Doing AN/DP with FFM, Realistic?

[tbone1004]

Looks like Oceanreef now has a dual tank valve for the same purpose. Looks to be very similar in operation to the Sartek at nearly half the price, which for Oceanreef is saying something because they're gear is still pretty spendy. Downside is it's only compatible with up to EAN40.

DUAL TANK VALVE - OCEAN REEF Diving

it's low pressure, doesn't need to be O2 clean.
Advantage to Sartek is theirs is much lighter so you can put it directly on the face, vs having to clip off somewhere. @Lake Hickory Scuba did a video on their youtube channel on the Oceanreef switch block.

 

[rjack321]

Looks like Oceanreef now has a dual tank valve for the same purpose. Looks to be very similar in operation to the Sartek at nearly half the price, which for Oceanreef is saying something because they're gear is still pretty spendy. Downside is it's only compatible with up to EAN40.

DUAL TANK VALVE - OCEAN REEF Diving

The other minus is there's no way to confirm and verify what you are breathing! I would look at something like have the RB80 guys do switches, but its fairly complicated for a beginning tech diver. I don't have any pictures of that but I'm sure someone here could share some.

Above and beyond the FFM for the OP, how is gas going to be shared with a buddy? As soon as you have something other than primary donate life gets pretty complicated for verifying gas shares.

 

[JonG1]

I used to dive an IS ffm in the 90s and used it for a lot of deep air and nitrox deco when it was more acceptable.

I used 12 litre independents linked via a switch block, each 12 had a different knob on the block, I would use a third then switch.

Nitrox, usually 50 percent, was tapped into the body of the block but isolated at the tank valve, so no option to get it mixed up with back gas.

Obviously diligence is required in terms of the 50 percent but all diving requires diligence, it could have been backed up with a flow stop but served me well for a long time.

No instructor involved mind, courses were half mask and reg and then we made up creative ways of working with our preferred gear set ups.

It was a very comfortable option especially for deco, I don't actually think I had any redundancy either for 2nd stages but there was no social media so no one knew.

 

[tbone1004]

The other minus is there's no way to confirm and verify what you are breathing! I would look at something like have the RB80 guys do switches, but its fairly complicated for a beginning tech diver. I don't have any pictures of that but I'm sure someone here could share some.

Above and beyond the FFM for the OP, how is gas going to be shared with a buddy? As soon as you have something other than primary donate life gets pretty complicated for verifying gas shares.

that's part of why I started the primary donate thread because of CCR's and their complications. If I was doing something with a block, it would have a second stage on every bottle for half mask use instead of the UTD idiocy of a second stage with a QC6 in the pocket. That's not a great idea IMO. OOA sharing would be from the stage bottle.

@ChuckP what did John say?

 

[ChuckP]

that's part of why I started the primary donate thread because of CCR's and their complications. If I was doing something with a block, it would have a second stage on every bottle for half mask use instead of the UTD idiocy of a second stage with a QC6 in the pocket. That's not a great idea IMO. OOA sharing would be from the stage bottle.

@ChuckP what did John say?

He had a befuddled look on his face, he didn't say no but said it'd be a challenge that'd be something to talk about and problem solve the way you'd approach it.

We have weather coming in and our dive schedule is compressed trying to get the dives in - lots going on in between dives.

I'd email him, John Chatterton <jbchatterton@gmail.com>, start the conversation about it. He's very reachable, very open minded. He's just John, some old fart that's dove a lot and happens to teach, slightly outside the box.

I'll say this though - today was tank roulette with swapping deco tanks.......

 

[decompression]

that's part of why I started the primary donate thread because of CCR's and their complications. If I was doing something with a block, it would have a second stage on every bottle for half mask use instead of the UTD idiocy of a second stage with a QC6 in the pocket. That's not a great idea IMO. OOA sharing would be from the stage bottle.

@ChuckP what did John say?

FYI......that work around (second on a QC6) hasn’t been part of the program for about 6 years. I think we’d all like to forget it.

 

[tbone1004]

FYI......that work around (second on a QC6) hasn’t been part of the program for about 6 years. I think we’d all like to forget it.

Get AG to update the used car salesman videos on youtube pretty please... I know it went out of vogue a few years ago, but since nothing "new" has been posted, it still appears to be the current way of thinking.

 

[PfcAJ]

Get AG to update the used car salesman videos on youtube pretty please... I know it went out of vogue a few years ago, but since nothing "new" has been posted, it still appears to be the current way of thinking.

“Thinking”

 

[JohnnyC]

“Thinking”

 

[kensuf]

The other minus is there's no way to confirm and verify what you are breathing! I would look at something like have the RB80 guys do switches, but its fairly complicated for a beginning tech diver. I don't have any pictures of that but I'm sure someone here could share some.

The training that someone goes through to become an RB80 diver is a little more thorough and intensive than the training someone gets in a typical AN/DP course. I believe the pre-reqs to be accepted into an RB80 course are:

GUE Cave 2 certified
GUE Tech 2 certified

Plus a whole mess of experience (well, 25 post tech-2 tech-2 level dives).

That's just to register for the course.

The equivalent with other agencies is full cave, full trimix, and a whole mess of experience. That's a lot more than simply signing up for AN/DP.

My point in this is that what an RB80 diver does to manage switchblocks comes on the heels of probably several years worth of experience and training. Not your typical diver profile there.