Advice for regs on "DIR" doubles

[KOMPRESSOR]

I've drifted into diving with doubles, since I got to use my friend's set of doubles on my Eclipse for a week (Small and slim doubles). I have decided to move up to a double 12 liter steel rig (cold water diving), and have some question regarding choosing regs.

I have two complete sets of Aqualung Legend LX Supreme. One is in use by my wife and the other I use on my single tank rig with a 7 ft LP hose. I also have a complete set of Poseidon Cyclon 5000. All sets are equiped with yellow octo's, but they will not be used since I will not have anyone grabbing my own back up reg.

My thought, although not so much time spent on studying the DIR philosophy, was to have the Cyclon 5000 on the left post, and have that as my back up. Maybe it won't look as cool as two identical Legends (withouth the plastic wrapping!), but then the Cyclon is "bomb proof", where as the Legend is very easy to breeth.

What do you think?

 

[rescuediver009]

Not completely sure, but I am pretty sure that the Poseidons are not DIR as the cannot be disassembled underwater. I think that the legends may be a better option.

 

[Soggy]

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=106510&highlight=poseidon
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=116485&highlight=poseidon
http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=45042&highlight=poseidon
http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16011

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Go with the set of Legends. Tell your wife you'll get her something special!

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

I dunno you guys....
That "hockey puck" maybe isn't the easiest breather in the class. But as far as I know, it always delivers.

I extracted some of the words in the "Doing it Right" book (J.J.) about second stages. The advice is to consider a balanced 2. stage as a primary, and an unbalanced as secondary. The reason being the unbalanced being the least liable of the two to have a failure. (-And the balanced is the easy breather of the two.)

To follow up on this logic, I'd say that the Cyclon 5000 (2 years old and even newly served) is the least likely of ALL regs to have a failure. What could then be wrong with having it as my left post/back up reg?

And I would certainly not start opening my 2. stages under water, or even consider going into a cave or a wreck for that matter.

 

[Vie]

There’s an interesting thread re Poseidon reg & DIR on TDS:

http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16011&highlight=Poseidon+DIR

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

There’s an interesting thread re Poseidon reg & DIR on TDS:

http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16011&highlight=Poseidon+DIR

Well, I'm not logged in there. If you'd care to bring some of the info you've seen over to this thread I'd appreciate it!

Reidar

 

[Doc Intrepid]

Reidar,

It isn't exactly a law carved in stone. The essence of the philosophy is to think things all the way through, and carefully review your decisions - in advance - from as many emergency response and dive planning perspectives as possible. Take what you need and what makes sense for the environment. Don't take gear that has no rationale for where you're diving, or the circumstances under which you're diving.

Remember though, that things don't always go as you intend.

You may likely wind up using five regulators: left, right, EAN50, O2, and Argon. If one of them craps the bed right before a big dive, you'll need a sixth. It's happened to me at least twice, and these are well-maintained regs. Things simply happen sometimes. You'll either borrow someone elses standby reg, or use your own, or perhaps move your argon reg to one of your backgas posts, or find some other clustery solution.

Or thumb the dive, which might be the smartest solution.

The point is that having five or six of the same regs can work in your favor when you suddenly and unexpectedly need to revise your logistical planning.

It also works in your favor for maintenance - especially if you service your own regs, and have parts lying around. Six dives ago one of my buddies lost one of his deco regulators at ~240 fsw. Fluke failure. During the ascent he pulled his O2 reg off and used it on his EAN50 bottle, then removed it just before the 20' gas switch and replaced it back onto his O2 deco bottle. He had to rebuild both regs after the dive. Fortunately he's a tech - but as he owns six of the same regs, he has all the parts and tools to work on them himself. Cuts his operating costs.

So...do whatever makes sense to you with your regs. But continue to work at thinking it all the way through, and making decisions based on all the various contingencies that you may have to work through. And remember also, that whatever you dive with isn't yours alone. Your stuff goes into the pot of gear available to the entire team to solve problems with. It becomes team gear. My buddy, when his deco reg crapped out, solved his own problem - but there were three other divers on the hang line with him, all of whom offered numerous other potential solutions. There was no need for concern. Do your gear planning as a team, also. It makes life easier when you may need to use something being carried or used by another team mate.

Dive safe,

Doc

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

Hey, thanks Doc! I appreciate your time spent writing this!
-Yes, I do consider the points you make. And if I were to buy a complete set up I would certainly go for something like a DS4 + ATX50's. However, I'm not (yet) in a "team", and don't know (yet) how this will take me, further into my diving (after more training). As for now I've just made 60 dives this year with an Eclipse, and experienced the wonders THAT offered to my diving, after 10 years of standard BCD diving. ( = Miracles!)

And after 12 dives with a borrowed set of doubles, I've found my path for future diving. I've been diving since '94, and thought I had become "experienced". Suddenly I feel like a novice again, and I like it! So much more to learn about diving, and so much more fun to experience

Maybe I'll let my wife try the Cyclon's, or maybe I'll sell both the Cyclon and one of the Legends to get some DS4/50's. I dunno yet...

 

[KOMPRESSOR]

Darn... The Cyclon set (with mano and octo) will sell for the same price as a NEW DS4 + ATX50...

What to do... What to do...