as they would have you believe nor is it built like a tank, it breaks just like any other.

[Howard Payne]

Someone get Rick a glass of water, I think he's melting
I think Iani might have one going cheap shortly Jason!
They sit awfully tall on your back don't they? Spose it's the small downside of back mounted counterlungs?
Gotta try everything once - although after seing Ian's experiences on the thing - I think Boris might be some way down my personal "must do" list - in between incest and folk dancing

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Howard Payne

Someone get Rick a glass of water, I think he's melting
I think Iani might have one going cheap shortly Jason!
They sit awfully tall on your back don't they? Spose it's the small downside of back mounted counterlungs?
Gotta try everything once - although after seing Ian's experiences on the thing - I think Boris might be some way down my personal "must do" list - in between incest and folk dancing

I had a call from the factory today, my unit's scrubber dome, OPV and hose ends have been replaced, Phil Short will test the unit on Wednesday and if he's happy then I suppose I'll give it another go. I still think it is an excellent CCR, I just think that this unit was a lemon, let's hope the new parts sort the problem.

Ian

[daz]

Originally Posted by divingniknaks

Knowing the 2 involved I would guess Vobster but it's not green and murky so maybe not

Good write up Jason.

.

Definitely not with that vis.

Where was the picture taken Jason?

Got to be honest that picture makes the unit look huge.. can't see the opportunities for squeezing through littles gaps as easy on the boris...

Having said that, most of the RB units look huge to me

Daz

[wilbo]

Originally Posted by Bardo

JASON!!!! YOU'VE GOT A BIG BLOODY SUCKING TICK ON YOU!!!! Boy - thats gonna leave a mark...

But seriously..

You splitter.