No Octo while diving with redundant air supply

[Angelo Farina]

I have an SDI Solo cert. I found it interesting that an H-Valve meets criteria for redundant independent air source....

It fails in my mind with (1) neck o-ring (2) clogged dip tube...

A Beuchat Y-valve has a not-extrudeable O-ring seat and two separated dip tubes.
That is the only valve I would use while solo diving without a pony tank.
With two separate DIN regs, of course.
See it here...

Closed - 2 Beuchat Y-Valves

Valves are in great shape Only been in fresh water. $225 Total for both valves.... S&H included to the lower 48 states. Remember The key to underwater survival is Redundancy ,Redundancy Redundancy .

scubaboard.com

 

[Nemrod]

Rooting through my dive gear I found my copy of Solo Diver. For the discussion we were having as to the stance of SDI regarding the single tank solo diver and an octopus it is stated on page 82 that I had referred to, third paragraph:



As mentioned, SDI differentiates between a well equipped (buddy) diver and an equipped solo diver.

 

[Fastmarc]

Rooting through my dive gear I found my copy of Solo Diver. For the discussion we were having as to the stance of SDI regarding the single tank solo diver and an octopus it is stated on page 82 that I had referred to, third paragraph:



As mentioned, SDI differentiates between a well equipped (buddy) diver and an equipped solo diver.

Well, there you go.
Searched mine as well and there it was. Didn't remember seeing it, so I stand corrected.

 

[Nemrod]

Well, there you go.
Searched mine as well and there it was. Didn't remember seeing it, so I stand corrected.

I was not trying to prove you wrong . I just remembered that section being in the text. No big deal, the way the SDI position is presented is not clear and this is not the first or last time it will come up. I did a couple of shore solo dives in Cozumel a few days ago, had no pony and had three second stages (one a BCI that I was experimenting with on a trial run)! Just a rule breaker I am. So much for the SDI manual .

 

[MB NZ]

Rooting through my dive gear I found my copy of Solo Diver. For the discussion we were having as to the stance of SDI regarding the single tank solo diver and an octopus it is stated on page 82 that I had referred to, third paragraph:



As mentioned, SDI differentiates between a well equipped (buddy) diver and an equipped solo diver.

Ha! Maybe I did learn something from my SDI Solo Diver course. Alternatively, I may have come to the "right" conclusion all by myself

 

[happy-diver]

What is the meaning of root in Australia?

The meaning of root in Australia is similar to shag in the UK or screw in the US. If Aussies ask for a root, they’re not talking about plants…

australiatravelquestions.com

 

[Nemrod]

What is the meaning of root in Australia?

The meaning of root in Australia is similar to shag in the UK or screw in the US. If Aussies ask for a root, they’re not talking about plants…

australiatravelquestions.com

You will note that I am not Australian, I might ask God if I can be in my next life or British so I can have a British passport but then there is all that silly royalty and King and Queen stuff I would choke up on. But just gonna say, you guys down under are just a bit off .

Being from the Deep South and Gulf Coast, to root through something is synonymous with to dig through something but more casually so, to root is without specific purpose, to dig through is with purpose, a more active specific search for a particular item. At least that is my take.

 

[MB NZ]

Best quote on the internet. Australia is British Texas

 

[rfwoodvt]

You will note that I am not Australian, I might ask God if I can be in my next life or British so I can have a British passport but then there is all that silly royalty and King and Queen stuff I would choke up on. But just gonna say, you guys down under are just a bit off .

Being from the Deep South and Gulf Coast, to root through something is synonymous with to dig through something but more casually so, to root is without specific purpose, to dig through is with purpose, a more active specific search for a particular item. At least that is my take.

Rooting is to downunder like rutting is to rednecks

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Well, I’ve read through this thread completely, and according to several of you I should be dead. Why? Well, I started solo diving in 1959, before I got certified (LA County, 1963–there were no instructors in my area of Salem, Oregon). I’ve been solo diving ever since. Yes, I do buddy dive occasionally, and did several decades ago too. I’ve never gotten certified as a solo diver, although in the U.S. Air Force we made parascuba jumps on the Apollo capsule and for training, which is also solo. I have also never dived with a pony bottle. I do have a rig that accepts two independent regulators, and have dived twin 72s without a manifold and two regulators, but most of my solo diving is either with my Trieste II regulator with a MR-12 octopus, or my Mossback Mk 3 regulator (a converted DA Aquamaster) with a Calypso octopus. And, of course, I have dived my PJ tanks (small 42 cubic foot doubles) with only a Mistral or a Healthways hybrid Scuba double hose regulators. I dive mostly rivers, but occasionally at the Oregon coast (several years ago). I have also been known to dive my original Calypso regulator an a long hose and with a second generation Calypso on its neck strap (not a “neckless”).

In all those years, I’ve had two major regulator malfunctions, which I’ve listed elsewhere (both second stage failures, but not free flows), which required me to use my octopus and continue the dive. When I was diving the single stage, double hose regulators I never had a malfunction. I got to using an octopus when diving on the Warm Mineral Springs Underwater Archaeological Project, at the insistance of Sonny Cockrell and Larry Murphy, who were in charge of that aspect.

I dived solo before BCDs existed, in Oregon rivers and lakes. These were not deep dives, but some were in high current rivers (the North Santiam, North Umpqua, Deschutes, Clackamas, and Tualatin rivers, mainly). I invented my own BCD, the Para-Sea BC, which never sold but which I’m still using (the prototype). I’ve experimented with different BCDs, such as the Dacor Nautilus CVS (I have two of them) and continue to dive some, including a White Stag hard shell BCD, which originally was orally inflated. I continue to dive some of my regulator collection (I have a lot of different double hose and single hose regulators, which are dive-able).

So by all your discussion here of solo diving safety and the configuration for a certified solo diver, I should not now be able to type this out. But realize that if anything really happens, I also have the option of immediately surfacing and breathing atmospheric air from my snorkel (yes, I always dive a snorkel, as well as a big, sharp dive knife). I have to cut fishing line regularly when I dive these rivers too.

I have no plans to take a solo dive course either, as I don’t think the instructors have the experiences that I have, and I don’t think there would be much value in doing so.

I do have a few remarks about slinging a pony bottle in front of your, or even to one’s side. I have now spent decades researching underwater swimming techniques, and find that slung or tied bottles create quite a drag on the diver underwater. Where you dive that may not be important, but in high current rivers it is. Because of that aspect, I will probably never use that technique. Having that pony bottle in front also inhibits grabbing onto bottom river rocks, and creates a snagging hazard.

Now, here’s one other aspect; I’m a retired Certified Safety Professional (CSP) who has worked in occupational safety and health for decades before retiring. All this extra equipment serves two purposes in my opinion.

—It enriches the dive shop that sells you this equipment, and therefore overhauls it annually.
—It gets the instructional agencies off the hook for certifying individual who don’t have the water skills to actually handle themselves in the water, and therefore become equipment-dependent.

Much of this discussion is around equipment choices, mixing up second stages, etc. We didn’t have that problem when there was only one regulator, with one second stage. If something happened to it, you simply surfaced.

SeaRat