Tire Inner Tube for a BC bladder?

[Rick Inman]

Back to the tire tube BC...

I'm thinking, you wear the tube around your waist donut style, like a pool-ring, and then carry one of those small hand bicycle tire pumps with you, and just add a few pumps when to want to go up, and stick your knife tip into the valve to release air to go down...

Gee, I don't see what's so bad about that idea. You could even duck-tape some plastic D rings to it.

 

[dannobee]

Back to the tire tube BC...

I'm thinking, you wear the tube around your waist donut style, like a pool-ring, and then carry one of those small hand bicycle tire pumps with you, and just add a few pumps when to want to go up, and stick your knife tip into the valve to release air to go down...

Gee, I don't see what's so bad about that idea. You could even duck-tape some plastic D rings to it.

Well DUH, you keep your tire inflator adapter with you. You don't have a BC inflator to plug it into, so might as well put it to work.
I could just imagine seeing someone 100' down with an inner tube around his neck or waist. Better yet, he could take a fishing pole with him and pretend he's casting.

 

[derwoodwithasherwood]

and then carry one of those small hand bicycle tire pumps with you, and just add a few pumps when to want to go up,

You would have to have one of those pumps that magically turns water into air. I'm not sure where you can buy them so maybe that can be your next DIY project?

 

[kaboom1371]

LOL!!!!


If you guys see a feller with a inner tube straped to his back, a garden hose reg, swim goggles with a nose clip, car tire fins and tank on his back you'll know its ME LOL!!!!!

Cheers,

SangP

just another money saver tip... Use your propane tanks for air when your not cooking on the barbeque... :11:

 

[ScubaToneDog]

The rubber is more than durable enough, its the shape that poses the problem. Bladders are made flat. They inflate to a semi round shape and deflate back to flat. An innertube is round and is crumpled when deflated. It will inflate round and deflate crumpled...but will crumple back down to a new crumpled shape. When encased in a shell it may never inflate in a consistent manner like a flat bladder will.

That in mind though, you could possibly design around this flaw by bonding the shell directly to the innertube for a more consistant shape, but that could pose a whole new set of problems with wear pointsand such...the weight of the bladder would probably take a couple pounds off your weight belt though...I do agree that it's easier and safer to buy one, but damn that would be fun to experiment and build your own just for the experience and bragging points of it...if you do do it I would love to see some pics....and to the nay sayers out there...go poo poo someone elses post...

 

[SangP]

Hi,

I didn't realised this thread was still alive LOL!! I'm aware of some of the shortcomings of rubber and when it fails it isn't funny. Having said that, I've seen inner tubes used as floats by kids and it is trashed a lot worse than any bc I've ever seen and still keep going strong.

The only problem with the way it deflates is that air can be trapped in all the wrong places but I've yet to see that happening and it can be remedied with the use of dump valves in the correct places.

The other alternative to lower prices of wings which are really too much for just a big air bag would be to place an large order with companies like Triple LLL to make a lot of donut wings with an outer casing aka Eclipse.

If there is sufficient interest it would be a really cheap. I'm sure that if they can make a whole bc for $160 making some simple bladders would be a lot easier and a whole lot CHEAPER!

My 2 cents... btw, I'm still thinking of the inner tube bc but purely outta curiosity rather than a practical perspective.

The Tripple LLL alternative is much more practical and SAFER!

Cheers,

SangP

 

[scubacurt]

Wow, I can't believe the responses from this post. One thing that I didn't see anyone mentioning is that BC's are relatively young in SCUBA diving. Back in the day, divers didn't use any form of bouyancy control other than proper weighting. No, not even horse collars. So, if you are properly weighted and a nice and young strong swimmer, it shouldn't matter what type of floatation you use. Remember if you are properly weighted you simply jettison your weights and float to the surface. Any tire innertube can withstand more pressure than any BC! If you find a BC that can withstand 32 psi, I wanna see it!!!! You'd be lucky to hit 2-3 psi. Anyway the dump valves would'nt let it get that full. My biggest concern would be dumping air from it efficiently enough to avoid an out-of-cotrol bouyant ascent!
Now for the parachute part of this discussion. Sport parachuting got its start like diving, from ex-military equipment. The defining factor between sport and military jumping (back in the day) was steering. So, some smart guys got together and cut some holes in some old NB-8 parachutes and installed steering toggles on them. I know a few (5-8) jumpers who have modified their own canopies. Hey, you got a back-up remember!
And for all of you nay sayers, just remember..... Life is lethal, no one gets out alive!!!
-curt-
www.scubacurt.com

 

[kidspot]

...remember..... Life is lethal, no one gets out alive!!!

LOL - Sounds like what I tell my friends "Life has a 100% fatality rate"

Tim

 

[SangP]

scubacurt and kidspot,

I'm sure that the idea is somewhat workable but in this day and age where everything is so regulated and user friendly the days where divers don't use any kind of bc is rather long past.

I should know the friend that got me involved in diving in the first place is a commercial diver and he did not use any sort of bc but that's a different matter.

Btw, my racing bike tires inflate to 130 psi!!! If I tried that on a Halcyon that will be the most expensive bang I'll ever get LOL!!!

The inner tube idea is really for fun and althought it might work out fine even I wouldn't want to risk my life on this unless the inner tube has some sort of mesh to prevent the darn thing from sudden and total failure rather than a gradual leak.

Sure life is fatal but I don't wanna to end my life that way LOL!

SangP

 

[JustinW]

this thread is funny, wonder if that innertube would be DIR, if it was attached to a backplate.

On a technical note, the innertube does not hold 32 psi, it only holds a few PSI, its the steel belted radial that holds the pressure, or in the case of a bike tire, the plies of material held together with rubber that hold the pressure in. Inner tubes dont' take much to burst, but make a fun prank.

At a place i worked, if a guy was being a chump, we would slide a deflated innertube under the bathroom door while they were doing their thing except we would keep the valve on the outside. We would then inflate it with the compressor until it burst and covered them with talc powder. If they were having trouble with their BM before, it sure was taken care of after the burst.