Just a thought but how about having "cave filled" HP 120 or two onsite as "banks" along with a transfill whip which should allow you to top off a 13cf AL or any other small cylinder many times with no need for power or compressor?
Unpressurised Dry Suit for Shallow Surface Supplied Air Diving
- Thread starter Orthodoxality
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If you are doing a series of bounce dives, don't reinvent the wheel. For the cost of the air buddy and the useless paperweight of compressor you were looking at, you could probably buy 6 tanks. Build a tank rack in your van, and just get on with it.
"Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity". Occam's Razor
"Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity". Occam's Razor
OP
Orthodoxality
Registered
>BTW, It would have been very helpful to know this upfront.
Mea culpa. I was playing it coy to avoid blowing up my spot and wasting your time with my complex and silly backstory, but ended up causing a lot of frustration. Sorry about that; I had hoping there was a quick and simple solution for my circumstances, and was unaware that the mini compressors and hand pumps were potentially unsafe (rather than just a massive hassle, which I don't mind so much.)
I intend to film a bunch of nature stuff. A big part of the theme of the show is being off the grid, finding beauty in a dystopian/apocalyptic environment as realistically as possible (i.e. using equipment that could have been left over from civilisation). There's a reason for this in-show. All my equipment is battery powered, and rechargeable via solar panels. Ideally, I would be able to fit most of my equipment into a backpack and luggage, travel via bus, train, and boat, film on location, and return. So far, I have rented locations for sleeping where I can meet up with my friends who are doing the same stuff. We can charge our equipment in the rented location.
For more extended trips, a friend has let us use his van to carry equipment (and solar panels), so that's a good worst-case-scenario, but it may not be available long-term and is cheating a little. Ideally, we would carry all our equipment in backpacks and use e-bikes (with trailers for solar panels etc.)
I can't use dive shops, since those aren't available to me in this imaginary world. I will be using drones to film an area along with cameras attached to our characters, or left outdoors.
I had been hoping to be able to make multiple dives over the course of a few days in lakes or around the shore where we're staying, finding areas of interest with good biodiversity. I had been thinking around 30 min to find a good location, place cameras and possibly lighting, and maybe food to attract fish. I would likely use a combination of time-lapse and full video, and return either an hour later or the next day to retrieve the cameras.
The drysuit is because the water is often pretty cold, especially if I'm drifting to find good locations while avoiding disturbing fish too much, and returning to a tent. It's already often too cold, so I certainly don't need to add to that. Most of the stuff I would likely film would be in the top 6m, but the maximum depth of the Airbuddy is 12m, so I listed that.
Sorry for all the information and constraints. I'm starting from the position of filming on location with off-the-grid equipment and got very excited by the Airbuddy because it's light small and light enough to carry in a backpack and could theoretically provide air indefinitely without returning to civilisation (one of our potential locations is a literal desert island where we might stay for a couple of weeks, with any diving being ~4m.)
Thanks again to everyone who has contributed their valuable insight, and I hope the secrecy wasn't too irritating!
It's totally fair if there just isn't a good solution for me, and apologies again for annoyance caused. These are just the constraints which apply to me by circumstance!
EDIT: The desert island is an island that as technically been deserted, but is only a few Km off the coast, so within range of help if needs be.
Mea culpa. I was playing it coy to avoid blowing up my spot and wasting your time with my complex and silly backstory, but ended up causing a lot of frustration. Sorry about that; I had hoping there was a quick and simple solution for my circumstances, and was unaware that the mini compressors and hand pumps were potentially unsafe (rather than just a massive hassle, which I don't mind so much.)
I intend to film a bunch of nature stuff. A big part of the theme of the show is being off the grid, finding beauty in a dystopian/apocalyptic environment as realistically as possible (i.e. using equipment that could have been left over from civilisation). There's a reason for this in-show. All my equipment is battery powered, and rechargeable via solar panels. Ideally, I would be able to fit most of my equipment into a backpack and luggage, travel via bus, train, and boat, film on location, and return. So far, I have rented locations for sleeping where I can meet up with my friends who are doing the same stuff. We can charge our equipment in the rented location.
For more extended trips, a friend has let us use his van to carry equipment (and solar panels), so that's a good worst-case-scenario, but it may not be available long-term and is cheating a little. Ideally, we would carry all our equipment in backpacks and use e-bikes (with trailers for solar panels etc.)
I can't use dive shops, since those aren't available to me in this imaginary world. I will be using drones to film an area along with cameras attached to our characters, or left outdoors.
I had been hoping to be able to make multiple dives over the course of a few days in lakes or around the shore where we're staying, finding areas of interest with good biodiversity. I had been thinking around 30 min to find a good location, place cameras and possibly lighting, and maybe food to attract fish. I would likely use a combination of time-lapse and full video, and return either an hour later or the next day to retrieve the cameras.
The drysuit is because the water is often pretty cold, especially if I'm drifting to find good locations while avoiding disturbing fish too much, and returning to a tent. It's already often too cold, so I certainly don't need to add to that. Most of the stuff I would likely film would be in the top 6m, but the maximum depth of the Airbuddy is 12m, so I listed that.
