My Cave Diving blog... On my way to the Abe Davis Award.

[The Chairman]

I followed Jim but his primary completely outclassed mine. My second Primary didn't work either... I think I have a charging system failure.

Follow up on batteries. During my charging of 12 new 18650 batteries I bought, I also started charging my old batteries using my new smart charger. I took care to check voltage as well as charging rates through out the process. I have a hodge podge of batteries. Different sizes (mAHs) and even two different sizes (18650 and 26650) add to the overall confusion. So far, I have found two bad batteries. Both were in separate batches which is why I was worried about my PV52. It just was very dim on my dive with Jim, but with four TESTED and charged batteries, it's doing great. The Nitcore D4 smart charger gives me, charging status, voltage as well as charging current for each battery. I just press a button on the side to select which battery info to look at. If the battery is bad it displays "ERR". It's nice to not have to guess and each of my batteries are now at 4.20V! Yay!!!

Now I need a system to separate the discharged from the charged as well as to prevent any inadvertent discharge from shorts. I also want a spacer so I can use 18650 batteries in a 26650 light. I mean, I put them in the light and they seem to work just fine and no amount of shaking has caused even a flicker. Still: I don't like it! I'm going to check out PVC at the hardware store when they open. That will make it easier to travel with them, and I do want to take them to the Philippines.

Also, I have vetted all the outlets on my custom charging station in the van. I get 110V on battery and 116V on house current. I'm going to do a thorough clean out of the van today and tomorrow. There's a lot of gear I don't use anymore that's getting in the way.

 

[The Chairman]

FWIW, I'm heading back up to Cave Country on Friday and will stay until just before DEMA. I've got a few things I want to accomplish before I get there.

• Set up my HP120s for sidemounting. I would love to find another set of LP120s.
• Clear out/restock van.
• Remount soft "shoe rack" on the front bulkhead to be on the two doors. The shoe rack has never been used for shoes... just items like lights, keys and such.
• Rethink storage options on shelves. I don't have enough room for Elena's gear without it getting in the way. I might make room behind the tanks for this.
• Rethink how I store weights for students. They are always in the way!
• Replace tank retainer straps and buckles. They are just a little too short if the BC remains on.
• Read Rob Neto's book on Sidemounting.

I also have a couple of things I want to play with while in Cave Country.

• The biggest is that I want to use a scooter. No, not in the cave, at least not yet. Jim has suggested that I practice going up and down the run from Little Devil to the eye.
• I still don't like how my stage sits, and looking at some video of me in the ballroom, I think that the problem lies in how the main tanks lie. They are way too high in the rear. I'm not sure I can lower them with these Dive Rite harnesses. I'll figure that out up there.
• I'm going to go dry... at least part of the time. The longer I spend in the water, the more wiped I feel after the dive. Oh, I'm plenty comfortable during the dive with maybe just a bit of a chill if I'm approaching the 90 minute mark. I feel it afterwards in terms of feeling lethargic and such.
• Video. I have the SooCoo camera, but it's been problematical at best. Time to go back to the GoPro. I def want a pic of the whale bone if I ever find it!

 

[The Chairman]

Here I am in Cave Country, and I can't stop coughing. I'm relaxing a bit and I'll be playing with gear, but I'm not going into the cave until I can breath.

 

[JohnnyC]

Here I am in Cave Country, and I can't stop coughing. I'm relaxing a bit and I'll be playing with gear, but I'm not going into the cave until I can breath.

That's a bummer. I had to quit MOD 1 this week because of Montezuma's Revenge. Unfortunately my instructor only had limited availability so I've been cave diving the last couple days. 90 minutes in Tajma Ha today to Chinese Gardens.

Re:stages, a couple small bungee loops on the harness that you can slide around works well for lowering the butt end of the tank. As you breathe it down, just shift the "d-ring" down to pull the back end of the tank down. The Stealth 2.0 has some large rubber ones, picked up the technique from that, works well, at least with AL80 stages.

 

[The Chairman]

I saw a video of myself recently back in the ballroom. I was pretty unimpressed with how my tanks sat with this new tank harness. It pulled the butts way high and made the fronts go low. I had noticed that I can actually rest my heels on the butts of the tanks, but it didn't dawn on my why until I saw that video. I have to make a leash for these or go back to my old tank harnesses. I think this is why I had such a hard time threading the bungee on my AL80. I hope to check this out if I can stop coughing.

 

[rddvet]

Re:stages, a couple small bungee loops on the harness that you can slide around works well for lowering the butt end of the tank. As you breathe it down, just shift the "d-ring" down to pull the back end of the tank down. The Stealth 2.0 has some large rubber ones, picked up the technique from that, works well, at least with AL80 stages.

I'm pretty positive he's diving steel tanks, so a sliding d-ring probably won't help since the majority of steels don't get light as you breathe them down. Yes, some fabers do, but I don't suspect that's the issue.

The sliding dring technique is definitely the only way to go for aluminums. I hate seeing people with weights on their tanks. It's a crutch, not a proper solution.

 

[The Chairman]

I was talking about a aluminum stage... on top of the steels.

 

[kensuf]

Here I am in Cave Country, and I can't stop coughing. I'm relaxing a bit and I'll be playing with gear, but I'm not going into the cave until I can breath.

It's allergy season up here. I taught a full cave class this past Friday-Monday and had to stay on top of my allergy meds (Claritin clear) to avoid any sinus troubles.

Everything's gorgeous though, so if you can get your cough under control, go have a nice dive.

 

[The Chairman]

I am heading that way in just a few short minutes. The NetDoc cleared me to dive. (No, I'm not a medical doctor)

 

[The Chairman]

Crud. Literally. I've caught the creeping crude, aka acute bronchitis. No diving for at least a week. Doctor was glad I came in when I did: before it got out of hand. I should be better by DEMA.