Swapping regs

[DA Aquamaster]

This is an interesting thread. It would be neat to see someone video their buddy performing this skill in a pool or in clear open water. Then repeat the drill in zero viz. While the second exercise would not be a video, it could be timed for comparison...

Black out the divers mask by placing tin foil over it and you have instant zero viz, but zero viz you can still video tape in.

[BabyDuck]

For one Glorious Year Marci was proud to be the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe and Everything! Then she turned 43.

umm, no. *this* is the year of my glory, the year i'm 42. 5 lashes with a wet noodle!

[Merlin Rhoda]

Phillip: did you rebuild your regs after practicing this skill? Did your spg's get moisture in them?

[gasdiver]

Black out the divers mask by placing tin foil over it and you have instant zero viz, but zero viz you can still video tape in.

Good point.

[DA Aquamaster]

umm, no. *this* is the year of my glory, the year i'm 42. 5 lashes with a wet noodle!

Edit: for one Glorious Year Marci IS proud to be the answer to the Question of Life, the Universe and Everything.

I on the other hand do not know the answer to such difficult questions, nor even the comparatively easy ones - like how old my girlfriend is.

I have a hard time remembering cuz she does not look a day over 30.

[Greenwood_60]

What a post to hit 1000 on!

[RGU]

I have used independent singles in the past, early trimix dives in the 90's. The point of them is to plan your dive to not have the gas available in the lost tank during bail out. More importantly is losing a deco bottle, I think. At least a couple of divers I know of retired after getting bent when they lost a nitrox bottle on a deep dive. I always carry extra deco gas for team use if back gas will not bring you to the oxygen. A few years ago, a failure of a second stage exhaust valve rended a tank of 50% usless. I was able to complete deco because I carried a spare back up tank. Last month on a dive in P2 I had an o ring blow on the 50% after two breaths. My dive buddy was dressed and in the truck before I got out, but the normoxic back gas worked fine on that dive. I don't like the idea of switching regulators under water. If I have trouble I just want to go to another source.

[BabyDuck]

good save, babe. you're back in the will.

[FFDiver221]

I have never swapped regulators underwater as it seems like it would be a recipe for further problems. We have trained to swap cylinders on our air packs while our masks are blacked out. The cylinder has to be shutoff and air bled down from the secondary. Then the cylinder conenction is unscrewed, these are 4500 psi bottles with longer valves versus the 2216 so it takes longer pprobably about the same length as a 300 bar DIN. Thenremove the cylinder retainer strap and remove cylinder. Replace cylinder and repeat all steps and turn on air. We often do this after running a drill so we are winded somewhat. We try to hold our breaths while doing this to have a feel for what the person is going through while we change their cylinder out. It is very hard to do. Luckily we have never had to do it in a real situation and hopefully never will. The newer scba has transfill lines so we can equalize pressure between two cylinders. It might be a little easier doing it in the water especially sidemount where the regulator would be in front of the person and hopefully in full view. Hopefully no one will have to try this underwater. Valving the tank would be easier than swapping I think as I have never had to try it.

[phillip1]

This is an interesting thread. It would be neat to see someone video their buddy performing this skill in a pool or in clear open water. Then repeat the drill in zero viz. While the second exercise would not be a video, it could be timed for comparison...

I did it in training with my eyes closed (zero viz sim), and in my pool on occasion for good measure with a sacrificial reg, really it is very easy to do, in fact the hardest thing about this drill is keeping good trim during the swap, the actual swap is easy, and if need be you can take a breath of the valve if you need more time (also very very easy to do) this is were breathing off the valve comes in very handy, you can take as long as needed to do the swap, no need to do it in one breath or if take too long

This would be an extreme last resort solution but still a good skill to have, at least if sh!!t hits the fan you would know it is an option and much better than breathing off the valves (the absolute last resort but also doable too).