Is Deep Sea Supply out of business

[rhwestfall]

I will comment that with your component desires, the last person you would have wanted to talk with is Tobin from DSS....

 

[JohnnyC]

I will comment that with your component desires, the last person you would have wanted to talk with is Tobin from DSS....

This might be the most true statement on ScubaBoard.

 

[lexvil]

You may want to look into the scubapro hydros, the people I know who use them love it, I don’t want to be tied to a corporation and it’s whims for parts but it looks like a great rig.

The point of a BP/W is that you can make it work any way you want it to, there is a point to the standardization of some “groups” but you may do what ever you wish.

If you want quick release on the rig you can add it, if you want an octo/inflator use it (I use the atomic version) I have had 3 shoulder surgery’s so I actually have two realeases on my cold water rig but never use them, I have them for the quick length adjusters that are part of the strap, I used them the move my back plate lower on my back (making them longer) for diving the Kraken reg. Now that I have the freedom plate they really serve no purpose, the FP has a sweet spot that makes adjustment impractical.

You also don’t have to use a one piece harness, they have their place and are wonderfully simple but it just doesn’t fit me, I also carry lead on my waist belt so I find my set up using “T” bars work very well for supporting the weight.

You don’t have a lot of time to play with the rig before your trip so if you went the BP/W route you may be inviting frustration but in the long run you can have it exactly the way you want it, or go with a hydros you may find it perfectly suited to you and you won’t have to make many decisions since it is what it is.

Diving should be enjoyable.

P.S. I hated the DSS wing because of the center hose position.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

A few reasons on the air 2
One is streamlining our regs one less thing to deal with from luggage to the water line. I may not think that if I ever have an issue and have to mate with my partner on an ascent I think that’s minimal and I hope never needed.

Lastly the people I dive with most I can state for a fact every single one if them there secondary air regulator has come loose and is either dragging the reef or sand or one if us us jacking with it to get it hooked back up. Never dove with anyone regularly that it hasn’t happened to. Not saying it happens all the time but it happens enough. Especially when lobster diving. Never an issue with air 2.

Plus I’d have to buy another regulator if I don’t get it with the new rig. Personally I like it a lot.

Air2 has many issues that have been discussed in great lengths on some other forums. In order for it to vent the BCD, corrugated hose has to be lifted up above your head and vented. Now, how will you achieve that in an air-sharing situation if the same hose is going in your mouth as an octo? Are you going to take it out of your mouth, stop breathing momentarily and raise it above your head so that it can vent? Once it has vented, it stops being a BCD hose because now it is back in your mouth. Both functions need to be performed at the same time but it can only perform one function while stopping the other. Imagine doing this circus in a real out of air situation with a panicked diver.

An umbrella is easier to carry into an airplane than a parachute. Now, we do not measure the effectiveness of an emergency device by how convenient it is when it is not deployed. Instead it should be determined by the convenience and ease it offers while it is fully deployed. When an out of air situation happens, that means your dive buddy is about to die. Seriousness of that situation should precede any ease or convenience it offered prior to when "$h!t hit the fan" ya know

Sorry for taking this thread off track. Getting back to the topic there are plenty of BP/Wings in the market that are of high quality. I use Dive Rite for my doubles and Oxycheq for my singles. They are both quality products except I like Dive Rites customer service way more than Oxycheq else out there. I have never used Deep6 wings but I own their drysuit and have used their regulator and it is a company that offers very high quality gear at an affordable price with great customer service. I wish they made a doubles wing with 60 lbs of lift.

 

[cerich]

To answer one question. I do want a salesperson to walk me through the purchase top to bottom figure out my sizes and shove it in a box and ship it to me. If that makes me lazy then i am. Now no one that knows me will ever tell you im lazy on any level. I have however never put a backplate on and the likely hood of being able to do so without just buying one is pretty slim. I do want something that performs better than my jacket and I am actually happy with my current BCD. So i have high expectations and I dont want to be wrong because I started ordering components that may or may not work right together I dont have time for many errors before this trip.

I also get the technical mechanical desire side of building your own set up, one thing I have is enough hobbies being a master creator of dive gear isnt that high on my list today. I do have a pretty solid mental picture of how everything works after watching as many videos as I have but none of this means anything until Ive tweaked one to fit me perfectly which is the ultimate goal here for me. I could care less if some shop set me up with everything I need if I can fit this to me better than any thing ive ever dove in before. Thats what has my interest.

