Alternate Air Source and BP/W set up

[Doppler]

I doubt very much that the OP is still diving. He had six dives when this post was originally opened and has posted twice in those many years... Seems odd to revive it.

 

[DevonDiver]

Unfortunately, very few divers ascend horizontally. I for one can't even recall seeing the technique EVER.

It's a matter of training... and most recreational scuba instructors don't have the capacity or time to get students to this level of ability within the short duration of an OW course. Either that, or they simply aren't motivated to refine skills beyond the bare minimum dictated by their agency.

I see divers doing horizontal ascents all the time, but then I dive with people I've trained... or generally more advanced divers are attracted to the area that I work in.

Ascending horizontally isn't a tech specific skill - it's just an application of good buoyancy skill and precision control.

ND4466, unless you've had the rare good fortune to be trained this way, I'd reconsider the halcyon rig. If your inflator gets stuck during an ascent, all you've got left is the rear dump which over 95% of divers are not trained to use properly.

There's no issue with any diver working to develop and refine their own technique in this way. There's plenty of excellent divers who self-taught themselves to have precision buoyancy control.

This is a good starting place:



Also, I am not sure what you mean by a 'stuck inflator'. In 19 years of diving I've never seen, nor heard, of an LPI that jammed and would not dump. I've seen a few that jammed on inflate - but the skill to deal with that is taught on OW courses. Often it is not taught properly though.

You don't need a shoulder dump to deal with potential runaway ascent caused by a stuck inflator - it is far more effective to raise the LPI and let the air run straight out of the exhaust there, whilst you disconnect the inflator - than it is to let the air into your BCD and then try and exhaust it with a dump-valve.

You've only got a few dives under your belt, so it's likely you're still tweaking the basics. Stuck inflators are one of the few gear problems I've seen a lot, both personally and with my students. It can be a major annoyance, and bloody dangerous. I'll prefer to have that shoulder dump very much, thank you.

As said - using a pull-dump to deal with excess buoyancy from a stuck inflator is in-efficient and quite likely to fail in preventing an uncontrolled ascent.

Try using the LPI exhaust to directly vent from a stuck inflator - you'll find that it is no longer either a "major annoyance" nor "bloody dangerous".

There's other perfectly great BP/Wing setups that do have shoulder dumps. DiveRite. I think Oxycheq too, though I can't locate that info on their website. You can compare them to the Halcyon rigs... the new OxyCheq Signature Series bladders seem to be quite popular.

No, Oxycheq don't have shoulder dumps. Neither do any of the current range of Diverite single-cylinder wings (Travel Exp, Voyager Exp or Voyager Pac BCD). Neither do DSS, OMS, Frog or ...... Most single-tank wings don't have shoulder dumps.

The reason is: you don't need a shoulder dump. It is an equipment based solution to compensate for a skills based issue.