DIR Advantages

[Scubaroo]

Just so everyone speaks the same language, it's BWOD, not BWD.

There's a similar nickname for the Inspiration which is YBOD (which I believe is now socially acceptable reference amongst Inspiration owners - Yellow Box Of Death, in defiance of George Irvine who said they should be sold with a shovel to dig a grave), and OBOD, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Halcyon's old inflator with orange buttons (Orange Buttons Of Death). The last one was created merely to poke fun at a particular ScubaBoard user's second hand Halcyon wing he posted a photo of.

So anything that is considered "stroke-gear" is labelled xxOD. It's all in jest - there's never been hard facts to back up an instance of someone's bungeed wings ever killing them. Although I have seen a near miss

 

[BigJetDriver]

Scubaroo once bubbled...
Just so everyone speaks the same language, it's BWOD, not BWD.

There's a similar nickname for the Inspiration which is YBOD (which I believe is now socially acceptable reference amongst Inspiration owners - Yellow Box Of Death, in defiance of George Irvine who said they should be sold with a shovel to dig a grave), and OBOD, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Halcyon's old inflator with orange buttons (Orange Buttons Of Death). The last one was created merely to poke fun at a particular ScubaBoard user's second hand Halcyon wing he posted a photo of.

Thanks, mate! Glad you explained that one, although I never thought I'd be taught language by a guy from Vegemite-land!!

The acronym "YBOD" actually stands for Yellow Box of Debt, according to the equally infamous Diver Mole!!

 

[RichLockyer]

Scubaroo once bubbled...
and OBOD, a tongue-in-cheek reference to Halcyon's old inflator with orange buttons (Orange Buttons Of Death).

Ya... so I decide to eliminate my OBOD and check one of the online shops and see their ebay auction and online catalog showing a photo of what appears to be the current design.
The Ebay auction has no buy-it-now, so I head to their web site and order one.

A week later, what arrives at my door?

BLACK Buttons Of Death.
:banging:
Same damned design as my OBOD but the buttons are black.

Oh well... always nice to have a backup inflator in the save-a-dive.

 

[SeaJay]

Longtime nosee!

Great to see you back.

I didn't think you could stay away long.

Like you, I've kinda slacked off here a bit... And Wreckwriter's gone.

Maybe he'll come back too.

Oh yeah... To answer your question... Yes. (And I voted that way, too.) As you've seen here already, there's a ton of great reasons why to "go DIR," although I'd also agree that DIR isn't really as much a destination as much as it is a journey.

The bottom line is that DIR's got less to do with gear and much more to do with the mindset and the skills. Read the book, then if things sound good to you, take the class. Just 'cause you take the class doesn't mean that you're DIR... So take it and decide what you want to do after you've seen it first hand.

If you're like the rest of us, you won't care much about who labels you what, and whether or not the "DIR" moniker fits you or not... You'll have simply been exposed to more ideas, some of which may be familiar and some of which you might never have seen before. The point is that you'll pick up skills that you never knew existed... Or expand greatly on what you already know.

Then... If you're still worried about whether or not your buddy is DIR... Come dive with me and we'll DIR together.

 

[ScoobieDooo]

BigJetDriver69,
The idea is this:

BWOD is based on the idea (whether real or imagined) that in the event of a punctured wing/bladder the bungee's will 'force' air out of the bladder and the wing will not be able to provide any lift.

Common sense tells us that this is a possibility - although I have heard many say that the dynamics are such that this wouldn't happen in the 'real world.' They say that external water pressure on the wing would dictate just how much or how fast the internal bladder would dump air if punctured. I'm not an engineer so I can't say for sure.

I own a pair of bungee wings and I can see both sides of the coin.

On one hand bungee's add more complication to a wing requiring bands to be tied at proper tensions (to balance a wings inflation/deflation) and to adjust for horizontal and lateral trim.

On the other hand it MAY help in venting air from the bladder so it does not get trapped. Again, there are those who argue that the bungee's constriction around the wing creates 'loops' or pockets in which air may still be trapped.

OMS states that an independent testing facility has run some tests on their wings ability to be manually inflated and resistance values and on the issue of drag they may impart. They claim there is no negative effect on the wing itself.

Who can say for sure. No one that I know of has died specifically because they dove a bungee wing. There has been cases of stuck inflator's and stuck pull dump strings which has contributed to mishaps (and deaths) but none directly from the bungee's themselves - that I am aware of.

