Inverted or Not - That is the question?

[diving_moose]

Hi and thanks for all the advice regarding the wing and i have finaly made the purchase and opted for the rec wing with twin 10's. Now for the next thing i have read the debate on manifold open/closed and have decided to have it one turn open and use one primary reg, no reg changing or opening of maifold etc. But i have read and seen people with the cylinders inverted an wondered what this is all about and what the benefits are.
Also i want to perfect the art of deploying my smb from depth and wanted any tips on how people do this the best. Maybe a silly question but thought i would ask it anyway.
Cheers Lee
Ps anybody have any idea were i can get cargo pockets for my drysuit at a good price.

[Stu Sheridan]

Hi moose,

Divers Warehouse for the pockets, kit form inc glue, about £25 each.

As for deepwater DSMB deployment, it's exactly the same as shallow but you can fill your bag with just a breath or two. Practice, practice, practice in the shallows.
Only deploy your bag deep if you have to. The more line out - the more chance of a snag/tangle.
Remember the current. If you deploy at 40m, the current moves the bag downstream. IIRC, the hippopotamus is the longest side of a triangle so you can easily end up with 65m of line out.

Work out a system that suits you. A bud of mine has his bag and reel stowed together with a loop of bungie to keep it neat. All clips pre-attached, just slip the loop and blow. Works 4 him.

I prefer to keep my reel on a hip ring with my bag in a thigh pocket. Works for me.

How to fill it? Well, depends on your preference. I use exhaust gas and find
this best but some see this as an entanlement hazard and prefer to use the secondary reg (Octo). I think the smart money is on self inflating blobs. Those who have em seem to love em.

As for twinverts, if you cant reach your valves, with practice, then this is the way to go. It requires the odd longer hose and a valve guard but slob knobs are a no-no as far as i'm concerned.

Stu.

[Steve S]

Hi DM,

you will probably get loads of advice from people saying don't invert but I am yet to be swayed by any reason as to why we should not.

If you can reach all your valves then all well and good if not invert.

To invert you will need a valve guard of some sort a 2m hose for your main and your occy hose for your spare reg [necklaced] also I brought a long wing direct feed as I was not comfortable with the hose under my arm.

Andy 2tanx put some pictures of his rig on the boards if you can't find them I will have a go.

At the end of the day loads of divers dive twins and are not able to reach the valves by themselves so they are basically diving a very large single not good I cant comment on slob knobs as I have never used one but Nigel has one and once it came unscrewed and would not work.

Good luck whatever path you choose and if you want more info or to meet up and have a gander at my rig let me know.

Safe diving,
Steve.

[Dr Stevil]

inverts, the only way to fly... if you don't believe me ask Daz SteveS, Andy2Tanx, Mattbin, FionaB, the Royal Navy, the Fire Brigade...

[daz]

Originally Posted by Steve W

inverts, the only way to fly... if you don't believe me ask SteveS, Andy2Tanx, Mattbin, FionaB, the Royal Navy, the Fire Brigade...

Seems like I'm no longer a member of the tufty club

It worked really well though when I was diving inverted.

Daz

[Mark Chase]

Nothing wrong with inverts except the minor additional expence and the minor additional hassel rigging the sets. Apart from that they are the future. ALL moddern design diving equipment puts the valves at the bottom (Except the RB80).

ATB

Mark CHase

PS I dont use inverts (yet CCR on the way)

[Narked@50]

I like the sound of inverts but when I looked into it I found "good" valve guards (ones you can stand you tanks on) hard to find, advice from stores was litteraly unobtainable (I did try DW but Andy was on holiday and the advice I got was poor). There is also the hastle of access to your regs for kitting up/off and trying to get fills if you leave the wing in place.

I do understand the advantages, but if you can reach your valves and do shut downs the advantage is minimal. So no, I'm not against them, I just decided to try it the "traditional" way first and if I have problems, it's an easy step to do the invert. Win - Win.

James

[And]

Originally Posted by Mark Chase

Nothing wrong with inverts except the minor additional expence and the minor additional hassel rigging the sets. Apart from that they are the future. ALL moddern design diving equipment puts the valves at the bottom (Except the RB80).

ATB

Mark CHase

PS I dont use inverts (yet CCR on the way)

Erm,

Rebreathers are not a modern design Mark. I doubt that they are 'the future' either. The vast majority of dives are done in warm places with rental gear by holidaymakers. Having them use rebreathers would undoubtedly prove disastrous and also make 20 mtr 45 minute bimble more complicated than it is worth. You are only considering your own technical diving, which is only a tiny fraction of the actual diving market. Open Circuit will be here for a long time and IMO will always be more popular than rebreathers.

Andy

PS Inverts? Nah, I can reach my valves, and when I wear three stages, I can still reach my valves. Also, if my buddy has a problem with his valves, I'm not looking up his arse, and with some of my buddies, thats a reason in itself

[wilbo]

Originally Posted by Steve W

inverts, the only way to fly... if you don't believe me ask Daz SteveS, Andy2Tanx, Mattbin, FionaB, the Royal Navy, the Fire Brigade...

Club!

[wilbo]

Originally Posted by narkedat50

I like the sound of inverts but when I looked into it I found "good" valve guards (ones you can stand you tanks on) hard to find, advice from stores was litteraly unobtainable (I did try DW but Andy was on holiday and the advice I got was poor). There is also the hastle of access to your regs for kitting up/off and trying to get fills if you leave the wing in place.

I do understand the advantages, but if you can reach your valves and do shut downs the advantage is minimal. So no, I'm not against them, I just decided to try it the "traditional" way first and if I have problems, it's an easy step to do the invert. Win - Win.

James

James,

I had the same reservations about the valve guard.. I asked the CD guys at the LDS and also a couple of other people (like NigelH on the rebreather forum + http://www.nigelhewitt.co.uk/diving/rig.html).

They are strong enough to stand the set up, no problem.. I wouldn't try bouncing them though!! ;-)

My only gripe with the CD 'halo', is that they need tightening every few dives.. but then that just gets done as part of pre dive maintenance..

I did look at the NAS ones but they looked a bit restrictive around the valves..