DIY Buoyancy Compensators / Wing / Air Cell

[Captain CaveMan]

Try it i am always up for DIY. try it in the pool for hours and make sure it works. How do you all think some of our gear was first made. do you think it just poped up and it was trust worthy. trial and er. have fun and take pic's. im always looking into make something or make it better.

 

[FatRob]

Diver Rite direct sell the bladders for 70 bucks or so... just sew up a pocket out of ballistic fabric to put it in....

Not worth it if you consider the effort.. but if you're in it for the fun of DIY then go for it....

You could also use a car innertube, make mechanical bolt clamps to seal the ends tight, or use brake hose clamps, and use vulcanised rubber or mechanical fittings to make the couplings...

Everything is possible.... doesn't mean it will work, or won't...

 

[Cold_Under_Here]

An inner car tyre tube would make a cool donut wing....I can't imagine it being too difficult, you would need to add an inflator, dump valve and some method of attaching it to your plate (a nylon cover/sleeve..?). Inner tyre tubes are pretty tough, they are designed to hold 1-2 tonne cars while filled with compressed air (differential).

If I had a pool in my backyard, I would try and build one but not use it for open water...but that's just me. After seeing people design and build homemade rebreathers, this does not seem that whacky. I have even found an article on a bloke who made a rebreather using an inner car tyre as the breathing bladder....eck!

Let me know if anybody is crazy enough to build a homemade BC.

cheers!!

 

[FatRob]

Diver Rite direct sell the bladders for 70 bucks or so... just sew up a pocket out of ballistic fabric to put it in....

Not worth it if you consider the effort.. but if you're in it for the fun of DIY then go for it....

You could also use a car innertube, make mechanical bolt clamps to seal the ends tight, or use brake hose clamps, and use vulcanised rubber or mechanical fittings to make the couplings...

Everything is possible.... doesn't mean it will work, or won't...

Quoting myself (how naughty!)

Actually it should be easy enough to procure the kit to vulcanise innertube rubber...

Captain Caveman said it best: Cheers to you for getting it!

Rob

 

[DJ Johnny Mac]

I've recycled many items into totally different uses. But never dive gear. Cost has always been a factor when I have built something... of course it usually cost me more than buying the item by the time i get it right. The DIY in itself is fun though. Just keep this in mind; Dive gear is nothing less than life support equipment. Make sure it is right before you get it wet. Good luck.

 

[Thalassamania]

Many years ago we built a BC of sorts by making a wetsuit that had a double layer torso in the jacket. An inflator and a dump were installed and it worked rather well.

 

[DJ Johnny Mac]

I've recycled many items into totally different uses. But never dive gear.

Great, now I'm even quoting me.


Sorry, I lied. I did once build my own pony bottle mount.... cost was the issue there. Turned out very nice. Six months later, one of the big companies released one just like it. At the rate of manufacturing R&D to final product, they probably had the same idea for months before I built mine.

 

[deepdivered]

wow this is a good idea. i would love to built a back plate and wing. i will think about some ideas and mabby i will do it. i have meany tire tubes and some metal i can use for the back plate.

 

[FatRob]

Of course road signs are the traditional source for backplate materials...
Some ballistics cloth, some webbing, some grommets, a zipper, an inner tube, add a power inflater hose assembly... should do the job, oh and a few hours on the sewing machine, If i get a few spare hours i might just have a go...

Rob

 

[deepdivered]

if you do let me know how it goes