Who looks out for you when you have diving equipment problems? Diver does. In a new quarterly series, John Bantin fields your queries about gear, and calls on the suppliers for help where appropriate. If you have a problem with kit, let him know.
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Breathe through one of these babies and you can put all your worries about bubbles behind you. It's the only way! |
I have been diving for more than 35 years, and the only thing which mars my enjoyment is the thunder of the exhaled air past my ears.
I am also a keen underwater photographer and the noise certainly scares or frightens off my aquatic friends from posing for that perfect shot.
I was thinking of some plastic micro-mesh downstream of the exhaust ports on the second stage (metal would corrode) which would produce a whisper of fine bubbles, allowing the diver to be able to listen to the many underwater sounds, which of course add to the experience.
Do you know of any such demand valve? If so, I will display indecent haste in buying one!
Kevin Gallagher, by e-mail
Alas, it seems to be accepted wisdom among regulator designers that this idea of yours would push the work of breathing to unacceptable levels. You look to be a suitable candidate for a rebreather course.
A rebreather, whether semi-closed circuit or closed-circuit, certainly adds a dimension of silence to the function of breathing under water. Using one makes you realise how noisy all your open-circuit friends are when you hear the collective roar from their regulators. This means persuading them to take the rebreather route too.
I'm working on my PADI Divemaster certification and considering adding a pony bottle to my kit. I dive only within PADI depth limits but believe a small, redundant air source is a wise investment. But how do I manage three regulators?
I still think it is wise to have a "safe second" connected to the main cylinder but I don't want to confuse it with the pony regulator. Could I secure the pony regulator on the left side with the second stage and safe-second on the right, or should I dump the safe-second all together?
Randy Frank, California, USA
First, why not rig your octopus AAS regulator to your main regulator first stage on the left-hand side? You will find it considerably easier to use with another diver who may be out of air.
I go that little bit further and use a 2m-long hose too, stashing it under an elastic strap around my main cylinder.
Presuming that your redundant air-source pony bottle is primarily for you in an emergency, it makes sense to rig the regulator for this on the right-hand side. Clip both spare regulators where you can access them easily, for example to D-rings at the shoulder straps, and if you want to go the whole nine yards, wrap some coloured tape round the hose of the pony regulator close to it, or mark it in some other obvious way.
I bought a Sea & Sea camera and flash kit in America in 2001 and found that eight months later I had a camera without a warranty. Although I can find no specific clause within the warranty documents that states that the guarantee is invalid outside the country of purchase, Sea & Sea in Japan is emphatic that this is its policy. Nice to know, after spending £400.
The camera has been used on two dive holidays in accordance with manufacturer recommendations, including careful greasing of the delicate sealing ring.
Unable to get the UK agent for Sea & Sea to look at the camera under warranty, I contacted the manufacturer in Japan and, at its suggestion, returned it there.
It advised me that water leakage had caused the shutter mechanism to seize and this was not repairable.
Sea & Sea won't accept responsibility for the failure of its product, leaving me with a useless camera and flash. It has returned the camera in its unusable condition without further comment or statement. I advise anyone thinking of purchasing a camera to question seriously the warranty details, especially if buying abroad.
John Norton, by e-mail
When a product gets flooded, it is always difficult to prove that it was not caused by user error.
Consumer protection laws necessarily deal with the primary parties concerned in any contract - and that's the purchaser and the supplier. Trading Standards officials will advise you to return any goods that prove unsatisfactory to the point of purchase, and this is a big minus factor, particularly when it comes to worldwide on-line shopping.
The fact that manufacturers may provide a warranty can be irrelevant, as it's usually designed to give confidence to their own customers - their retailers, that is.
So whether you buy items a few hundred miles from home or in another country, you need to track back to the point of sale if anything goes wrong. I'm sure your local dive store will be less than pleased to go to the trouble and expense of returning something you bought elsewhere, even if it is to the national distributor.
