Help identifying rebreather...

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naimis

Contributor
Messages
134
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Location
Central Texas
# of dives
100 - 199
I was channel surfing late last night before bed and ran across a show on PBS, I believe it was called "Shark Mountain" (actually, it might have been an episode of "Nature").

In the show, at least one of the divers was using a CCR that had spherical tanks and a round scrubber pack (forgive me if my terminology is off, I'm not a CCR diver, myself... yet). The entire rebreather was encased in a hard cover, somewhat like the Inspiration and Evolution rebreathers, but the spherical tanks made it look pretty unique.

Another unique feature they had was an OTS transceiver integrated into the hose, though the only indication I found of OTS doing anything with rebreathers was mentions of a "LAR-5" or "LAR-V" rebreather, apparently no longer produced and what pictures I was able to find of it didn't look like what was being used in the TV show.

I also don't remember seeing any counterlung, but not being a CCR diver myself, I could easily have missed something like that.

Can anyone identify this rebreather? I'm not itching to buy that exact rebreather, it's a matter of curiosity, though I do have a passing interest in the possibility of integrating comms gear into a CCR if I go that route (currently in the plans).
 
I think that's the one, thanks for the link.
 
Biomarine 15.5 is a nice unit with stainless steel gas lines. It was the "rebreather" to have along with the Cis Lunar MK5p. There was a fella on their team using an Inspiration too. These days the 15.5 is old school given the CCR technological developments during the past decade. It is nice though.

X
 
Another unique feature they had was an OTS transceiver integrated into the hose, though the only indication I found of OTS doing anything with rebreathers was mentions of a "LAR-5" or "LAR-V" rebreather, apparently no longer produced and what pictures I was able to find of it didn't look like what was being used in the TV show.
OTS makes an adapter for the DSVs of military for the military. The small gas space of the DSV is enough for their communication, they don't yap around much. For more or less "normal" speaking it's not well suited, though UW any conversations are better kept brief. There are some LAR/OTS pictures on the OTS website.

Pictures of Howard Hall can also be found on OTS' website: Movies 1 and Movies 2

I do have a passing interest in the possibility of integrating comms gear into a CCR if I go that route (currently in the plans).
It's much easier to talk without a rubber bite piece in your mouth, more so if you don't have to make sure said bite piece has to be sealed. Otherwise you'll have water in your loop, not really what you want.

Hence full face masks are most often used with UW comms, and several of them can and have been adapted for use with rebreathers. Larger gas space, less risk of water in the loop etc. Most common are the Dräger Panorama Nova dive mask, the Kirby-Morgan M-48 Supermask and modified Interspiro Divator MK II (AGA mask).

If you do a search here you'll find plenty of infos on FFMs and RBs.
 
It's much easier to talk without a rubber bite piece in your mouth, more so if you don't have to make sure said bite piece has to be sealed. Otherwise you'll have water in your loop, not really what you want.

Hence full face masks are most often used with UW comms, and several of them can and have been adapted for use with rebreathers. Larger gas space, less risk of water in the loop etc. Most common are the Dräger Panorama Nova dive mask, the Kirby-Morgan M-48 Supermask and modified Interspiro Divator MK II (AGA mask).

If you do a search here you'll find plenty of infos on FFMs and RBs.

The sealing issue applies to masks as well. I dove with an AGA mask for a while on open circuit, with an OTS buddy phone, and I had all kinds of trouble with it leaking. I haven't tried any of those others, mind you, but IMO it's a lot easier to make a seal with just the mouthpiece than with a FFM.
 

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