Rescue Diver Gear Evaluation - Streamline vs Capability

[EireDiver606]

OP, get a better reg if you feel you need it. Don’t bother with the Air2 if you’re going cold water, or any water for that matter.

Don’t bother with the transmitter, they’re expensive, break very easily, and are unnecessary. Just use a plain ol’ brass n’ glass spg.

Consider a wing/backplate and/or long hose configuration. Look into it, it might catch your eye. Very efficient if you’re trained in that setup for rescue scenarios ie gas sharing.

 

[BHWookie]

Hi everyone, thanks for the responses!

There were a few questions on water temps, for the time being I plan to remain a tropical diver. I really dislike anything cold water so unless some incredible diving opportunity changes my mind in the future, I'm planning most of my gear around Maldives, Philippines, FL Keys.

Lots of people recommend not changing gear configuration prior to rescue diver, and that makes sense. I was just trying to get all of my new gear and training in on one visit since I only go back to the US once or twice a year - but I think I'll just change out the 2nd stage first since that's desperately needed and keep everything else the same, then consider getting any upgrades after I finish training (and talking to my instructor).

Seems like a lot of people really despise the air2... I do have another shoulder dump valve available on the BCD for ascents, but I'll just keep the Octo for now and play with the idea of removing it after I have had a lot of chance to practice. Leaving both on for now means I basically have two octos in the meantime and can try out both scenarios.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

You've donated your primary but how are you going to deflate your BCD during an ascent while buddy breathing if the Air2 is in your mouth?

There is more than one dump on a BCD and I would hope someone taught you this.

 

[Magnus Lundstedt]

There is more than one dump on a BCD and I would hope someone taught you this.

The wings i have, and most of the ones i have seen has one but dump and one through the inflator hose. when going upright in a air share senario it is not possible to use the but dump.

 

[happy-diver]

You've donated your primary but how are you going to deflate your BCD during an ascent while buddy breathing if the Air2 is in your mouth?

Pull the hose(s)

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

The wings i have, and most of the ones i have seen has one but dump and one through the inflator hose. when going upright in a air share senario it is not possible to use the but dump.

You state a wing but it could be a jacket which has a shoulder dump as well. But let's stick with wings. You are bringing an unconscious diver up from the bottom and have an AIr2. Step one is to fully dump your wing. Then you use the other diver's wing to begin the ascent. Easy peasy and something we worked a lot on during my rescue course. Of course we did not have Air2 units but the idea of fully dumping yours and using the rescued divers BCD for buoyancy was drilled into us. If it hits the fan, you can let go of the diver and they will still ascend and then you can sort yourself out by adding air to yours.

 

[Magnus Lundstedt]

You state a wing but it could be a jacket which has a shoulder dump as well.

Most jacket have, but not all.

I am aware of the procedure, i just commented on the statemant that all BCD have more dumps than the inflator hose.

Sae thing whit the comment about pulling the inflator hose, i know some have pull-dumps, but i have actualy newer dived a BCD with a pull dump in the inflator hose elbow.

 

[Edward3c]

I often get students turn up with new kit for lessons involving rescue skills. My initial response is to suggest they do a couple of dives to get familiar with their new kit. Rarely do I sign-off rescue lessons when someone has turned up with new kit.

After all the lessons are to give them the opportunity to learn new skills, not to learn how their kit works.

 

[diversteve]

Hopefully they'll teach you this in Rescue but several posters here have made assumptions that may/may not be true.

What if the diver you're rescuing had a reg failure at depth? How are you going to use his bc to ascend if it's empty - as many will be at depth? No working reg, no inflation..

Doesn't the ABS have a swivel? Seems like that would be useful in a rescue situation where you're facing each other as the panicked rescuee doesn't have to deal with an upside down donated 1st.

Although I have read an ABS breathes like sucking air thru a straw so maybe upgrade that.
Might be more calming to the rescuee if he can breathe normally. I believe the Apeks Egress has one.

My buddy has ab alt/octo (Atomic SSI) he obviously uses it in place of a standard inflator and can do so also when he's breathing from it - doesn't your AirII do that also? He doesn't dive with an octo, he would share his primary if needed. The SS1 uses a larger hose than standard so they say the performance is the same as any of their second stages.

I wouldn't like a long hose/bungeed octo either. How many times do you plan to rescue someone?

For those that dive it, (instructors don't count) how many actually have used theirs in a rescue?

I guess my naive question is although you're taking a rescue course (good idea) how many times do you think you'll actually use it? I'd configure your gear the way you want with rescue allowances instead.

One of my regular group is a DM and also a Rescue dummy for classes - she lays on the bottom and pretends to be unconscious - until the unwary approach and find she suddenly is trying to rip the reg out of their mouth or climbing up their back. She's got a lot of dives since she did it for several years.

She has never actually rescued anyone. But recommends the class for what you will learn.

Here's my buddies computer story. He bought an Oceanic air integrated watch. Got rid of his console completely (depth/pressure)

Pre-dive on a trip the new battery he'd installed the day before was bad so he sat out two dives till we could get a new one at the shop.

A few days later his computer flooded - I believe it was related to a lack of proper tools to change it. So he sat out two more dives then borrowed a hosed console from the shop for the rest of the week.

Next time I saw him dive, he had his hosed console back in place for redundancy. Now he's got a Cobalt which is a hosed AI computer. I dive a Gekko which is not AI but I still kept my depth gauge in case it fails, I'd like to know how deep I am and how fast I'm ascending. Of course in my case the other gauge is a hosed spg. Oceanic replaced his watch for free.

my .02

 

[diversteve]

Sae thing whit the comment about pulling the inflator hose, i know some have pull-dumps, but i have actualy newer dived a BCD with a pull dump in the inflator hose elbow.

I think the first sentence was a little Aussie humor.

Zeagle, Scubapro, I believe Aqualung all have pull dumps integrated into the inflator. Most use a cable inside the hose to activate it so you don't stress the corrugated hose - which actually won't work anyway.