How many on this board use or have used OMS equipment ?

[padiscubapro]

SCORE ResQ once bubbled...



Have you ever tried to orally inflate it at depth? How about that spiffy little trick of breathing off the inflator without rapidly changing your bouyancy characteristics? When I was new to diving I thought the bungied wings were the next best thing to sliced bread. But there is a reason they came off of my wings not too long after I got them. Not just because the DIR gods told me to either.

This is probably going to be a hijacked DIR not DIR thread so here goes..

Basic scuba 101, air is breathed at ambient pressure, that means if you can inflate it on the surface you can inflate it at any depth.. There is no magic here.. If you can't inflate it on the surface "A" you are dead, (b) you have the bungies way to tight.. The should be just tight enough to retract the bladder not crush it. I have seen dealers improperly install them. (they do not come from OMS attached)

And yes I have done it..

The bungies have a good side effect for non dir divers in that it keeps the air in the bladder uniform.. Most tech divers carry stages on both sides, DIR divers carry stages on one side so they have to have the gas unblanced to prevent roll..

The second backup inflator is a good thing... Don't tell me a drysuit is a backup.. I have been diving dry for ages.. with a full tech rig in open water, there is no substitute.. In a cave you can say screw it a follow the bottom, at least youll get out and ruine it for everyone else..
If I weren't using an OMS dual bladder, I would have 2 seperate air cells period.

Its not that bad with a shell type suit if a diver is careful on in water positioning but if you go too head up, the most likely result is gas out your neck seal, unless the seal is very tight..

If you are diving a neopprene (not crushed) suit you need lots of weight (even with doubles) at the surface, at depth there is almost no buoyancy and you are extremely negative.. The amount of gas needed is a major accident waiting to happen..


I don't like their reels, I like the surface marker bags and lift bags. The IQ pack is ok for those who like that type of harness, I prefer a straight harness with ONE quick release..

No problems with thier tanks (they are just privately stamped fabers).

Their oxygen analyzer stinks (buy an oxycheq expedition) their flow meter works.. The shears are the best.. beats the hell out of all the rest..
The ss hardware is ok,.. I'd rather use highland mills stuff.


I guess I'll have to be labeled a super stroke since I dive an Inspiration with OMS wings.. (shovel not included)

:wacko: :wacko:
Dive safe..
Joe

 

[Okiecaver]

Glad to see Great Minds Think Alike

At this past Saturdays OCDA Cave Diving Conference some one brought up (of course) bungee wings.

Their 2 negatives?

Punctures (thats why I have a redundant bladder)

Bungees are too tight (Tho they did admit that this was operator/setup error, not a design flaw). Do what I did - READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Finally, in some caves following the bottom is not an option. The "Pit" at Cannonball is a 210 ft vertical drop. At that depth my 14 cf argon tank may or may not have enough gas to get me back up. I COULD use my trimix and risk hypothermia while decoing and loose some of it from venting. OR I could get a dual bladder wing, clip the right inflator out of the way, and have that extra bit of security.

Dive safe
Brock

 

[MikeFerrara]

Hey Brock,
Where ya been. I was planning to go to the OCDA conference but they had it on the other side of the world and the cost to fly was insane. They told us that next year they were going to anounce it earlier and maybe have it close this way.

Tell me about the conference.

Mike

 

[double125's]

lp 125's with isolator manifold. No complaints with any of it. Some dont like the plastic knobs on the manifold but that does not bother me. I am currently using dive rite bands and there is a slight compatability problem, they dont align the tanks straight all the way down. best to match up the hole rig with the same company. Also, there manifold is non adjustable so if yo have smaller lp's or aluminum tanks you have to buy oms bands.

 

[scuubaadoo]

decent price that was about it a b/p's a b/p and I don't use much lead or carry many things so the 45 seemed enough.

 

[padiscubapro]

Okiecaver once bubbled...
Glad to see Great Minds Think Alike

At this past Saturdays OCDA Cave Diving Conference some one brought up (of course) bungee wings.

Their 2 negatives?

Punctures (thats why I have a redundant bladder)

Bungees are too tight (Tho they did admit that this was operator/setup error, not a design flaw). Do what I did - READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!

Finally, in some caves following the bottom is not an option. The "Pit" at Cannonball is a 210 ft vertical drop. At that depth my 14 cf argon tank may or may not have enough gas to get me back up. I COULD use my trimix and risk hypothermia while decoing and loose some of it from venting. OR I could get a dual bladder wing, clip the right inflator out of the way, and have that extra bit of security.

Dive safe
Brock

Well most caves...

assumming you didn't waste any gas.. and the cyliner is full you have just about 2 cuft of displacement at 210.. thats over 120lbs of lift..

but if you get 1 burp.. your margin is quickly disappearing..

I only use a 6 cu ft bottle for suit inflation...

 

[RoyalAquaMaster]

Have used OMS for years without any issues. Reel, wings, BP, harness, and tanks. No problems.

 

[Norm]

I have a set of 65# lift OMS non-bungied wings on my doubles, which I love. I opted for the pull dump and they're great.

 

[Doc Intrepid]

For those of you using the dual bladder wing...

So far as I know, these feature two plastic bladders positioned adjacent to one another within one nylon cover. The bladders appear to be made out of fairly stout material, something like waterbed plastic. There are no internal baffles - in other words the surfaces of each bladder bear against either one another or the nylon cover.

What sort of bladder failure do you envision these products as providing protection against?

In trying to visualize how punctures, slashes, cuts, surge-tosses in the vicinity of wrecks, reefs, or re-bar, and other physical damage/causation might occur...it appears to me that any event which could damage one of these bladders would quite likely simultaneously damage the second bladder lying directly adjacent to the first.

If the damage is age-induced, chemical-induced, salt crystal-induced, etc.; again, whichever environmental characteristic it is that impacts on one bladder, impacts on both.

I'm having difficulty in coming up with a credible scenario that will result in one bladder failing while leaving the other bladder undamaged.

I must be missing something.

Doc

 

[padiscubapro]

I have seen a few wing failures..
here they are:

overpressure dump failure.. it refused to seal.. therefore air kept dumping


Several manufactures used the same overpressure dump valves.
most recalled the wings to replace OP valves..


loss of inflator connection... the elbowbroke underwater.. must have been in the sun one too many days (uv degration) or something fell on it.. the guy went to use it and it fdell off.. it was fine on the surface..