Solo Cave Diving: Equipment Configuration

[Gone for diving]

Yep that is kinda the point of the isolator valve

 

[rjack321]

I don't think moving to independent doubles or sm is making solo diving significantly safer. A better choice is to add a stage. Then you have two options. Only breathe the stage, don't touch the doubles and save the doubles for an emergency. Other option is to breathe backgas very conservatively, and save the stage as backup.

Yeah this. There is so much handwringing over the exceptionally rare equipment failure... 2 sources of gas! no no access to all your gas! but Orings!! blah blah

Instead of the much more common reality (especially cave diving) that there's a human brain failure which rapidly cascades into a fatality.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Will someone define "benign" cave?

 

[tbone1004]

Will someone define "benign" cave?

@rjack321 said it first so I'll let him comment on what he meant by it, but when I used the term it was fairly simple/straightforward/easy caves. To me it's more about a relative level of "benign" depending on the diver. If you're regularly doing 4+ hour dives that extend beyond 4,000+ ft and you hop into Peacock with just a set of doubles and zip up to Olsen for a quick 90min dive, then I would consider that pretty benign. Similar applies to any other cave that you are intimately familiar with.
This obviously doesn't mean a cave is "easy" or "safe" as no cave should ever be considered, but everything is relative.

 

[rjack321]

Will someone define "benign" cave?

For me in the solo diving context...

1) Little or no SRT to get to the water
2) No risk of flash flooding during the dive
3) No or very modest restrictions
4) Little or no silt, gravel floor more or less, although there may be loose organic flock
5) Modest depth with resulting minimal deco so a suit leak isn't immediately dangerous

None of my solo dives involve caves with established lines so navigational complexity isn't really something on my radar screen. I follow the line coming off the reel in my hand out.

 

[Capt Jim Wyatt]

Roger that @rjack321 and @tbone1004

 

[rjack321]

Roger that @rjack321 and @tbone1004

My impression is that people in FL are doing an after work solo splash up the mainline to the second breakdown in JB or the White Room loop in Ginnie. Places that allow solo diving and where they have dozens and dozens of dives on those main lines.

Most of my solo dives are because it's a monumental effort to put even one diver into that sump.

 

[macado]

I guess I solo pretty regularly in Florida "tourist" caves that aren't state parks. I also solo pretty regularly in a flooded mine in Vermont; I would not call that environment anything close to benign but I know it well enough that I'm confident in my decisions. I'm happy doing ~2-3.5 hour solo dives but it is usually to places I've been before and know well (usually..). I'll happily solo Ginnie, Little River, Cow, Telford, even Eagle's Nest. I'll even solo some river caves. Having said all that I much prefer a dive buddy but if I always had to wait for one to be available then I wouldn't get nearly as much diving in as I usually do.

Honestly sometimes no buddy is better than a random insta-buddy or dangerous dive buddy.

I'm definitely off the mainland most of the time but not doing super tight/sketchy or anything an experienced cave diver would consider crazy. I guess that varies for someone people and everyone's definition of tight is different. 90% of what I am doing solo can be done in backmount doubles. Doing multiple jumps solo doesn't really phase me. Somebody recently told me I was crazy for soloing the Henkel bypass in Ginnie but I honestly don't feel like it's a big deal beyond distance. It's a pretty big passage.

I don't have any hard or fast rules as I believe most cave divers are already pretty well equipped for solo diving by the nature of the gear they are carrying. I'm mostly in backmount doubles (or backmount rebreather with sidemounted bailouts).

I don't really think independent doubles solve anything but I guess it is a valid case for sidemount. Manifold failures are exceedingly rare but I will concede it is a risk I take.

The few things I do a little differently. I usually have an untouched stage that I drop somewhere or carry in addition to my backgas. I also usually don't breath down to thirds. A lot of times I'll have a full stage and will be exiting at 3/4th gas reserves (not always). I realize that rule is purely arbitrary. I also carry 3 backup lights. I keep a third light in my pocket in addition to the two already stowed on my harness.

I'm not an explorer and I'm not pushing new passages. I'm just diving stuff I've already done. I enjoy doing it by myself and not having to worry about other people's skills or their time constraints.

 

[Stoo]

I would really love to see a picture of how the oring extruded out,

Something must not have been right

I've seen a couple go in almost 50 years of diving. My recollection is that the tank necks were badly corroded and should have been taken out of service. Since the tank had been visualled, my guess is that the valve wasn't snugged up properly.

 

[Hiszpan]

For me in the solo diving context...

1) Little or no SRT to get to the water
2) No risk of flash flooding during the dive
3) No or very modest restrictions
4) Little or no silt, gravel floor more or less, although there may be loose organic flock
5) Modest depth with resulting minimal deco so a suit leak isn't immediately dangerous

None of my solo dives involve caves with established lines so navigational complexity isn't really something on my radar screen. I follow the line coming off the reel in my hand out.

I was getting excited reading this thread until I read your point 4). In Bermuda all caves have a thick layer of thousands year old silt on the bottom (almost no flow).