Prepared to be shot down here but...?

[Pete Bullen]

So I was wondering, I live and dive on Gozo, shore entries/exits and scramble over rocks is the norm, boat dives the exception, so mostly I think that a rebreather plus bailout is overkill for the sort of mostly recreational depth dives we do but maybe there is a way to make them practical for me.

In my uneducated world keeping it simple is the way forward and most of the time OC works fine for me, good dive skills get me close to the fish most of the time but there is no escaping the fact that once in a while if I wasn't blowing bubbles I could either get closer or stay closer for longer, I'm also keen to avoid the weight issues of full size bailout plus unit.

So is there a unit that I could dive with say a couple of 5l bottles,, dil and O2 with a BOV such that I could dive it alpinist or is the CO2 hit too high a risk?
Would I be better off with a unit with 2 x 3l bottles and maybe a 5l slung underneath as a bailout?

I want to avoid adding the 12ltr bailout hung as a stage, if I was going to do that I'd be just as well off just diving a 12lt single OC.

I want something with a HUD, I mostly dive with a camera so a visual indicator of status is important, and that I can build up hours/dives fast, remember I dive a lot, 350 to 450 dives a year so getting hours on a unit isn't an issue. I need it to be reliable, easily managed and flown and I don't want it to break the bank either?

I've done a couple of try dives on different units but curious to see what the "experts" armchair or real world, have to say.

[jamesp]

Draeger?
They used to be popular with fish botherers.

[Pete Bullen]

Draeger?
They used to be popular with fish botherers.

Yeah I was wondering about SC too but don't know enough about them

[DiverMike]

An inspo in a frame or a JJ. Unless you are doing deco you'll not need a 5l of O2. Or if you are doing no deco dives and don't mind filling the 3L cylinder for every dive an inspo with a BOV will give you access to your on board gas (you'll be no use for your buddy though) and you have the best part of 550l of air to get you to the surface. Couple that with a reg on the O2 side and depending on what they fill O2 over there you have a few hundred more L of O2 for your safety stop at 6.
If you want to be a good buddy (as a photographer??) depending on the depths a 3l or 5l cylinder side slung or case mounted will provide more gas for your bail out (meaning you can get a days diving or possibly a weekends out of your 3l dill cylinder) and a gas source for your buddy.

[fibre]

Yeah I was wondering about SC too but don't know enough about them

The Draeger still blows bubbles - ok, not as much as OC but its not particularly silent. The diffuser helps with this.Best part though is no electronics and basic mechanics so it takes a lot of abuse.

I used to dive alpinist on my draeger (and run with mixes outside of the set jets) until I did a hard surface swim against a current. In general, as long as you can hear hissing, its usually good but in this case the jet couldnt keep up with the breathing rate and the O2 level in the bag dropped to 14% before I bailed. My wireless aladin was my saviour and I was still on surface so I just dropped the mouthpiece. After that I always used a 3l on the side as bail out.

Nowdays I never dive with out a side tin. If you went CC with a JJ or an inspo with gbox, you could fit what tanks you like on the sides and use OCB off the dil but that would be bulky

[ebt]

drager spares are a sod nowadays, although tecme still have some. On the bright side that does mean you can pick them up for pennies There are quite a few sidemount ccr's/scr's now if you're set on the idea.

Personally I wouldnt dive any ccr without bailout, especially for shore diving where when it goes wrong you might need to put in a lot of effort suddenly.

[MrPOman]

"In my uneducated world keeping it simple is the way forward and most of the time OC works fine for me, good dive skills get me close to the fish most of the time but there is no escaping the fact that once in a while if I wasn't blowing bubbles I could either get closer or stay closer for longer, ."

What fish
Is this the same Gozo thats in the Med

MrP

[Paul Evans]

Personally I wouldn't dive any ccr without bailout, especially for shore diving where when it goes wrong you might need to put in a lot of effort suddenly.

What Zac says, there are some really hrmmm..... Awkward entries and exits where lots of effort can be de-rigueur........

On the other hand there a lots of dives that are perfectly suited to a unit and I would have no dubot would make your photography even more rewarding. I think its a case of the right tool for the job on the right site in the right conditions......

Personally a unit with a Al40 or a 7 pulled in tight would work? Pathfinder with two 3's and a 40 slung would be my choice for Gozo.

http://www.megccr.com/rebreather-pro...er-rebreather/

Not cheap But small and perfectly formed

[String]

Id first ask what you want your bailout FOR (no, put the pitchforks down....).
Do you want a bailout that would allow you to perform the ENTIRE dive on open circuit assuming a unit failure right at the start of the dive? Or do you want a bailout to get you 15-20 mins or so gas to finish an already started dive and then surface?
If its the former then you'll never with with a rebreather.
If its the latter that's what i do. Assuming we're talking recreational profiles here with non deco dives and a sensible SAC rate an AL40 / 7l stage will work. I can easily do most of the dive (if not all of it) on a 40 if needed. The once ive had to bail with 10 people following me the 35 mins or so of dive remaining were easily accomplished on my AL40 which is light tucks up out of the way and unobtrusive. If its a more serious issue like a CO2 hit a 40 is still going to have more than enough gas to get you to the surface from recreational depths on a no-deco profile. A 3l or so in my view certainly wouldn't.

In reality a bailout on a tame recreational dive is a rare event - probably not a lot higher chance than a random OC gear fail so its not like its going to happen a lot (or shouldn't at least).

As for units, id say forget SCR. They still bubble, you don't get any NDL benefits over a proper nitrox mix, you have 1 big inboard tank AND still have to carry a bailout. The ghostbuster hollis units we see are horrible. CCR units if you want small and easy to clamber over rocks avoid some of the beasts like full size megs, JJs, inspos etc. Something with 2l tanks and a small scrubber is fine. The Evo, micro rEvos or similar will do the job in a neat small package and still be good for 4 hours or so warm water diving.

CCRs are great and awful for photography in my world. Yes no bubbles, you can lurk for ages, massively extended NDLs etc. But not being able to use lung control to fine tune buoyancy to frame a shot and adjust angles takes a LOT of getting used to. I do tend to cheat and use the ADV and nose venting at times to do this.

As for a HUD i find my vision HUD obtrusive when i have the camera. The thing gets in the way of my eyepiece when im trying to look through it so quite often ive got the thing rotated down out of the way and just get into the habit of checking the handsets after a sequence of shots. Each to his own though. A bigger person/smaller counterlungs or different design may help that.

[MikeF]

Scrambling over rocks and shore and down to 60m mostly no stop or limited deco it has to be a pathfinder with say a 4 or 5l bailout. Or a JJ.

Inspo is a good unit but big and heavy in comparison.