In autumn 2001 I purchased a Suunto Stinger dive computer. All was well until April this year when it flooded during a dive, much to my dismay.
I returned it to Suunto UK with a covering letter stating that though I realised it was out of warranty and I would pay for the repair, I had expected it to last more than 18 months.
A week later I received a brand new replacement. In a world where companies sell you extended warranties and then hide behind the small print, it's great to find a company which cares about the quality of its products and the aftersales service to its customers.
Needless to say I shall be continuing to recommend Suunto computers to both students and friends.
Steve "Spike" Brown, St Albans
It's always nice to hear from happy customers. As they say at all good suppliers, if you're not happy with our service, please tell us. If you are happy, tell your friends!
It pleases me to say that there are far more happy customers out there than some of the letters we receive would lead us to believe.
John Sinclair of Suunto UK tells us: "Suunto is now brand leader in the diving-computer market, with more units sold in the past 12 months than any other manufacturer." Successful companies are built on good service.
For shore-diving, I'm going to start using a pony as a reserve and wondered if anyone had any good methods for securing it to the main cylinder - without spending £50 or so on clamps? I have a pony-bag with straps, but this isn't exactly secure. So, any ideas?
Steve, Liverpool
Pony bags often tend to look a bit sloppy. Have you looked at AP Valves Buddy Pony Cylinder Bands? They come in a range of sizes to suit different cylinder combinations and retail at around £32.
The only other real alternative is to sling your pony cylinder from D-rings on your BC, assuming that it has some. Your local dive shop should be able to help with the necessary bolt-snaps and jubilee clips.
A magnifying glass affords a close-up view of this handsome frogfish |
I am going to North Sulawesi in Indonesia, where I hope to enjoy some of the world's best muck-diving. Because my eyesight is not as good as it was, I was thinking about buying a large magnifying glass so that I could enjoy better looking at the smallest creatures. However, my local dive shop has told me that magnifying glasses don't work properly under water. Is this the case?
Lenses work through their ability to refract light as it passes from the less dense medium (air) through the more dense medium (the glass).
Because water has a greater density, this effect is not the same in water as it is in air. That's why the prescription lenses are fitted to the inside of a mask and work in conjunction with the air space within it.
If you use a magnifying glass in your hand (to look at minute sea life, for example) with water on both sides you will need one of a very strong (high-dioptre) value to be effective.
I'm currently the proud owner of a Vyper computer and very happy with it. However, I don't have a decent watch that I'm happy to take under water to act as a back-up if my Vyper ever goes u/s at 40m. I've been looking at a Citizen Aqualand or Aqualand II. Have you or anybody had any experience with either of these models or can you recommend any alternatives?
I'm not much of a technical diver (40m being my max so far) but I would like to do a nitrox course soon - do these watches have any dive tables included or are they just gauges?
Jim Warden, from Divernet forum
Citizen makes some fine watches but they are in no way computers. For the cost of a good watch, why not get a second computer? I certainly never go diving with only one.
After all, in the very unlikely event of it going wrong, I would need to wait 24 hours before resuming diving. The answer is always to dive with two.
That might sound a bit expensive but not when you see that diving computers are actually cheaper than all but the cheapest watches - and you could always buy a second-hand one.
However, if you are diving with two computers you should always be sure to stick with the dive-plan from the more cautious unit, or you will simply bend it.
I recently jumped into some fresh water (at sea level) and did my dive. I was using a Suunto Vyper and a Uwatec Digital, both in gauge mode, and the Uwatec consistently registered deeper than the Suunto, even though both computers were on the same arm. Silly question, but does the Uwatec know that I was in fresh water?
Iain B, from Divernet forum
Computers are calibrated in groups after manufacture. Putting aside the discrepancies that can often be found between units of identical design, some computers are calibrated for fresh and others for sea water.
However, this affects only the depth display reading. Decompression calculations are based on the absolute-pressure reading, not on the depth reading, so this makes no difference at all to your decompression-status calculations.
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