Will this work?

[kensuf]

OK... so I KNOW I am going to get flamed for this but if I have a bladder failure I am walking, crawling and swimming my way out (I also have a dual bladder Nomad LT Extreme with dual bladder). I have played around with no mount diving at Manatee Basin and can swim a single AL80 around (although buoyant) so an LP85 should be perfect. I think this is a viable option for anywhere I've dove as of yet.
Tim

Crawling out wouldn't have worked where I was diving yesterday. The floor was 300' and covered in deep silt.

Mierda happens. One of my dive buddies accidentally pulled the corrugated hose out of his wing a month or two ago, he never skipped a beat because of his drysuit.

[twaldo]

Your answer makes no sense at all. You are saying that the ONLY solution is to "just buy a drysuit" .... funny, I see people diving with sms 75's and wetsuits every weekend. I passed my cave class in a wetsuit. You are saying that nobody should be in a cave without a drysuit? reallllly?

I sort of agree with you on this... again the history of cave diving included collapsed milk jugs as extra buoyancy, why not a safety sausage?

Tim

[twaldo]

Crawling out wouldn't have worked where I was diving yesterday. The floor was 300' and covered in deep silt.

Mierda happens. One of my dive buddies accidentally pulled the corrugated hose out of his wing a month or two ago, he never skipped a beat because of his drysuit.

Right tool for the dive. I totally agree with redundant buoyancy, but think that you should be diving the equipment necessary for the dive. Right now I dive in shorts and a t-shirt, when I get to the level that I will have to be doing deco stops then obviously I'll need something that will help me stay warm on extended periods of non-movement. Suddenly the guy that never wore a wet-suit will be in a dry suit and you guys will give me grief for it. But it will be required for those dives. I think a safety sausage is a viable alternative for some dives as redundant buoyancy and not for others.

Again, just my uneducated opinion, it will surely change.

Tim

[Pavão]

...Right now I dive in shorts and a t-shirt...

Do you really? You don't get cold, man?
Not even a 3mm wetsuit? Lucky you I guess

[PfcAJ]

Your answer makes no sense at all. You are saying that the ONLY solution is to "just buy a drysuit" .... funny, I see people diving with sms 75's and wetsuits every weekend. I passed my cave class in a wetsuit. You are saying that nobody should be in a cave without a drysuit? reallllly?

There's tons of stuff that goes on in cave diving that spans the spectrum from 'less than ideal' to 'that a terrible idea'.

Al80s in a wetsuit? Rock out. Steels without a drysuit? Ya might have a bad time if things don't go as planned.

[perryL927]

Is your BC a duel bladder?

[Aotus]

Is your BC a duel bladder?

REALLY like your signature quote.

Now with a drysuit, I don't feel the need to find a system with a dual bladder like I used to. I sometimes think I'd like one anyway so I have the freedom to switch to my wetsuit and steels if the need should arise. I have thought about rigging my tiki bill wing under my sms75, and glad to hear others had similar ideas.

[Omisson]

I think its baloney, personally.

Its one thing when the bottom is 3ft below you. Its completely different if the bottom is not (the case in quite a few caves), is very silty (again caves) or if you're in the ocean and the bottom REAL far away.

IMO if you can't move your flippers and swim against full tanks you need a drysuit.

Where to begin?

Depending on the smb there are different volumes and therefore different lift capacities. If it's 20pounds - two steel 85s or 95s aren't lofting. If it's 35 or 50 pounds of lift they are.

It's irrelevant IN A FAILURE what the bottom composition is- in that you are screwed absent being in a dry suit in a cave with silt - BUT you still need buoyancy to get out of the situation so the lift bag is an option.

I'm able to dive semidry in the Florida caves under 2 hrs (most of my Cave diving) quite comfortably. But use a sms100d- so I have a redundant bladder- but if I used the sms75 having a stowed dsmb/lb is an alternative that could work.

The point is - it's a reasonable Sidemount redundant bladder for emergency use.

[PfcAJ]

Drysuit gives you the immediacy that a lift bag (or ever a double bladder) doesn't. Just push the button and gas goes in right away, vs dicking around with a lift bag that stuck in a pocket somewhere and probably requires 2 hands to get going.

Think it through.

[FW]

Drysuit gives you the immediacy that a lift bag (or ever a double bladder) doesn't. Just push the button and gas goes in right away, vs dicking around with a lift bag that stuck in a pocket somewhere and probably requires 2 hands to get going.

Think it through.

Not to mention you would be sinking rapidly the whole time

FWIW, I have had BC failures, and it isn't pretty. Even a drysuit is marginal. They want to keep burping out the neck seal. If you try to keep your head down, you run the risk of inverting.