Possibly nutty idea

[mello-yellow]

This thread, and particularly post #6 by Scubasaurus, gave me this idea:

Attach an inflator hose with a mouthpiece to your dry suit.

That way, if you have to do an out of air ascent, you can breath out of your dry suit. You need to expel that gas on the way up anyway.

Please tell me if it is nutty.

 

[Rick Inman]

Well, the idea of an oral inflation hose to your drysuit is an old one. In the old days before the LP inflaters, that was how you took the squeeze out of your drysuit.

As to breathing off one...ah... I'll pass, thank you...:11:

 

[i_like_turtles]

Hmmm,without something regulating the pressure going to your "drysuit mouthpiece" I don't see how you'd keep it from leaking air - it would be like a constantly open exhaust valve with a mouthpiece on the end. Also might be a problem with water entering in through the mouthpiece and making your drysuit not quite so dry anymore.

 

[Jimmer]

It all depends if you ate Taco Bell before the dive or not.

 

[mello-yellow]

Yes, I see it is too "Rube Goldberish". Better just make sure you have backup air an/or buddies adequate for the depth and conditions. And proper gas management.

 

[fdog]

I have a couple hundred dives with an Oneil Supersuit so rigged - with an oral inflator.

Briefly, it's a PITA.

It didn't take us long to remove our power inflators from our horsecollar BCs and graft them on to the end of the hose. We thought we were kings with the most high tech suit on earth.

Here's the problems:

The cold water shot: that little inflator fitting isn't really water tight - so when you'd hit the inflator, it would shoot a slug of ice cold water right onto your chest. Usually right over your heart. This was so commonplace we'd wear a wetsuit vest under the suit.

The air dump dying swan: you'd have to roll over and look at the surface to dump air. Just being on your back wasn't enough, however, you would have to really get your chest high, and arch your head back. Oh, and don't keep that inflator valve depressed one second past empty, see cold water shot above.

Damp (not dry) suit: because of these problems, you were never really dry, on a good day you were just damp, and on a bad day you'd squish when you walked.

Whoa, there, Tex! : the power inflator was just too fast. It was easy to start a yo-yo of bouyancy, usually ending with an excess rate of ascent only controlled with the neck seal (see damp suit above).


Yes it's possible. Never again for me.


All the best, James