Today’s dive with some new gear.

[uwstlth]

Luis:

Thanks for the post, get job with the BP. How do you like the BodyGlove drysuit? I dive a DUI Flex 50/50 and considered their suit (since I'm friends with the Meistrell family and can get a "deal"). Also, we have a hideout on Provo, what island are you going to be on, have you decided on a dive operator that your are diving with? If not and you are staying on Provo I can highly recommend Fifi's outfit Caicos Adventures, my experience with Provo Divers and Provo Turtle Divers has been less than rewarding unfortunately. Have a great trip, we'll be down in January for some much needed R&R for about a month.

-Kevin

You are welcome... but I am actually testing this for myself.
I am using it on Turks and Caicos next month.


If it works well with heavy thermal protection (dry suit, heavy hood, gloves, etc.), it is just going to be outstanding with a 3 mm wet suit. [/quote]

[luis]

The Body Glove dry suit is great, but I did make some modifications. I had hard boots added and changed the wrist seals. I like the way it fits and it is a very rugged feeling dry-suit (if anything, sometimes it feels too rugged).

I am not sure who we are using in Turks and Caicos. We are going to Provo, but I didn’t organize this trip. We are just going with another group. It will be a good time no matter what.

[luis]

I went diving again yesterday with my new plate and a new Phoenix regulator.

The water temperature was 43 F and the air temperature got up to 22F. I am wearing ski gloves while I am setting up my gear. It is ski season.

The kit was outstanding. I am extremely pleased with the plate and the interaction with any double hose. It works great with the Phoenix.


Below are some pictures:

I did notice my pressure gauge hose was routed wrong right after the picture.
The tank location was very good.








I set up my kit the night before and took these pictures.
Notice the position of the regulator and the plate. With a steel 72 the Phoenix just sticks a bit past the plate, which is ideal for breathing performance. The curve of the plate matches the can.




The straps are adjusted so that there is no way that the metal buckles will touch the can.

[EHowe]

Luis'

How big is that zeagle wing your using?

[uwstlth]

The Body Glove dry suit is great, but I did make some modifications. I had hard boots added and changed the wrist seals. I like the way it fits and it is a very rugged feeling dry-suit (if anything, sometimes it feels too rugged).

I am not sure who we are using in Turks and Caicos. We are going to Provo, but I didn’t organize this trip. We are just going with another group. It will be a good time no matter what.

I know that you'll have fun in Provo and thanks for all that you do for this forum, I really enjoy your efforts and insight-Kevin

[luis]

Luis'

How big is that zeagle wing your using?

That is the 24 Lb wing. I could use a smaller wing, but that is the smallest they make.
I do like the way it is design to retract. I have been talking to Bryan about trying to use a similar system on the wing VDH is planning.

This wing is expensive and it is a horse-shoe shape, but it is very versatile. I use it on my doubles with just a harness. I just strap the wing directly to the tanks. For the doubles I also have a 35 Lb Zeagle wing, but I have never felt the need for the larger volume.

[EHowe]

Thanks, I thought that looked the same size as the one on my express tech. Please excuse my ignorance, I am a new diver and have never dove a dry suit but hope to get that class in 2012. Everyone tells me you need to have minimum 35 LBS. lift in case of a suit failure/flood. What is your opinion on the subject?

[sitkadiver]

Thanks, I thought that looked the same size as the one on my express tech. Please excuse my ignorance, I am a new diver and have never dove a dry suit but hope to get that class in 2012. Everyone tells me you need to have minimum 35 LBS. lift in case of a suit failure/flood. What is your opinion on the subject?

I've been diving a drysuit for well over 10 years and I think that recommendation is total BS. I don't usually wear a BC at all and I use the drysuit to control my buoyancy. A BC is handy in a dry suit if you're diving some heavy doubles, or any double really.

I don't know who started the extra buoyancy thing in case a suit floods, but based on the material, I'd bet if you dropped your weights, that - just like a wetsuit - you'd float like a cork. I have a trilam suit that always has air in it. And when I'm wearing double fleece, it would be impossible to loose all the air in a flood and become negatively buoyant. My neoprene suit is always positively buoyant.

[uwstlth]

I agree with Stika, I have a BC to "appease" dive boat operators, haven't used it. I've found that just a little air in my drysuit goes a long way. If I really inflated it, I'd rocket to the surface (you learn this drill in training on how to recover from a fullsuit stuck inflation). I use about 18 lbs of lead for a 7MM wetsuit and use the same amount with my drysuit. I also think over-weighting is a problem for some divers. Everyone is different so experiment a bit and if you have access to a pool, you can do this in a controlled environment. Heck, if that's the case, you can flood your suit and then test if a fullsuit inflation would get you to the surface. If you haven't read Steve Barsky's book on drysuits yet have a look, it's worth the read.

[luis]

Thanks, I thought that looked the same size as the one on my express tech. Please excuse my ignorance, I am a new diver and have never dove a dry suit but hope to get that class in 2012. Everyone tells me you need to have minimum 35 LBS. lift in case of a suit failure/flood. What is your opinion on the subject?

Basically I agree with what has been said.

In theory, if you have:
no ditch-able weights (like many tech divers, IMHO not recommended),
and a tri-laminate type suit (with no inherent flotation),
and your undergarment gets fully saturated with water (no trapped air),
and you have no ability to trap any air on any part of your suit…
you could then be in real trouble if you don’t have a wing big enough to lift all the non-ditch-able you had to wear to sink your dry-suit.

