The latest technical diving regulator the Phoenix

[TN Traveler]

N

Nice looking rig - but you seem to have lost your "J" valve and rod - you're going to DIE with no reserve air

 

[duckbill]

But what if there's no bucket? How about a bathing cap, maybe a balloon, or even bubble gum?

How 'bout a BC

Oh, but diving without a BC is so.....free, so......streamlined. Yea, I know. Been there, done that. Still do....in the river.
But add rock....add bucket....not so free or streamlined any more.

You guys crack me up sometimes....and I'm one of you!

 

[Nemrod]

How 'bout a BC

Oh, but diving without a BC is so.....free, so......streamlined. Yea, I know. Been there, done that. Still do....in the river.
But add rock....add bucket....not so free or streamlined any more.

You guys crack me up sometimes....and I'm one of you!

Look here, we are like cavemen trying to make use of the stones and bones and antlers we find in our native habitat. A BC, what the heck fun would that be.

N

 

[DA Aquamaster]

In shallow water with a shorty or 3mm wet suit, life is pretty good with no BC.

But otherwise I am with duckbill - a horsecollar BC or a wing can bring a lot to the dive.

 

[captain]

Has anyone noticed how many views this thread has. Seems the title caught a lot of eyes. I guess the DIR folks were curious.

 

[WD8CDH]

Our Sherwood valves will fully isolate any malfunctioning regulator. Whether it is the double hose or the single hose back up, I can reach and close that valve and totally isolate that malfunction.

The only malfunction I cannot isolate is a blown burst disk or a blown tank O-ring. As you know, I personally service my own valves and regulators and I am very conscious about potential failure modes©ª guess you could say that I am willing to bet my life that a tank O-ring failure or a properly service burst disc is a reasonably insignificant risk.

The risk of a properly seated tank O-ring or a properly serviced burst disk failing is so remotely insignificant, that I am willing to take that minimal risk. I will of course share that information with any dive partner. IMHO, we are more at risk of being hit by lightning while on the dive trip.

Personally, I fill that an isolation valve adds more problems than it solves. IMHO, the design has a lot of room for improvement, but that will not happen as long as the general tech diving community continues to believe in them, in there present geometry.

I am keeping an open mind and trying to find out the value of the existing design, but I have yet to find a real need for it. If I was going to use a center isolation valve, IMHO, I would design it to be a quick acting 90 degree high reliability valve. Heck I would probably put all the valves on the bottom also, etc.


Note: I replace my burst discs on a regular basis and in the case of this doubles, I am using slightly higher pressure rated burst discs (just slightly higher).

Hi Luis,

I completely agree with you about isolation valves. Plus.....they take up the space of a good double hose connection.

By the way, San-O-Sub makes a center outlet center section that fits many of the modular valves sold in the US so the old Sherwood manifold is not the only choice for a "Tech" manifold for a double hose. We just need to find a dealer who will ship to the US.

 

[Luis H]

Below is my dive profile from a dive yesterday.

I was using my small doubles with the Phoenix as my primary regulator and a Conshelf / Scubapro Balanced Adjustable combination on the secondary outlet of the Sherwood manifold. Basically the same set up as shown in the first pictures of this thread, but with small 40 cu ft doubles instead of the double 72 (Note: the double 40 had an enhanced fill). We also had an extra stage bottle on the line we were mooring.

This dive was to the wreck of the Jessica Ann, an 80 ft fishing trawler that went down in 2000.

The dive was not a sightseeing dive... we were attaching a mooring to the bollard on the bow.

All the equipment worked perfectly, specially my PRAM and my small doubles... I really like those doubles. And IMHO, the Phoenix continues to prove itself as a versatile do anything regulator

The water temperature was 42, but with my dry-suit I was very comfortable all the way through the deco stops.

The visibility was decent down there, but there was basically no natural light making it down.

Over all it was a great dive.

Sorry that I don't have any pictures. There was a photographer with us using a re-breather, but he drifted away and we had to go pick him up. That is a story for another day.

Here is the actual dive profile as recorded from my computer. I never kept a dive log book before, so having a computer do it for me I think it is very cool. :cool2:
When we first went in the water the seas were not bad, but it can be noticed that by the time we came out it was getting a bit rough.

Here is in a graph the V-planner deco plan.

Here is the deco schedule for the planned dive from V-planner:

 

[Luis H]

Here are some pictures from the deco of yesterday's dive to the Jessica Ann, also yesterday's dive profile.

As we were killing some time during the deco, the fellow taking pictures thought that my rig made for some interesting shots. He like the look of the yellow hoses... I do too.

For the most part, I was working at 140 ft.

The Phoenix RAM performed great.

Visibility today was very good (for up here) and the water temperature was 41F at the wreck and 50F during most of the deco.

The pictures were taken by George, one of the guys from my local LDS (Maine Divers Scuba Center: Maine Divers Scuba Center ). This LDS has a dive boat and they are planning on taking divers to this wreck and others soon (we will be looking for a submarine that also sank just outside of Casco Bay). Note: Maine Divers Scuba Center is a NAVED friendly dive shop.

I hope to have and post some pictures of the wreck soon. There was another photographer aboard.

I was using my small doubles again with two regulators.

All three of my regulators are modified early 1970's. Actually the PRAM is a square label, making the original regulator from the 60's.

I also had a 20 cu ft pony bottle in addition to a stage bottle on the line.

In the dive profile below, the orange is my dive computer deco obligation, but I was mostly following V-planner deco schedule which includes some deeper stops.

 

[WD8CDH]

Hi Luis,

Those pictures look great!! I have never owned a doublehose with anything other than black hoses. I think I may have to make a change.

 

[HenrikBP]

That's very cool Luis. Thanks for sharing both story and log info.

Henrik