Sorry for all the information and constraints. I'm starting from the position of filming on location with off-the-grid equipment and got very excited by the Airbuddy because it's light small and light enough to carry in a backpack and could theoretically provide air indefinitely without returning to civilisation (one of our potential locations is a literal desert island where we might stay for a couple of weeks, with any diving being ~4m.)
Thanks again to everyone who has contributed their valuable insight, and I hope the secrecy wasn't too irritating!
It's totally fair if there just isn't a good solution for me, and apologies again for annoyance caused. These are just the constraints which apply to me by circumstance!
EDIT: The desert island is an island that as technically been deserted, but is only a few Km off the coast, so within range of help if needs be.
OP
Orthodoxality
Registered
Possibly!
I had hoped to be able to look around for good scenes, find areas with a lot of activity etc., but it's looking impractical.
I was dreaming of perfect freediving without having to surface or deal with the cold rather than a sucky version of SCUBA.
I had hoped to be able to look around for good scenes, find areas with a lot of activity etc., but it's looking impractical.
I was dreaming of perfect freediving without having to surface or deal with the cold rather than a sucky version of SCUBA.
FWIW, I find that freediving in my freediving suit ($400) is warmer than scuba diving in my drysuit + undersuit ($5k+) in 5C water.
For what you’re describing, I think freediving is legitimately the answer. With a tiny bit of training, you’ll be able to spend 2+ minutes at 15+ meters - and in that time, you can move much, much further than you can in scuba equipment, thanks to streamlining and massive fins.
If you do want to scuba, I’d look for some sort of tee to add a low-pressure drysuit inflator to your surface-supply gas. I’m not too familiar with surface-supply gear, but if they use a standard second stage regulator, you can do this with ~$75 of parts from DGX.
For risk, people have mentioned lots of stuff, but I just wanted to highlight that breathing pressurized gas at depth creates a risk of arterial gas embolism from rapid ascent that doesn’t exist with snorkelling or freediving. Your plan to have an emergency gas source does make sense, but I would generally agree that using a smaller scuba bottle (AL19/30/40), filled from a real shop, is a much better idea than the hand-pump crap I see floating around.
And freediving training is extra content.
One issue though... Will you be with another person during these dives? If so, they should go through the training with you so you can act as each other's safety divers. If not, then you might want to scrap the idea. Solo freediving (as opposed to snorkeling) is not an accepted thing, although of course people do it anyway and hope that staying well within their personal limits will keep them safe.
OTOH, solo diving is something you can get certified for. But to do it safely, you need redundancy that may not fit well with the parameters you are setting for yourself.
One issue though... Will you be with another person during these dives? If so, they should go through the training with you so you can act as each other's safety divers. If not, then you might want to scrap the idea. Solo freediving (as opposed to snorkeling) is not an accepted thing, although of course people do it anyway and hope that staying well within their personal limits will keep them safe.
OTOH, solo diving is something you can get certified for. But to do it safely, you need redundancy that may not fit well with the parameters you are setting for yourself.
OP
Orthodoxality
Registered
More great points. One of my friends also has a SCUBA certificate (although we would both have a refresher and drysuit course). Asking any of them to train in freediving is probably a bit much. The Airbuddy allows 2 people to go down 6 m simultaneously. If I could really tie a low-pressure drysuit inflator in to its hose, carrying two AL19s charged from a dive shop could be doable (we can pretend it's pressurised back at HQ!) It certainly makes sense in case to have the better reserve.
Is the concern that the hand-pumped air would be full of oil and water and destroy the valves?
Does anyone have any idea what the best way to approach tee-connecting the air hose to the dry-suit?Failing that, I guess we could get some heavy wetsuits and stop being such weaklings.
Genuine thanks for sticking with me so far!
Is the concern that the hand-pumped air would be full of oil and water and destroy the valves?
Does anyone have any idea what the best way to approach tee-connecting the air hose to the dry-suit?Failing that, I guess we could get some heavy wetsuits and stop being such weaklings.
Genuine thanks for sticking with me so far!
Air buddy to me seems like the spare air, a gimmicky marketing scheme and not a good idea. I might be wrong but I wouldn't trust my life to it.
Reality is I don't think you can do what you want to do. Freediving is your only safe option to avoid tanks and as mentioned you need safety diver/ divers though not my cup of tea so I can't speak more to it.
If you want to safely breath underwater you need proper gear which is heavy and proper fills which your not going to get from those tiny compressors or hand pump.
Reality is I don't think you can do what you want to do. Freediving is your only safe option to avoid tanks and as mentioned you need safety diver/ divers though not my cup of tea so I can't speak more to it.
If you want to safely breath underwater you need proper gear which is heavy and proper fills which your not going to get from those tiny compressors or hand pump.
Unscrew the reg from the end of the Airbuddy hose. Screw this into the end. Screw this into that. Attach a regulator and an inflator hose to the Y block. Attach the Airbuddy reg to the end hose, and the inflator hose to your BC. Try not to die!
Again, for the record, I think freediving would be safer, better, and more in keeping with your project ethos.
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