Just returned from Bonaire with the rebreather

[mathauck0814]

vs the obscene cost of good sorb

You might want to reconsider whether rebreather diving is for you if Hawaiian costs of sorb put you off brother Sorb is cheap in HI (relatively).

 

[TechDeep]

Because all of our dives were shore dives & pre- breathing while driving a manual transmission truck .....

I can see the media campaign now....DON'T PRE-BRETHE WHILE DRIVING! Of course it would almost be worth getting a ticket just to see the look on the judges face!

 

[Dr. Lecter]

You might want to reconsider whether rebreather diving is for you if Hawaiian costs of sorb put you off brother Sorb is cheap in HI (relatively).

I don't mind buying $90 cells at least every 6 months or as often as needed. I'm cool with whatever repair costs are needed to ensure a properly functioning unit (provided I can't fix it myself, which I generally can). Even spending a few thousand dollars to upgrade my unit is not a major purchase over which I'm going to deliberate too much.

But like anything else heavy/bulky, sorb is more expensive here than on the mainland and that's an annoyance because I'm paying more solely to be on a rock I happen to dislike a great deal. Sure, more remote islands have much more expensive and/or less great selection in sorb...but hopefully I'd spend less time on them and they'd have better wreck diving. It's all relative

 

[tstormdiver]

I can see the media campaign now....DON'T PRE-BRETHE WHILE DRIVING! Of course it would almost be worth getting a ticket just to see the look on the judges face!

Love it!

Here is a picture our group leader took of me descending.

 

[Wayne at DiveSeekers]

Great write up on your trip. I am an instructor on the Prism 2 as well as a JJ-CCR. The prep time, due to the radial scrubber does take a little longer. If you pack your scrubber correctly and stand unit up-right until diving, 20 min drive is no issue regarding break/channeling. I do an hour drive to the boat and have gone 2 hours off the coast to the dive site and no issues diving. My question is the 10 minute pre-breathe. Typically we do a 5 min pre-breathe. purpose of this is to make sure your unit is in perfect working order. We pre-breathe while we are actually in our rig. during pre-breathe we maintain a set point of .7 and while doing this I am actively doing things like putting on hood, gloves, reels, walk to water etc. If I can actively do things while pre-breathing and maintain set point, I know I am good to go!

RMS nice but unnecessary. As long as you pack your scrubber properly and don't push limits on sorb, it's just one more piece of technology that you don't need and that can fail. I like technology but still try to keep to a KISS philosophy as much as I can. Seeing to many rebreather divers having problems and not doing dives and my feeling is that it's due to the extra technology that you don't need.

BTW, just went down to Florida (to teach a class) and wore my JJ on the plane, with no issues!

 

[tstormdiver]

I typically dive below the last thermocline (42 degrees F) in our local quarry (about an hour away). That means drysuit & heavy undies & it can be 90+ degrees there. I really don't want to sucumb to Hyperthermia while prepping. When diving there, I will typically 1/2 dress, do the Pre- breathe & final check list, then finish dressing, get wet to cool off, don the rebreather & jump in for the dive. I take a no rush approch to those dives. I would much ratehr take some extra time & do it correctly, than get in a rush, get sloppy & get hurt (or worse). Rebreathers are not very forgiving. As for the 10 min. pre- breathe, It is just what I was taught. My instructor can sometimes maybe tend to go a bit overboard on things,... but then he has been Wreck, cave, trimix diving for 25+ yrs & is still around,... so he must be doing something right.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

RMS nice but unnecessary. As long as you pack your scrubber properly and don't push limits on sorb, it's just one more piece of technology that you don't need and that can fail. I like technology but still try to keep to a KISS philosophy as much as I can. Seeing to many rebreather divers having problems and not doing dives and my feeling is that it's due to the extra technology that you don't need.

How often have you, personally, observed a failure/problem with RMS specifically that kept a RB diver from doing dives?

 

[hroark2112]

I had a fantastic time in Bonaire with my rebreather. Going back in October!

Being limited by my OC buddies sucked, but the solo dives were to die for!

 

[mathauck0814]

How often have you, personally, observed a failure/problem with RMS specifically that kept a RB diver from doing dives?

Never, but ask my wife (Asha on SB) how many times both scrubbers even register on her handset. It's a $3,500 upgrade that works less than half of the time and will probably take years to pay for itself at todays' sorb prices (by which time I suspect we'll both have several other purpose built rebreathers).

---------- Post added August 8th, 2014 at 06:44 PM ----------

I don't mind buying $90 cells at least every 6 months or as often as needed. I'm cool with whatever repair costs are needed to ensure a properly functioning unit (provided I can't fix it myself, which I generally can). Even spending a few thousand dollars to upgrade my unit is not a major purchase over which I'm going to deliberate too much.

But like anything else heavy/bulky, sorb is more expensive here than on the mainland and that's an annoyance because I'm paying more solely to be on a rock I happen to dislike a great deal. Sure, more remote islands have much more expensive and/or less great selection in sorb...but hopefully I'd spend less time on them and they'd have better wreck diving. It's all relative

sorb is still much cheaper in HI than it is most other island places, that's all I was getting at You're diving a rebreather. It's expensive. Cost can't come into the discussion. You either need what it offers (and accept the cost) or you don't need what it offers badly enough to accept the cost. Don't be a nickel rocket diver; especially on CCR.

 

[KeithG]

Awesome stuff. Thanks for the info. Rebreathers are a (very) faint interest of mine but only to quietly get closer to the fishes in order to take pictures. Still very unsure about the risk / benefits.

P.S. You need different Bonaire dive buddies. My favourite photo profile is 90 feet for 90 minutes off the Divi resort dock. Obviously not a square profile. My dive buddy gets hungry and we "have" to surface...