Another golf ball diver dead - Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida

[agilis]

All a J-valve does is start your out-of-air crisis 300-600psi sooner than it would have happened without it.

And that's all you need. It's not anything near a crisis with 600 pounds (the typical J valve spring pressure), especially diving in a golf course pond. Relying on J valves during my early years diving helped to reinforce the need to plan the dive.

 

[rx7diver]

2) The yoke is "thin"; rated for old tanks at 2500 PSI. It is not rated for modern tanks at 3000 PSI or 232 bars.

There are a couple of generations of Mk7's. The ones sold in the mid-1980's have a thick yoke that can be used confidently on a 3,000 psig Al 80 or a 3,300 Scubapro (Faber) cylinder. My 1986 Scubapro catalog contains the following statement: "The present day Mk 7 has been modified to accept 3,300 psig supply pressure ..."

In fact, the picture included in your post looks like a thick-yoke Mk 7 (to me)--though I can't be sure from the perspective. (The thin-yokes have a built-in "bend", or "angle", IIRC.)

rx7diver

 

[Angelo Farina]

There are a couple of generations of Mk7's. The ones sold in the mid-1980's have a thick yoke that can be used confidently on a 3,000 psig Al 80 or a 3,300 Scubapro (Faber) cylinder. My 1986 Scubapro catalog contains the following statement: "The present day Mk 7 has been modified to accept 3,300 psig supply pressure ..."

In fact, the picture included in your post looks like a thick-yoke Mk 7 (to me)--though I can't be sure from the perspective. (The thin-yokes have a built-in "bend", or "angle", IIRC.)

rx7diver

I think that the one in the first photo has the old tiny joke. The one in the second photo possibly is the new model, with more robust joke.

 

[Nemrod]

How deep are the ponds/water hazards? Just curious.

A few feet deep, sort of like a swimming pool with zero viz, toxic chemicals, brain eating amoebas and gators. Oh and cottonmouth pit viper snakes. What is not to love!

N

 

[Still Kicking]

Even without a J valve a reg will start getting hard to breathe before it goes hard out of air. And if you can't make an ascent from 20' or less on one breath you werent cut out for the work to begin with.

I have done golf course work (i was on surface supply but still had air issues from time to time). It's nasty and brutal (even without the gators and snakes) but OOA is among the least of your worries. I am betting there were other issues at play.

 

[tarponchik]

Even without a J valve a reg will start getting hard to breathe before it goes hard out of air. And if you can't make an ascent from 20' or less on one breath you werent cut out for the work to begin with.

I have done golf course work (i was on surface supply but still had air issues from time to time). It's nasty and brutal (even without the gators and snakes) but OOA is among the least of your worries. I am betting there were other issues at play.

Sounds reasonable. I was just curious if there are any auto warning devices that could be useful in poor visibility. Being a recreational diver, I do not know much about this.

 

[kelemvor]

Imagine a simple device attached in between the hose and pressure gauge that will sound an alarm when the pressure falls down to 500 Psi. The diver presses the "snooze" button and ends his dive.

Don't most dive computers have haptic alarms these days? I know my Ratio iX3M does. I thought the shearwater computers did as well, but might be mistaken. My scubapro galileo (1) does not.

It shouldn't be that big a deal anyway. If you're diving solo, you'd be a fool to not use doubles or a pony. When I dived at the local aquarium, we used single tank + pony.

 

[crofrog]

Doubles with the manifold closed is always an option too. Breath one tank down, open the manifold and you’re at half your gas. Close the manifold again, breath it down again 1/4 of your gas so on and so on.

 

[Marie13]

Don't most dive computers have haptic alarms these days? I know my Ratio iX3M does. I thought the shearwater computers did as well, but might be mistaken. My scubapro galileo (1) does not.

Only the Peregrine has the haptic alarms.

 

[Uber Dave]

I would be more concerned with nasty flesh eating bacteria in some of these stagnate ponds. I watched a couple of guys dive for balls in N Carolina. The ponds they were in looked ripe with bacteria.