New DSV Mouthpiece Coming soon!

[Nemrod]

My PVC versions now like five years ago. None of the single hose mouthpieces would not produce back pressure and restrict breathing. I know Luis informed me that the area was equal to or larger than the USD curved version . I can only say what I experienced. They were not optimal.

I enjoyed using the early straight mouthpiece version Luis gave to me in the Bahamas, it worked, but still not ideal from a tactile standpoint and it was a straight mouthpiece, a no go for me.

I am happy to hear the concepts are progressing even if it takes longer. Better right than not .

James

[luis]

Hi James,

I got some stuff for you to try in Grand Cayman. Just some prototypes.



I have pretty much figured out what I want to do, but I still have to work out a few details for production. It just takes time.

[Superlite]

Looking forward to seeing a DSV that meets and exceeds ya'll expectations. Like Nemrod I'm looking forward to possible Crowfunding.

[Bryan]

Looking forward to seeing a DSV that meets and exceeds ya'll expectations. Like Nemrod I'm looking forward to possible Crowfunding.

The timeline I was trying to meet was to be June of this year to coincide with the anniversary of the first production Argonaut Kraken's to be delivered. (I do have some stuff in the works for that as well) I had what I believed to be a great mouthpiece and I had already contracted price and schedule with the mold makers....Luis in his infinite wisdom said HOLD ON A MINUTE. What we have is good but it can be GREAT, I just need some more time and we can go from a V-6 to a V-12 if my idea pans out. As I said in other posts I dove my favorite idea for the mouthpiece in Bonaire and realized by day three that it would always be a bridesmaid and never the bride. We are at a point of refinement on it now to where the new mouthpiece will be a game changer in my opinion.
When the Argonaut was ready for production I had already paid for all the molds, tooling and ancillary parts out of my own pocket and with the generous support of the Dirty Dozen. I would never have asked my customers to pay upfront for unproven ideas or parts that had not been thoroughly tested underwater by several sources.
Crowd funding was only necessary to pay for the HUGE amount of brass and machine shop time to make the Argonaut bodies. Before a shop will start a project of that size they want cold hard cash...And I had spent all I had on the other parts. But the backers of the crowd funding campaign bought a proven regulator that had been in the water for more than 2 years.
With the DSV the mold cost will be substantially less than I paid to have the reproduction SP exhaust T's and diaphragm covers made due in no small part to Luis's engineering refinements and mold cavity re-purposing by the manufacturing company.
If crowd funding becomes necessary it will only be for the initial order of the new DSV, not for the engineering,tooling or development to get it produced. Before I put my hand in your pocket I want to be sure I have a proven part to send you in return.

[Superlite]

Luis and everyone did a fantastic job with the Kraken. I would willingly assist with any funding necessary to make the new DSV a reality. I'd also love to assist with the R&D (in water) if that were possible.

[Dave2]

?... I would willingly assist with any funding necessary to make the new DSV a reality.

Same here. I'm not qualified to test drive but I would help via crowd funding.


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[Bryan]

?... I would willingly assist with any funding necessary to make the new DSV a reality.

Same here. I'm not qualified to test drive but I would help via crowd funding.


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We were very fortunate with the crowd funding campaign for the Argonaut. According to Fundable it reached it's $$$$ goal faster than any other in their history at that point.

I have the tooling and production costs covered but when the time comes to pull the trigger on it perhaps a crowd funding campaign would be fun if I were to offer T-shirts or some other one time only piece of swag for ordering ahead of time

We don't solicit for test divers as tests often don't go as planned and interrupt dives quite often. Going on dive trips even close to home cost $$ and time and I don't want to ruin that for folks.
The divers that do the testing I have known for years and been diving with many times....They also have no problem calling a spade a spade. Tough crowd on some days but necessary to get it right.
In Cozumel Herman had one of the sample cans that was not perfectly flat where the exhaust valve meets the can housing.....So on a very expensive vacation he had to put up with a constant accumulation of saltwater in his mouthpiece on an hour long drift dive....BUT by him pushing through it we learned that the ejector pins in the mold had to be moved for the cans to come out reliably each time.

I do have a couple of neat ideas for the Argonaut Anniversary coming up in June that I hope to roll out to everyone around the 1st of May.

[Herman]

Just for the record, loved every minute of it, it's not often we get to be part of something like a new reg design. After a trip to the store, I fixed the problems with some emory boards. Those same cans are the ones I still dive today and with over 150 dives on them on 4 different dive trips they are still going strong...although they do have a few battle scars on them now.

[14020]

Funding or Fundable I'm still there.

I have to be a part of this

[Bryan]

Info from the Caribbean Luxury Divers in Cayman is tricking in and testing results are varied. I'm sure Luis will follow with details when he gets caught up.
It's easy to come up with acronyms and myopic ideas about what something might do....But until you get it in the water and use it, with feedback from divers with an objective viewpoint and no stake in it's outcome you really don't know S**T.
Rob and I will be diving the updated prototypes this week in a couple of spots and I'll update when we get dried off

The Argonaut is a revolutionary modern double hose regulator for the 21st century and you can bet that when the new mouthpiece is finished it will be the right one for it.

[luis]

We did a lot of testing and there were no surprises.

Some of the testing was related to some flow performance improvements using the new mouthpiece, but a lot of it was just basic mouthpiece comfort improvements. The Argonaut was design to be adjustable far beyond any regulator to date. I am designing the new mouthpiece to complement some of the Argonauts performance characteristics.

I have had a design concept for a while. I have been confirming all the different design aspects with some computer models and several different physical models.

I need to finish the manufacturing CAD drawings as soon as I have a bit of time. As always, part of the engineering design is taking into consideration manufacturing and production.

There will be more information soon.

I just got back from vacation and tomorrow I am flying to go on sea-trials on a new research vessel (more information on this subject soon). This has been a great, very interesting project (my actual full time job) that I will share more information soon.

[Nemrod]

I got to use both the designs that Luis had in Cayman. However, I have already told him what I think and he asked me not to say anything about one of the possible features and I am reluctant to say anything more beyond what I say below in an open forum.

My general comment about any DSV using a single hose mouthpiece is that they tend to place the hoses further in front of the face/mouth thus requiring the weight rings on the hoses to prevent the mouthpiece from levering upward on the mouth/palate/teeth. With the buoyancy of the hoses offset the Luis design was comfortable, the Draeger type, well, I was not especially impressed but it also continually leaked, sometimes enough I had to swim sideways to prevent aspirating water. Luis thought there may have been a damaged O-ring. Of course it did not leak with Luis (and then it did later ).

What if only the positive side had a valve?

Of course on the one dive in Cayman where I could have really used a DSV or the PMDSV, I had neither, go figure . Surface swimming, loitering and shore diving, a DSV would be killer sweet.

Luis seeking Divine inspiration:



James

[Bryan]

Things are progressing nicely and we should be testing the latest version in November during the Cozumel trip. If the interweb cooperates we will be able to share some photos while there. We have added some peripherals to the idea that need testing but at least on the drawing board they look promising.

[Pedro]

That's good news, like so many others I can't wait to read here: "It works!"

[Bryan]

Procured another mouthpiece for comparison testing with the new Argonaut DSV when the Carribbean Luxury Divers hit Cozumel in November. There are divers in the rebreather community who are as excited about this project as we are