Choosing the SF2 and training on the rebreather

[Music] this video is aimed at those who consider buying an sf2 rebreather you have probably come across this scanning the internet for all sorts of information to make an informed decision or you have made the decision to repurchase an sf2 and would like to prepare as much as possible while you were waiting for it to arrive this episode is recorded from an operator's perspective of the roughly hundred and ten units hours on the unit and remember that I'm not a dive professional so please consider this experience offered from peer to peer and most of the things I'm going to cover also apply to other electronic closed circuit rebreathers know why a rebreather in the first place for me it was mainly the cost of gases and gas logistics as it was starting to regular dive in the 50-meter 160 foot depth range I noticed that I started spending serious money on gas mixes I mean not only that but in addition to the standard double 12s on my back I had to often carry about on stage with me that meant that a depth my team had to wait for me to switch tacks I mean in terms of gas and the compression obligation every minute that depth counts and I knew that this issue would become even more pronounced as dives got deeper and longer of course I'm also fascinated by the operating principle of a rebreather and I like machines there are additional benefits such as diving depth or more gas there by optimizing decompression there are diving moist and warm gas which in addition to benefiting decompression simply makes for warmer dives than in open circuit mode there is however a high risk associated to agree the diving which I feel must be mentioned when you are single and in your early 20s and are not fully aware of your personal limitations and talents this might not be obvious but as you age and the well-being of your family and maybe even of your employees is at stake your risk appetite must be in line with the risk profile of diving the reader mistakes made because your head was still in the office compounded by the fact that your skills were rusty due to other obligations can lead to a deadly outcome even on a shallow recreational dive this is one of the reasons why I personally don't grasp the concept of a pure recreational rebreather other than the the commercial aspect of extending the market into an untapped segment the primary reason I picked the SF 2 was that the instructor of my choice the one who had trained me to become a technical diver owns a fully certified asset to service center a rebreather is a system it consists of the main unit but you also have to have access to consumables such as scrubber an occasional replacement of oxygen sensors and this brings us to the service aspect rebreathers even though solidly built need occasional maintenance and repair so physical proximity to my instructor and the service center played a role what I liked about the SF 2 in addition to its cool black carbon fiber look is that it is so streamlined that the control arms are stowed in a tube in the lower back which is a reminiscence of the unit's origin as a passive semi closed room breathe I am fully aware of occasional heated online discussions about the difference in work of breeding between shoulder-mounted counterlungs and those on the SF 2 but honestly in almost any diving condition I did not see the SF news work of as an issue another key strength of the SS to that it's a very clean streamlined unit that lends itself to divers coming particularly from a dir philosophy another key aspect was that there was an active community as of asset to divers in the German part of Switzerland well I still mostly died with my old open-circuit bodies I appreciate the possibility to die for like-minded people now my personal configuration from day one consists of two of the shoulder manual ads for oxygen and inland there is simply no way to get around that if you're a technical dial the the unit comes with the factory installed Shearwater patrol computer which has become the de facto standard in the industry it is a dive conversion which drives the electronics of the rebreather not much later I added the second petrol as a backup which is connected through a simple Fisher cable to the sensors you may not need one in the beginning but once you're conducting decompression dives any failure of the primary computer would automatically force you to bail out this is opposed to being able to manually drive the unit and complete the dive in closed-circuit mode it just provides for another level of safety I consider for some time to replace the second patrol with the head-up display the Shearwater nerd which has a built-in computer was too expensive at the time and the simple Oh to display alternatives did not provide an additional layer of safety should the primary computer fail I quickly notice that for most of my dive profiles I could have both of my computers in in plain sight I might change my view on this once I start series on the water photography or videography about 20 dives into the activity I replace the factory loop with the combination of Cooper houses and a golem gear bailout valve additional spend I know but countless simulated bailed bailout drills convinced me actually that it will be good to be able to switch quickly to the onboard deal Izabella which means being off the system and breathing gas open-circuit before deploying my off board bailout stage again I'm aware that at extreme depths the second stage of the aftermarket BOV might possibly not deliver the required gas volume during co2 hit but in any other emergency situation it would be a relief I would say that one should be an accomplished technical diver before starting out on a rebreather if you are still fighting with your buoyancy and proper trim shooting surface marker