The great Spare Air / SpareAir topic

[Walter]

He thinks he's diving with oxygen and holds his breath on SCUBA. That person is either:

1. Not certified

or

2. Shouldn't be certified

Either way, he needs to take an OW class.

 

[Compressor]

There is no substitute for good training. Get some training and you will not waste money on equipment that is not useful. In my opinion Spare Air offers no real protection in a real OOA situation.

 

[jpmorrison]

I was just wondering how other divers on the board carry their Spare Air? Should it be carried like a sling? They are so small you can carry several at one time which seems like a very good redundant air source.
Thanks in advance for you're thoughts.

 

[Rush]

When I carry mine, I remove my lights from the quick release mounts on my cave diving helmet and mount the spare airs on my helmet.


Upon seeing this, I was given the nickname "Air Head" by a group of local DIR divers.

 

[jpmorrison]

Rush
I am not into cave diving, but that is a great place to carry those little bottles. good idea

 

[Bob3]

I hear someone is making a manifold so you can hook 12 of them together & have a realistic amount of gas.

 

[Aardal]

I carry my spare air in my Pro QD. I don't where integrated weights so I took out the pouches and slid in the spare air w/the holster velcroed to my BC. The head of the bottle is visible and is easily accessable.

Aaron

 

[MikeFerrara]

The manifold idea is good but I like the idea of six or eight of them in am ammo belt worn accross the chest.

 

[RICHinNC]

Machine gun belt huh mike???? Now thats an idea !

I am not a big fan of spare air. The cost is ridiculous. For just a few bucks more you could get a decent size pony bottle rig. Some say the pony bottle is too big too heavy and causes a shift in balance. I just havent found that. When they first came out in the civilian world....I know they were (and are) issued to chopper pilots in the service.....the first modles failed very often. And, I have heard horror stories about leakage with the spare air. Fully understanding that they ...as are pony bottles....are backup to a good buddy.....I would still go with the pony bottle.

And i wont even mention that if you are solo diving you better have independant doubles or a pony bottle...not a spare air.

 

[XtremeSea1]

Lets do the math. If you have a 2.0 cf spare air (not sure of the sizes but they are small) That's 2.0 cf at one atmosphere. Now lets take that bottle to 99 ft (4 ATM)....now you have 0.5 cf of available air. Thats barely half of a breath at that depth. A 13 cf pony and cheap regulator costs about $25-50 more and you get a real redundant rig and a whole lot more air. They do throw your balance off a little but you can compensate with proper weight placement.