What is your IWR Kit Comprised of?

[100days-a-year]

CuzzA_Not usually.I've only gone back down because I felt I'd pushed my ascent to hard.The guys we've IWRd with definite symptoms normally had their hands full just doing the dive.We have moved a mile or so if it was sharky and always have a guy ready if someone needs to roll over and dissuade a shark.

It is a whole different story doing these dives when you have divers essentially chumming a strip of bottom and doing deco dives.Sometimes in current.And doing multi-day multi-dive trips.And spearfishing.And trying to make a buck.

 

[Akimbo]

The closest thing I've found to an affordable chamber is those used for camels,

Why are chambers made from camels?

Liability issues of using one on humans [even myself?] in Canada would be nearly as bad as being bent.

The liability is also simply pressurizing a chamber that doesn't meet your national standards. A failed pressure vessel is essentially a bomb.

All this concern goes far beyond the safety of a few divers. ASME came into being in 1880. One of their biggest objectives was to prevent steam boiler explosions. As pressures increased so did the damage around the explosions -- to the point that buildings and ships were destroyed.

 

[CuzzA]

I assume you mean speargun for shark issues?

Yes.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

I thought you meant bang sticks.

 

[electric_diver]

The biggest risk factor in IWR where I'd be deploying it is hypothermia. I've considered having a hot water wetsuit system prepared but have not implemented it yet. For now I keep packs of chemical warmers to stuff into the suit.

Don't do that. The chemical warmers are designed to work at 1 atm and a PO2 of 0.21. Increase the PO2 and the heat production increases. You can burn yourself.

 

[northernone]

Don't do that. The chemical warmers are designed to work at 1 atm and a PO2 of 0.21. Increase the PO2 and the heat production increases. You can burn yourself.

They've been my companion on many dives. That's a good warning, particularly when going deep and not using argon to top up your residual air in the drysuit. I've heard of a guy abort a dive when he used nitrox in his suit with a chemical warmer near his groin.

 

[JohnnyC]

There was a story floating around of a dude that used chemical hand warmers in his drysuit and got badly burnt. Dunno if it's true, I'm too lazy to google for confirmation, but putting a high PO2 mix into your drysuit with oxygen-activated chemical hand warmers just doesn't seem like a super smart thing to do.

 

[northernone]

There was a story floating around of a dude that used chemical hand warmers in his drysuit and got badly burnt. Dunno if it's true, I'm too lazy to google for confirmation, but putting a high PO2 mix into your drysuit with oxygen-activated chemical hand warmers just doesn't seem like a super smart thing to do.

Yes, I know a buddy who did this... Resulting in a runaway reaction and some burns before he made it topside (unable to reposition the pack). I've tested it too with nitrox and considerable depth but stopped before discomfort when the reaction sped up too much...

So to confirm... Don't use chemical warmers with elevated oxygen content suit inflation. Topping up a suit with Argon or helium doesn't seem to have the hand warmers react unusually. (If I'm bent, being too warm seems the least of my troubles, but would like to avoid it)

In the context of IWR I'd not hesitate to use warmers, hypothermia is a significant risk, and at those shallow depths the chemical warmers have been stable.
(Maybe used a couple dozen personally so far)

 

[mmadiver]

O2 rebreather, gag strap, weighted line. Would be a bad day to need them.

Not sure 02 Rebreather is the best choice for IWR. Even after an excellent purge you're still only going to be breathing 85ish % O2, and with extensive off gassing I'd wager you could end up in a hypoxic situation if you weren't regularly venting it.

 

[northernone]

Not sure 02 Rebreather is the best choice for IWR. Even after an excellent purge you're still only going to be breathing 85ish % O2, and with extensive off gassing I'd wager you could end up in a hypoxic situation if you weren't regularly venting it.

I agree. Deco on a rebreather needs diligence. Plentiful compressed o2 would be better.