My "new" independent doubles setup

[John C. Ratliff]

So I pointed out that this setup is patently absurd. And arguably dangerous.

While I lack the decades of experience of the person who invented this batty nonsense... I do have decades of experience. And, I'd safely venture, many more dives and bottom time despite my comparatively shorter age. Some of those dives spent pulling people wearing nonsense out of trouble as a buddy and some as a professional.

And my post got deleted.

I suppose saying, "Don't dive nonsense" is too negative?

Some of us, using diving fatality data, would say that rebreather diving is "patently absurd."

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I read through to page 6, then skipped ahead to post this into your thread. I have also expereminted with independent doubles connected by a Scubapro A.I.R. I regulator. It works very, very well. Scubapro, in their "Technical Manual for Scubapro Regulators," stated that for the Pilot regulator (predecessor of the A.I.R. I),

The low pressure hose is connected in a right-handed configuration normally. It may be connected in a left-htanded or double hose configuration to meet the direv's needs. Double hoses may be connected to the same 1st stage or to two separate 1st stage regulators for additional air capacity for deep diving or just for added safety.

I wanted to see how it would work, and it worked very well. I used the Scubapro Mk5 first stage for one side, and a Dacor Olympic and MR12 first stages for the other side, as I could match exactly the interstage pressure of the Olympic/MR12 first stage with the Scubapro first stage. The Olympic and MR12 are diaphragm first stages, which is easy to set the interstage pressure on by simply tightening the nut over the HP spring. I used this for several dives, and liked it. By the way, the orange tanks are twin steel 52s, with a rating of 2100 psig, manufactured by U.S. Divers Company. They replaced my AL50 doubles when their threads became a safety issue.

I did not have the redundancy that AfterDark has on his set, in that I could not turn off the LP lines like he can. But that did not bother me for the type of diving I was doing (shallow, river diving).

SeaRat

 

[happy-diver]

So funny…
View attachment 676386

Did someone say bendsamatic

View attachment 676389

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Now the Bend-O-Matic I can service

And here are the ceramic tissue replicating filters

and they worked

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!

Magnificent feeling looking artworks!


and like all dive gear 'Compulsorily User Adjustable!"


Buy new less brass more arse

 

[KenGordon]

Interesting configuration.

Do you have a replacement second stage somewhere?

The point of independent twins/doubles is, like sidemount, they're completely separate and fully redundant. Ignoring the long-hose debate for a moment, having two regulators bungeed on necklaces would mean you've a fully redundant system with simplicity at it's heart.

Add a single longhose to the mix and you can tell which reg you're breathing from as one has a bolt snap.


I've had a bit of a personal issue with very non-standard configurations ever since I was sitting next to a guy on a boat with a ridiculous monstrosity of a rig: a twinset with a ponied (as in mounted on the side of the twinset) 7 litre (55cf ???) deco cylinder. To all of that was three sets of recreational regulators with 'console' gauges and a "slob-knob" remote control for the isolator valve. I spent ages looking at it to work out what the heck was going on.

He died. We suspect he didn't turn his gas on.

Please be careful of esoteric equipment configurations.

Edit: Ah, now a thing makes sense.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

My brother and I had similar creations... tad more complex... somehow got a Scott air pac. Tried using the full face mask with hip regulator... that doesn't work worth beans even if you remove the positive pressure spring..
But my dad has a lathe. Surely and old tire tube shrader valve, a pipe for barrel and half a old plastic yo yo. Machined it up... tire tube for a diaphragm and basically built an old Poseidon reg. (Never saw one before).
It did work... but terrible work of breathing.(like a straw).
Half the fun was building it...
When we did get proper gear.. we had to make our own canister lights mr13 bulbs abs pipe, hose barbs,cable and spark plug boots... we definitely got better on the lathe

I had a fire department fire chief ask me to evaluate the Scott AirPak underwater, and found the same thing you did, but I also told him about the visual distortion of the lens—it was awful.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

What would happen if you just connected the two first stages together with an LP hose? Then you could use a regular 2nd stage and not need a double hose single hose reg.
You would have to crimp on another male connector and make a custom hose but it would work. You’d also have to figure out how to spin the hose on without twisting it all up since in order to twist both on one would have to be left hand thread. You could pre twist it then spin it on and maybe it would be untwisted when both sides snug up?
I’m still trying figure out what you set up.
I didn’t read all the responses, sorry if this has already been mentioned/

It’s actually easier than this, to connect the two first stages. The AMF Voit MR-12 second stage seat can be reversed. This means that you can use it as a connector for two LP lines too. So you don’t need to crimp on another male fitting, just use that seat to connect the two lines.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

The A.I.R. 1 is also that's why I'm using it for this project. Did you think its use was an accident?

The A.I.R. I was originally supposed to be a second generation Pilot regulator. It was to house the Pilot mechanism, but Scubapro decided to instead to use an in-house mechanism for the A.I.R. I. The two innards are interchangeable.

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I never used inline switches, as for me it has always been very easy to reach the valves behind my head. But I understand that for people with limited shoulder mobility the usage of inline valves is THE solution.
I did envy a lot the Pilot of my friend Marco, but at the time I was absolutely broken.
Even purchasing my second MKV was a big effort, I did this only after an event where the main valve did close hitting the ceiling of a tunnel, and I ended OOA, buddy breathing the single reg of my girlfriend (which luckily was more cold-blooded than me).
We are currently yet using those regs, together with their twins which we purchased after that accident.
Also Marco still owns the Pilot, but he is not using it since decades. It was very difficult to service it properly...

Marco,

Please show the following thread on our Vintage Scuba Supply (VSS) website, as it includes not only the history of the Pilot regulator, but also the complete service manual. I’ve found the Pilot not at all hard to service, and it is mostly available O-rings that would need replacing.

https://vintagescuba.proboards.com/thread/4963/scubapro-pilot-regulator-came

SeaRat

 

[John C. Ratliff]

At the time the Air-1 was released, a number of Pilot users "upgraded" their regs, installing the parts of the Air-1. So you had an Air-1 with metal case!
I made a similar thing on my 109s. As soon as the BA was released, I upgraded my 109s with the balanced poppet...
And upgrade after upgrade, my 109s are now using parts of the G260.
SP regs have always shown this upgradability, which is great in my opinion.

According to Tony Christianson, the inventor of the Pilot regulator, the “upgrade” to A.I.R. I internals was actually a downgrade.

SeaRat

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

Marco,

Please show the following thread on our Vintage Scuba Supply (VSS) website, as it includes not only the history of the Pilot regulator, but also the complete service manual. I’ve found the Pilot not at all hard to service, and it is mostly available O-rings that would need replacing.

https://vintagescuba.proboards.com/thread/4963/scubapro-pilot-regulator-came

SeaRat

Waiting on my first Pilot purchased from Scubaboard member. Do you know if the pilots poppet is interchangeable with a D400?