IMHO that is a combination of bad planning and having a very bad day.

For staged decompression diving (aka tech diving) I do like to make sure that my weights are not going to accidentally fall, but there are many systems that allow weights to be released only when the diver need it as a last resort. I can also just drop some weights as needed. Again this would be only if absolutely needed… weights are expensive.


That particular wing was on an Express Tech. You can also buy them separate.

I also only use the 24 Lb with my heavy two piece 7mm wet suit. I tend to like small wings and have never found the need for more buoyancy.

When I use my double 72 and a stage bottle then the 35 Lb wing is probably more appropriate.

[swimjim]

I routinely dive a crushed neoprene suit with twin 72's and various pony tanks with 28 pounds on my harness. To be honest I am over weighted when doing so. What you need to do is text book. Get in the water with about 500 psi in your tanks and dial in your weight that way. Then you'll be golden.

Jim

[SurfLung]

- My new plate should be arriving pretty soon. I rented the local high school pool for Dec. 26th and hope to try out the plate and new Rondine fins. Pool rental was $45 an hour for two hours. Cheaper than driving or flying somewhere to dive.
- I like the way the Phoenix is pulled against your back with the new plate. Looking at many of Cousteau's tanks, they were always smaller diameter and I can see where that would put the regulator closer to the back than our modern tanks.

[luis]

-
- I like the way the Phoenix is pulled against your back with the new plate. Looking at many of Cousteau's tanks, they were always smaller diameter and I can see where that would put the regulator closer to the back than our modern tanks.

That is a very good observation.

Until now the best way for me to get the regulator to be touching my back was with one of my sets of small doubles. The narrow Poseidon doubles is the best way to guarantee that the regulator actually touches my back.

See these threads:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/vintag ... x-ram.html

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=5566


With the new plate (properly adjusted) and a steel 72 the Phoenix is just touching my back. It doesn’t get much better than that (see note below).

I have not tried it with an AL 80 or any other bigger diameter tank. The difference is not going to be that much, but when I actually try it with an AL 80; I may extend the regulator so it will touch my back. I have a couple of ways of doing that.

Here are my Poseidon tanks with DIN fitting (the picture is from 2009, same dive spot).





Note: a bit longer regulator would have the advantage of pressing on my dry suit. This would be an advantage with a dry suit since there is always a bit more air on the top half of a dry-suit (normally the back). If this bubble is not controlled, it will tend to lift the tank away from you back.

[luis]

Last week we had three divers in Providenciales, Turks & Caicos, using the new VDH back plate. We were all using different wings and different regulators, but we were all very happy with our kit.

My high school dive buddy was using the plate with a newer Oxycheq wing and a new Pegasus regulator I built for him. He brought a Scubapro Mk-5 that he wanted to try, but he liked his new DH so much he used it for all his dives.

He may add some comments, but last I know he said that this plate will replace all his other rigs.

My next door neighbor borrowed a plate from me with an older single bladder 30 Lb Oxycheq wing. He used his Aqua Lung Titan/ Scubapro 109 second stage regulator. He also had very positive comments about this back pack/ plate. The plate also works great with a single hose regulator.

I used a Zeagle 24 Lb horseshoe wing with my new Phoenix XTC regulator (more on the regulator later). I can honestly say that this is probably one of the most comfortable, best performing kits I have ever dived with.

The double hose regulator and the plate are a perfect combination. They fit together like a matched pair. I do the final adjustment of the plate after the double hose regulator is in place. That guarantees that the plate position is just under the regulator.

With the Phoenix, the regulator just barely sticks past the plate. This position guarantees that the flat face of the regulator is just touching my back. “For a regulator to breathe any easier it would have to be surgically implanted.”

When I was head down I could feel the air bubbles run under the plate, between the plate and my back. It was a very neat feeling.




For those wondering, there will be more details on the new Phoenix XTC to follow. For now I’ll just mention that it has a newly designed second stage with enhanced venturi flow. The venturi flow also has the potential of being easily adjusted.

The most attractive feature of this second stage (following its performance) is its user friendliness and ease of service. The second stage is extremely easy to adjust and fine tune. It is designed to use the single stage diaphragm (there is no need to line up the tabs of the original RAM diaphragm). Theses are all very important design requirements for a modern double hose that will see a lot of use.

The second stage is designed as a complete replacement of the RAM second stage, but it is ideal with the Phoenix RAM (making it the Phoenix XTC).

The reason for holding back on details and pictures is because at first glace the design looks very simple (and therefore it is easy to make a poor copy of it). The key to the design is in the details. Therefore, I am again giving Bryan full rights to produce my design. In the past he has invested a lot of his money to produce high quality parts and I trust that this will be another great project.

More information to follow soon.


The bottom line is that the trip was a great success. For starters, the diving was great. And all the new gear (regulator, plate, wing, rental tank) worked together as an ideal dive unit… It truly exceeded my expectations.

[Drado]

Just when you thought you couldn't improve on perfection - along comes the XTC!

I recall seeing some photos of the Pegasus version of the 2nd stage in brass. Is it very similar to that? Will it have off-the-shelf parts to help in inventory and servicing requirements?

At this point, all that's needed is a repro body. We've got the Phoenix nozzle, the XTC 2nd, repro silicone hose systems (hoses, mouthpieces, valves and cages, duckbills or DBEs), there are repro plastic cans for single-stagers... good times! good times!