Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
For those folks that dive Monterey regularly and frequent Glenn's Aquarius II on the breakwater, he's carrying my Freedom Plate now.
Maybe some of you have been curious to know what it is. Well, now you can go in and look at it, feel it, touch it, and he's going to get one set up as a loaner/rental so you can actually go out and use it to see how you like it before you buy.
The price is the same as Scuba Toys, or from me for that matter. It doesn't matter where you get one they're all the exact same price. For now you will need a few of your own accessories like a wing, but we're working on getting the complete rig ready for rental soon.
While I was down there I did a few dives at the Breakwater. The Breakwater is the Breakwater what can I say, but I enjoyed it very much never the less, especially after such a long surface interval.
First dive I used just a LP 95 with a 1 1/2" inch green cotton old school harness with stainless bands holding the harness to the tank, a double hose, an oval mask, no plate and no wing.
If any of you saw one of those weird vintage divers out there yesterday it was me. I went along the breakwall and cut off the dive around 40 minutes because I had no J valve on that tank. Even though the reg starts to breath down steadily harder as air runs low, I had gone clear out to the end and back anyway. I saw one of the fattest perch I've ever seen. He must have been several pounds, I don't know, but he was huge. When I got back to the truck I put a gauge on the tank and still had 1000 psi, so I drained it out and put on the J valve and rod I have been saving for it.
Second dive I used that set of doubles that I have been talking about set up with a Freedom Plate. I have it set up with a 35# OMS wing.
I used a modern reg on this dive.
I started at the beach, went out around where all the classes were, dropped and headed straight over to the big pipe. I followed that out and hit the fields, boy a lot of jellies. I managed to weave my way around them without getting nailed. I found the pipe again, then took a reverse heading and went back to the breakwall. When I hit the wall I took a left and went out again all the way close to the end then back in. The dive lasted about 70 minutes on twin 72's.
The twin set worked great. If anyone ever wants to try it out let me know and we'll make plans to get it to you. The only thing is there's no isolator on the manifold. The center post is a third K valve for placing a double hose on. But there still are regular posts on each tank. All three posts are 200 bar DIN valves with inserts. Even though the rig really isn't fully tech compliant, it can still be used for long recreational dives.
The point is to see how the plate feels in comparison to a conventional plate. I think doubles divers would be very impressed.
Maybe some of you have been curious to know what it is. Well, now you can go in and look at it, feel it, touch it, and he's going to get one set up as a loaner/rental so you can actually go out and use it to see how you like it before you buy.
The price is the same as Scuba Toys, or from me for that matter. It doesn't matter where you get one they're all the exact same price. For now you will need a few of your own accessories like a wing, but we're working on getting the complete rig ready for rental soon.
While I was down there I did a few dives at the Breakwater. The Breakwater is the Breakwater what can I say, but I enjoyed it very much never the less, especially after such a long surface interval.
First dive I used just a LP 95 with a 1 1/2" inch green cotton old school harness with stainless bands holding the harness to the tank, a double hose, an oval mask, no plate and no wing.
If any of you saw one of those weird vintage divers out there yesterday it was me. I went along the breakwall and cut off the dive around 40 minutes because I had no J valve on that tank. Even though the reg starts to breath down steadily harder as air runs low, I had gone clear out to the end and back anyway. I saw one of the fattest perch I've ever seen. He must have been several pounds, I don't know, but he was huge. When I got back to the truck I put a gauge on the tank and still had 1000 psi, so I drained it out and put on the J valve and rod I have been saving for it.
Second dive I used that set of doubles that I have been talking about set up with a Freedom Plate. I have it set up with a 35# OMS wing.
I used a modern reg on this dive.
I started at the beach, went out around where all the classes were, dropped and headed straight over to the big pipe. I followed that out and hit the fields, boy a lot of jellies. I managed to weave my way around them without getting nailed. I found the pipe again, then took a reverse heading and went back to the breakwall. When I hit the wall I took a left and went out again all the way close to the end then back in. The dive lasted about 70 minutes on twin 72's.
The twin set worked great. If anyone ever wants to try it out let me know and we'll make plans to get it to you. The only thing is there's no isolator on the manifold. The center post is a third K valve for placing a double hose on. But there still are regular posts on each tank. All three posts are 200 bar DIN valves with inserts. Even though the rig really isn't fully tech compliant, it can still be used for long recreational dives.
The point is to see how the plate feels in comparison to a conventional plate. I think doubles divers would be very impressed.
