Ultima Dry Glove System question

[Deep South Divers]

Bwahahahaa... Two hour drive to dive site to recover the guy's engine cowling. $1,000 on the line for an emergency job that has to be done *right now.*

I make the drive and go to don my drysuit (equipped with sealless Waterproof Ultimas and SHOWA 3416s) and guess what? My neck seal is a flappy-flappy. Shot! Never happened before, so no spare in the truck.

I consider my options and figure, "No point in the suit if it won't hold water. Not even a point to getting it wet and having to clean it up..." So I splash in undergarment only... And a pair of summer work gloves that we use with our wetsuits.

Air temp upper 40's. Water temp 59. Light undergarments only.

The cold water reaction that my body has when I hit the drink is priceless. I almost can't breathe.

I do not recommend it.

 

[-JD-]

@Deep South Divers , Bet you have a spare seal in your kit now. Duct tape, maybe?

Ooohhh, that is a bit chilly. Was this your reaction?

 

[Deep South Divers]

Hahaha... Yes, absolutely... And indeed I now carry a spare neck seal in my truck.

It's been a LONG time since I've dived cold. I forgot how much it sucks! I did that for many years - dove wet year 'round for work.

Today I'm dry and snuggly and get pissy if I get a couple of drops to leak past a neck seal or whatever. Hilariously spoiled.

Indeed George Costanza came to mind the entire dive. I joked with the admittedly very cool client that I had to kick myself in the butt to get my junk to pop back out.

Apologies in advance for the crude imagery - I know that this is a family-oriented board. Still funny, though.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Aside from bringing a spare neck seal (and spare gloves), I am arming myself with another cool new safety net: A heat exchanger.

...So I'm robbing my boat of a device that attaches to my truck's engine's heater core. It sits in the engine bay rather unassumingly. It has a garden hose inlet and outlet, and heats hose water using the engine's cooling system. I'll now have hot and cold water in the back of my truck - so when I pull up to the client's residence, I simply attach a garden hose to the truck and presto - a warm shower.

...Which would have been the most amazing thing to have on this day - and will be wonderful for fall/spring months when I'm still diving wet but am suffering from cold rinse water.

I'll wind up doing a complete video on the install and modification on my YouTube channel in a couple of weeks. If you're not already subscribed, go to www.youtube.com/deepsouthdivers and smash the subscribe button.

Since I drive an F350 Super Duty, I'll probably wind up installing a 75 gallon water tank in the truck, too, at a later date. That way, if I don't have a hose bib at the dive site, I can still get hot water... But that's a rare occurrence, so for now the simple connection should work just fine.

 

[ericfine50]

can you share any pics?

Aside from bringing a spare neck seal (and spare gloves), I am arming myself with another cool new safety net: A heat exchanger.

...So I'm robbing my boat of a device that attaches to my truck's engine's heater core. It sits in the engine bay rather unassumingly. It has a garden hose inlet and outlet, and heats hose water using the engine's cooling system. I'll now have hot and cold water in the back of my truck - so when I pull up to the client's residence, I simply attach a garden hose to the truck and presto - a warm shower.

...Which would have been the most amazing thing to have on this day - and will be wonderful for fall/spring months when I'm still diving wet but am suffering from cold rinse water.

I'll wind up doing a complete video on the install and modification on my YouTube channel in a couple of weeks. If you're not already subscribed, go to www.youtube.com/deepsouthdivers and smash the subscribe button.

Since I drive an F350 Super Duty, I'll probably wind up installing a 75 gallon water tank in the truck, too, at a later date. That way, if I don't have a hose bib at the dive site, I can still get hot water... But that's a rare occurrence, so for now the simple connection should work just fine.

 

[Deep South Divers]

Sure.

This is a photo of various heat exchangers made by the same company. The one on the left - the largest and highest-preforming one - is the one I'm getting.

In short, it goes inline with my truck's heater core, in the engine bay. A hose goes from the engine into the heat exchanger, and the other side has a hose that goes from the heat exchanger to the truck's heater core - which is what makes heat in the cabin.

The other side of the heat exchanger has an input for cold water, and an output for hot water.

...So under the truck I'll have a female garden hose connection. Water come in through there and hits a tee. One side of the tee goes to the bed of the truck as the cold water supply. The other side of the tee goes to the heat exchanger and back to the bed as the hot water supply.

In the truck bed I'll have what is essentially a kitchen faucet with hot and cold water coming out. That'll be connected to a short (6' - 8') garden hose with a nozzle on the end for showering/rinsing.

Presto. Hot and cold running water in the truck.

Later I'll add a water tank with a pressure-sensitive 12v DC pump. When I open the nozzle on the hose, it'll turn on and pump hot or cold running water out of the nozzle. There will be a fill valve, too, so I can still hook to a supply at the dive site for endless water. The valve will be open unless the tank is full... That way I'm constantly filling the water tank and can even supply hot and cold running water at pressures and volumes higher than the customer's water hose.

 

[ericfine50]

Very cool.

 

[Deep South Divers]

It will be. I'll keep y'all posted.

 

[ericfine50]

Saw this -https://www.toyota-4runner.org/general-discussions/133333-diy;-board-unlimited-hot-water-shower-trail-2.html?s=be67115058c7de8872aa712295e3a2bb

 

[Deep South Divers]

Yeah, that's not 100% the same system, but it's using the middle heat exchanger as part of it.

The differences are:

1. This guy has no input to begin with... He's using a lake or a pond, and a water pump. My system will use a garden hose inlet at first, then a reservoir with a pump later (which is also filled with a garden hose).

2. He has only one stream of water... All of which has gone through the heat exchanger. To set water temperature, he adjusts the manual heating controls inside of his running vehicle. Mine will have a cold side and a hot side - so that the diver can adjust his own temperature. Only the hot side has gone through the heat exchanger.

3. Mine will be permanently installed. The only prep that needs to be done is to turn on the truck and connect a water hose. Later, connecting the water hose would be optional.

4. Depending how my heater core is controlled (mine is fully automated with a thermostat), I may wind up plumbing elsewhere.