Correct me if I am wrong.

DIR does not support the use of any bungee wing. In their opinion is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

Confused? Welcome to the club!

If I had an extra $200 floating around that I didn't need perhaps I'd so some of my own experiments to see if a punctured bungee wing does, in fact, dump air faster than it could be inflated.

?????

 

[RichLockyer]

ScoobieDooo once bubbled...
If I had an extra $200 floating around that I didn't need perhaps I'd so some of my own experiments to see if a punctured bungee wing does, in fact, dump air faster than it could be inflated.

I know Aquaseal is expensive, but if you're paying $200 you're either really getting hosed or you live in Canada

 

[ElectricZombie]

I dove a bungied wing in the past...before I saw the light...ut:

One day the wing developed a hole in it while diving...a very small hole, not a gash or anything. Even though the bungies were no where near as tight as the OMS ones (They were actually "perimiter bungies" like on a Dive Rite wing), it still quickly squeezed the air out to the point that I could not get neutral or stay up on the surface. A non-bungied wing would still leak, but not enough to really effect the dive.

After this incident happened, I took them off. This could really be a big problem if you were overweighted. So, based on my experience, bungies really are bad.

 

[nkw5]

Scubaroo once bubbled...
Your poll is a little loaded - I would have voted Yes, but, I don't agree with the "it doesn't matter if they are or not" statement.

I think you are totally right about this poll.

 

[Cave Diver]

ScoobieDooo once bubbled...
BigJetDriver69,
The idea is this:

BWOD is based on the idea (whether real or imagined) that in the event of a punctured wing/bladder the bungee's will 'force' air out of the bladder and the wing will not be able to provide any lift.

Common sense tells us that this is a possibility - although I have heard many say that the dynamics are such that this wouldn't happen in the 'real world.' They say that external water pressure on the wing would dictate just how much or how fast the internal bladder would dump air if punctured. I'm not an engineer so I can't say for sure.

I own a pair of bungee wings and I can see both sides of the coin.

On one hand bungee's add more complication to a wing requiring bands to be tied at proper tensions (to balance a wings inflation/deflation) and to adjust for horizontal and lateral trim.

On the other hand it MAY help in venting air from the bladder so it does not get trapped. Again, there are those who argue that the bungee's constriction around the wing creates 'loops' or pockets in which air may still be trapped.

OMS states that an independent testing facility has run some tests on their wings ability to be manually inflated and resistance values and on the issue of drag they may impart. They claim there is no negative effect on the wing itself.

Who can say for sure. No one that I know of has died specifically because they dove a bungee wing. There has been cases of stuck inflator's and stuck pull dump strings which has contributed to mishaps (and deaths) but none directly from the bungee's themselves - that I am aware of.

Correct me if I am wrong.

DIR does not support the use of any bungee wing. In their opinion is a solution to a problem that doesn't exist.

Confused? Welcome to the club!

If I had an extra $200 floating around that I didn't need perhaps I'd so some of my own experiments to see if a punctured bungee wing does, in fact, dump air faster than it could be inflated.

?????

You can do this experiment for free. Try loosening the rear dump valve enough so that it "leaks." That should closely simulate a tear in the bladder enough to see if the bungies cause a problem in that respect. And no, I've never tried this so I dont know what the outcome will be. But if someone really wants to know if the hype is justified that seems a logical way to test it.

In regard to the "solution for a problem that doesn't exist" I may be wrong, but I believe that is more due to a sizing issue than anything else. Meaning that if you chose the correct wing size for your dive, you wouldnt need bungies to squeeze it down. The reason the bungies are used is to increase streamlining. By not using 100lb bladder when you only need a 50lb one would accomplish the same thing.

A lot of people regard the bungies as a way of avoiding having to buy multiple wings for different dive scenarios. DIR advocates using the correct gear for the dive at hand, even if that means owning multiple wings.

 

[RichLockyer]

Cave Diver once bubbled...
DIR advocates using the correct gear for the dive at hand, even if that means owning multiple wings.

Likewise, to eliminate cost as a consideration, all Gavin scooters and all Halcyon wings (36 and up) and both the SS and Alu plates are the same price.

While overall it's not a bad idea... I think charging the same price for a $50 chunk of stainless and a $5 chunk of aluminum is stretching the limits of being reasonable.