"Complete Wreck Diving" (manifold vs independent)

[wedivebc]

That being said, if you are always solo and need absolute redundancy and have no hope of a buddy being there to provide you with gas if your numbers hit in the bad luck lottery, I think independents might be the way to go.

So why would a method that makes you safer in a solo situation not be preferred in a team situation. If independant double minimizes the chance of an OOA situation then maybe it should benefit team diving as well.

 

[daniel f aleman]

So why would a method that makes you safer in a solo situation not be preferred in a team situation. If independant double minimizes the chance of an OOA situation then maybe it should benefit team diving as well.

"...not be preferred in a team situation."

Depends on the dive profile; in a wreck, there is no such a thing as a "team situation". It's all about problem management, instructor. Now, for cave diving... or deep diving... problem management is different.

 

[Soggy]

So why would a method that makes you safer in a solo situation not be preferred in a team situation. If independant double minimizes the chance of an OOA situation then maybe it should benefit team diving as well.

What hose do you donate? Do you have two long hoses? What is a more likely situation

1) Needing the gas in both tanks
2) Having a catastrophic failure that drains a set of isolated doubles

 

[Soggy]

Depends on the dive profile; in a wreck, there is no such a thing as a "team situation".

Nice theory. Thankfully you are wrong.

 

[daniel f aleman]

No way Soggy. I dive wrecks with a buddy, using a buddy system, each of us with the attitude and equipment choice that we are both diving solo. Buddy diving will not satisfy redundancy, especially gas, in wreck penetration. Dive harder wrecks, you either get it or you don't.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

"...in a wreck, there is no such a thing as a "team situation"."

Daniel,

Could you please elaborate on this point a bit?

You differentiated wrecks from caves...what is the basis for your differentiating between the two overhead environments?

Thanks,

Doc

 

[JimC]

That being said, if you are always solo and need absolute redundancy and have no hope of a buddy being there to provide you with gas if your numbers hit in the bad luck lottery, I think independents might be the way to go.

You have to ask yourself what is more important...having access to all your gas in the event of a common failure or saving half your gas in the event of an highly uncommon failure.

You can have your cake and eat it too. On sidemount, you can pull a regulator off a stage/deco bottle/buddy/h-valve to access the gas in the 'failed' sidemount. You also gain all the nice bits about having two completely independent systems AND it's not like its difficult to slap a long hose on one of the tanks to share (about 1/2 remaining) gas with a buddy.

What hose do you donate? Do you have two long hoses? What is a more likely situation

Stick a long hose one one tank, doesn't mater witch. The tanks should be withing a few hundred psi of each other, so now you each have somewhere around 1/2 the remaining gas, and enough to exit.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Doc, there is no one answer to your question, but many. This is from New Jersey Scuba Diver where the authors describe wreck diving as compared to that of cave diving and solo versus buddy. The general attitude is somewhat derisive of cave and DIR, but they do offer some fundimental challenges of both overheads, and how they are different:

http://www.njscuba.net/gear/trng_07_buddy.html

http://www.njscuba.net/gear/trng_08_dir.html

 

[wedivebc]

What hose do you donate? Do you have two long hoses? What is a more likely situation

1) Needing the gas in both tanks
2) Having a catastrophic failure that drains a set of isolated doubles

All members of the team are configured the same. What failure could cause the loss of all gas? No need to donate a long hose if everyone has sufficient gas for the entire dive.

No need to bring in isolated doubles. This discussion is about independants which have no common failure point.
Proper gas management using rule of thirds will ensure each diver will always have sufficient gas to complete the dive even in the event of a total failure of one side of the system.

 

[loosebits]

Very good read Daniel. Thanks, that's exactly what I've been looking for.