I also am more interested in new over used. Cost isnt a big issue I also want air2 or what ever brand name they want to call it, weight pockets on the plate and waist belt. No interest in a belt or weight harness system what so ever. One thing that is critical for me is shoulder release of some kind I have issues with my left shoulder the action of removing a BCD can tweak it out some cars seat belts get me as well. I need to extra space a release of some kind here produces. Which rules out some harnesses completely. Im actually concerned about the action of picking up a crotch strap and getting the belt through it but ill figure that out im skilled at working around this problem as long as I have enough movement in what ever im taking off.

this is pretty much a grand plus or minus with all the things I want up front id like to get it right. Id really like to walk in some place and try a few on first as well so I may wait now until I head to Florida in march. Thanks

nobody is going to be able to get you properly sized and a BP/Wing adjusted based on a phone call. A Bp/w , especially, with one piece harness is something that you totally need to be there to get it set up.

 

[lexvil]

I have dove with people afraid to take a regulator out of their mouth but I can’t even imagine the problem of taking an air 2 out to vent and putting it back, we used to “buddy breathe” even with a double hose which is a bit tougher than operating an air2.

 

[tbone1004]

@CAPTAIN SINBAD the corrugated hose does NOT need to go vertical, or above your head. The outlet only needs to be placed above the bubble in your wing. This is about mouth/ear level if you are vertical. Fun fact, when making a vertical ascent on OC, if you hold the button on the inflator while it is "down" and raise it up until the gas just starts to come out of the inflator. At this point, if you hold the inflator in that position, it will auto-dump and maintain the bubble size. Your breathing will allow you to maintain an ascent rate without the bubble running away or seesawing. I can't stand it when I see people pulling inflators up over their head. Seen too many rip from bending.

 

[rhwestfall]

As the hijack is up and running in regard to Alternate combo-inflators:

The Air2 (specifically this item by ScubaPro) is a component of a total system. Note that the ScubaPro BC (or at least every one I have seen/used) has a pull cord dump on the shoulder (or chest in the old days) that served as the dump. The inflator can and will work with breathing and inflating without having to do anything special. It is also quite easy to use a pull-to-dump style elbow with integral cable to dump with the device in your mouth. I did this for a long time and never had an issue....

IDK - as @lexvil also points out with things like DH and single hose buddy breathing, maybe we were just better divers back then....

 

[johnkendall]

Call Extreme Exposure in High Springs, talk with Kyle or Dan and explain what you want, they will happily sort this all out for you. Even better if you can visit them while you're in Florida and they will sort out fitting it to you as well.

HTH
John

To answer one question. I do want a salesperson to walk me through the purchase top to bottom figure out my sizes and shove it in a box and ship it to me. If that makes me lazy then i am. Now no one that knows me will ever tell you im lazy on any level. I have however never put a backplate on and the likely hood of being able to do so without just buying one is pretty slim. I do want something that performs better than my jacket and I am actually happy with my current BCD. So i have high expectations and I dont want to be wrong because I started ordering components that may or may not work right together I dont have time for many errors before this trip.

I also get the technical mechanical desire side of building your own set up, one thing I have is enough hobbies being a master creator of dive gear isnt that high on my list today. I do have a pretty solid mental picture of how everything works after watching as many videos as I have but none of this means anything until Ive tweaked one to fit me perfectly which is the ultimate goal here for me. I could care less if some shop set me up with everything I need if I can fit this to me better than any thing ive ever dove in before. Thats what has my interest.

I also am more interested in new over used. Cost isnt a big issue I also want air2 or what ever brand name they want to call it, weight pockets on the plate and waist belt. No interest in a belt or weight harness system what so ever. One thing that is critical for me is shoulder release of some kind I have issues with my left shoulder the action of removing a BCD can tweak it out some cars seat belts get me as well. I need to extra space a release of some kind here produces. Which rules out some harnesses completely. Im actually concerned about the action of picking up a crotch strap and getting the belt through it but ill figure that out im skilled at working around this problem as long as I have enough movement in what ever im taking off.

this is pretty much a grand plus or minus with all the things I want up front id like to get it right. Id really like to walk in some place and try a few on first as welll so I may wait now until I head to Florida in march. Thanks

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

@CAPTAIN SINBAD the corrugated hose does NOT need to go vertical, or above your head. The outlet only needs to be placed above the bubble in your wing. This is about mouth/ear level if you are vertical. Fun fact, when making a vertical ascent on OC, if you hold the button on the inflator while it is "down" and raise it up until the gas just starts to come out of the inflator. At this point, if you hold the inflator in that position, it will auto-dump and maintain the bubble size. Your breathing will allow you to maintain an ascent rate without the bubble running away or seesawing. I can't stand it when I see people pulling inflators up over their head. Seen too many rip from bending.

Agreed. If you are ascending in horizontal trim then "above the head" may not be the best term to describe where the hose should be kept for venting. Your above description does far greater justice to the scenario than "above the head." Nevertheless it would not be in the users mouth and that is why this air2 business is pretty shady. I have asked an instructor to demonstrate an airshare from 60 feet while she was wearing an air2 and she did not take me up on it. She openly agreed that "It is not a very user friendly device when it comes to demonstrations but when an emergency happens then there is adrenaline and there will be other people around you!!!" Yup an Instructor!