MK25 in blackwater?

[chris.evans]

Is an open piston only prone to freezing? I am moving to the Carolinas and looking to dive rivers for meg teeth and things. From Cooper River videos, the water looks like really dirty, any issue with a non-sealed first stage?

Thanks,

CE

 

[JulesSCUBAPRO]

While the open piston design of the MK25 does posses a secondary oring acting as a debris barrier as well as a lubricant trap, there is a limit to the amount of debris that a first stage can tolerate. The type of diving, as seen in the Cooer River, requires an evironmentally sealed first stage, like the Mk17.

 

[chris.evans]

Thanks for the quick reply.. man I wish I had known when I purchased the MK25, I only thought about cold water.. I guess I'll snag an MK17, any reason to keep the MK25?

 

[tbone1004]

a few divers over here use Poseidons that are unsealed in the Cooper. It's pretty gnarly, but the MK25 should be fine, just definitely want to make sure you stay on your yearly maintenance. The diaphragms just have it a lot easier in the environmental sealing department. No reason to get rid of it, but no real reason to keep it if you're going to be doing a lot of river diving.

 

[chris.evans]

Hi, thanks, what's a good forum for someone looking to fossil dive? In Florida I owned a kayak and dove from it, the Cooper looks like it has a strong flow, I saw a video of a guy using like a pick axe to anchor.. Any information about Carolina dive sites, best practices, and potential dive buddies would be welcome. I am moving to the Raleigh area.

 

[Jlpskydive]

Join the Raleigh Area Divers FB page and you can get hooked up with some pretty solid divers. Also just north of Raleigh is Fantasy Lake (about 5 min from my house) a quarry that is ONLY used for dive and dive training. Vis usually sucks, but with what you seem to be after..... It might be good practice....

 

[cbrich]

I would ad, if you use your MK25, thoroughly flush out the environmental ports with water from the tap (for some folks the garden hose, water hose, or whatever you call it.)

I wish Scubapro would have kept the MK19, and introduced it to the North America. MK19 is a MK17 with a swivel turret.

 

[jbomb001]

I dive my mk 25 in the St. Lawrence river in ny all the time with no issues I just rince my gear off at the end of the day.