Mouldable mouthpiece on primary donate setup

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Zef

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Was exchanging messages with a fellow SBer today and he mentioned something about his setup that got me thinking about mine.

I have a hyper-sensitive gag reflex and a couple of years ago switched to a custom moldable mouth piece on my primary 2and stage, which is on either a primary donate 7ft hose or 40inch hose depending on which reg set I am using.

It wasn't until today did it even dawn on me how the mouthpiece customized for my teeth might affect a diver that it is donated to in an emergency situation.

My initial thought was that I should switch back to a standard mouthpiece, but upon further reflection I am thinking that in an emergency where I need to donate that the dive taking my reg would have other things they are focused on that the fit of the mouthpiece would be of little consequence.

It would be interesting to read other's thoughts on the subject. Is anyone else using a moldable mouthpiece on a primary donate setup? For those that use one, is the concern I present above something that you considered?

-Z
 
Hi @Zef

I have dived a moldable mouthpiece on my primary regulator for something like the last 18 years. First, it was with a short hose primary and an Air2. Later, I switched to a 40" primary and a short hose bungeed backup. To be honest, I can't remember what it feels like to dive without a custom mouthpiece.

So, I have always had a custom mouthpiece on the regulator that I would donate in an emergency. Everyone in my family knows, as we all dive with custom mouthpieces. Much of my diving is solo. When I dive with anyone else, I tell them about the custom mouthpiece when I let them know what I would donate in an emergency. Nobody has ever said anything about it, but they were warned. I have have never been in an out of gas situation :).
 
@scubadada,
Thanks for sharing that, I didn't think about including the moulded mouth piece as a point during my dive brief....something I will start doing.

Cheers,

-Z
 
I use a moldable one on my primary. During the DM course my buddy commented on it being weird breathing from it during the buddy breathing stuff. I would suggest a standard mouthpiece on whatever one you would donate so it doesn't add to a possible panicking OOA buddy.
 
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The fit of a mouthpiece is very unimportant in an out of gas emergency. The other diver, or myself for that matter, would suck a fart out of a donkeys butt to get one more breathe; meaning that a less than perfect fit of a mouthpiece is nothing to worry about.

Now it might be a different story if they needed to be using it for an extended time for long deco.
 
Have you tried the comfortbite mouthpiece? I had a custom mouthpiece for the same reason you do. Once I tried the comfortbite I dropped the custom one.

I switched from the comfortbite to the mouldable type. At first I really liked the comfortbite, especially the bridge part that stuck up behind my top front teeth/against the roof of my mouth...with time though it felt too small and I found that my jaw would become fatigued on longer dives. The comfortbite is perfect with regard to how far back it doesn't extend but if there was a version that took up a little more volume in the front of the mouth it would work great for me.

-Z
 
The fit of a mouthpiece is very unimportant in an out of gas emergency. The other diver, or myself for that matter, would suck a fart out of a donkeys butt to get one more breathe; meaning that a less than perfect fit of a mouthpiece is nothing to worry about.

Now it might be a different story if they needed to be using it for an extended time for long deco.
Of course you're right. But why spend money on a moldable one for something you'll donate and will be less comfortable for the recipient?
The OP has a gag problem, thus probably a reason for wanting both 2nd stages molded (in case he loses his reg, can't retrieve it and elects to breathe from his own octo). Otherwise, makes no sense to me.
 
Of course you're right. But why spend money on a moldable one for something you'll donate and will be less comfortable for the recipient?
The OP has a gag problem, thus probably a reason for wanting both 2nd stages molded (in case he loses his reg, can't retrieve it and elects to breathe from his own octo). Otherwise, makes no sense to me.

Interesting notion.

I don't have a moulded mouthpiece on my octo (worn on a bungee cord necklace) or on the 2nd stage that is mounted on my pony bottle, mostly because I have never expected to use them long enough for them to be a problem for me and I have comfortbite mouthpieces on them which don't particularly evoke the gag reflex. If there is an emergency requiring me to donate a regulator, I don't foresee remaining below the surface for more than a handful of minutes.

I spent the money on the mouldable mouthpiece because despite the fact that I would donate it via the long hose of my setup, that is the regulator that I would be breathing from 99.99% of the time...while I plan for a crisis event as part of my own operational risk management (ORM), I expect the occasion where a crisis occurs necessitating me to switch to my octo to be the exception instead of the rule, hence the customized mouthpiece on my primary 2nd stage for my comfort.

The worst case scenario in my head, other than a prolonged entanglement, would be a dive OOA , LP hose rupture, or 1st stage failure at a depth of 40 meters (recreational depth limit)....1 min (+/-) to sort out the crisis and begin ascending + @ 4min to ascend to a depth of 5 meters for 3 min (non-mandatory safety stop...omitted if the diver in crisis is not calm enough to warrant completing the safety stop or they are exhausting the now shared air resource on my back quicker than anticipated) + @ 1 min to ascend the last 5 meters to the surface....worst case scenario = @ 6 to 9 minutes before attaining the surface. Again this is based on a non-entanglement scenario in a non-overhead environment. I recognize that a crisis involving entanglement may take considerably longer to sort out, and regarding overhead environments, I do not cave dive or do wreck penetration in the type of diving I do.

A non-entanglement crisis requiring 2nd stage donation at a depth shallower than 40 meters equates to less time to attain the surface and less time expected to have the octo without a moulded mouthpiece in use by me.

I regularly switch to my octo and my the 2nd stage on my pony bottle during dives for training proficiency but still those 2nd stages are only in use by me very briefly during these occasions to warrant the extra expense of the mouldable mouthpiece.

I hope that cleared things up a bit.

-Z
 
Of course you're right. But why spend money on a moldable one for something you'll donate and will be less comfortable for the recipient?
The OP has a gag problem, thus probably a reason for wanting both 2nd stages molded (in case he loses his reg, can't retrieve it and elects to breathe from his own octo). Otherwise, makes no sense to me.
You are missing the point that the donor wants to donate the primary regulator, the one being used regularly. That is what is being taught by a large percentage of people today.

In all my dives, I have never been near a true OOA emergency. It is extremely unlikely to happen. If it does, as Don said, the OOA diver will be happy to get air in any condition. Don't sacrifice your comfort for an almost nonexistent chance it might provide a slight comfort advantage to someone being rescued.

On the other hand...

During the days I was teaching OW classes, it was common for mouthpieces on the instructional regulators to have to be replaced because someone had chewed through it. I could never understand it. In all my years and in all my dives, I have never had to replace a regulator for that reason. That regulator is very loose in my mouth, and I really don't think having a moldable mouthpiece would make much difference to me. I'm not sure I would notice.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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