boy is in a high workload situation would you mask off scaring you then you should take yourself some more time because switching to rebreathers means additional complexity it means a higher workload configuring for a dive and monitoring the po2 levels switching them back and forth during the dive and occasionally checking the well-being of the sensors directly by looking at their millivolt readings it also means saying bye to buoyancy adjustments with your lung volume that one is now going into the counterlung and the only thing it does if at all is affecting your trim now you suddenly have to manage your loop volume and keeping it at an optimal level which means additional workload when you are ascending this is in addition to you managing your wing and you dry soon regarding the training organization there's not much choice TDI is authorized to teach the Isetta - and this was fine for me they are a respectable organisation although maybe not that strict as the dir type organizations such as inner space explorers GE or Utd you have to be comfortable with your instructor as far as I'm concerned I'm pretty old-school in that regard I have to fully trust you respect them especially at the beginning of the training my life is in their hands this requires trust and affords respect helmet my instructor is a highly experienced no-nonsense guy who just at his pace - my talent level he boosted my ego more than once after sobering you know some might say frustrating mistakes but he's equally good at putting me in my place should my ego occasionally overtake my skills you will have to pick your own criteria but I hope I gave you some indicators to Tomoka at the time of recording I have completed three courses on the SF to the basic as if to add Dylan course dear Dylan's decompression course and most recently the mixed gas diver course the first course is a combination of libri the basics and factory training it is limited to 18 meters or roughly 60 feet and no decompression diving with air is dillert second the second course still uses the air is Dylan but it extends you range by limiting the depth to 45 meters or about 140 feet this time allowing for decompression diving this course actually covers about 80% of the practice dive profiles that my dive team and I have done around the lakes of Zurich in the last year's from a different perspective the maximum depth is at the edge of what is advisable from a work of breathing and co2 retention aspect also this is not why I took up rebreather diving the third course therefore is Esav to mix against diver extended my limits to 60 meters or about 180 feet and dylan gasses up to 1845 this would allow me to access again most of my favorite dive spots which are the racks of the Ligurian coast in Italy I often get asked is there anything I wish I had known earlier about diving or rebreather or specifically an sf2 not that I would have changed anything but here are a few points there is an additional work in preparing the unit before a dive and cleaning it up after one before I used to drop my gear in the car well short notice my diving days now starts about half an hour earlier for day trips from home I assemble my unit at home and calibrate the sensors in order not to get into a rush I have to pack the scrubber and I usually do this evening before and then store it in an airtight sailing back on the drive side there are still some checks that need to be performed which includes pre-breathing the unit so don't let your open circuit dive buddies after the dive the unit must be washed and disinfected the washing happens every time with a lot of fresh water I this in fact about every fourth or fifth dive there seem to be two factions regarding this online those who disinfect every time those who brag about growing their little ecosystem inside they're comfortable if you thought you would carry less weight that might be true for the main unit but you will go from one to several stages as your courses progress remember that you're carrying your bailout with you in the hope of never having to use it at the beginning I used to replace the scrubber after each dive regardless of length and depth this has changed now on normal dives to depths of less than 50 meters 150 feet and normal workloads I replace the scrubber about every three hours this usually means three moderate dives or two series decompression dives and if you're the Explorer type it will of course mean only one dive or the soft no line in 20 kilo cats you will go through the small for 0.5 kilo gram ones in no time and now the reality check is with the oxygen sensor treat them well I remove the head as soon as I can after each dive and drive through the soft nam length cloth sensors hate humidity they also hate pressure if they hate high oxygen concentrations so expose them to these enemies as little as possible and still they might act up on you on my first dive trip to Italy one of the sensors acted up after less than a year 45 metres on top of a rack back to shore it acted as if nothing had happened the web is full of these stories just make sure that you have one or better to spare senses with you on a multi-day dive trip I will finish this episode with the cost of ownership I mean you guessed it owning a rebreather is not cheap yes you save money with gases but if that was your only reason to buy a rebreather then if you can barely afford to buy the unit itself than you are setting yourself up for frustration and even at the added risk because you should never cut corners on scrubber sensors and maintenance and like I hope this episode was useful to you please subscribe and leave a comment in the section below

Channel: Alexander Antic

Views: 2,688

Rating: 4.6756759 out of 5

Keywords: SF2, rebreather, diving, tdi, eccr, diluent, buoyancy, shearwater, petrel

Id: p0_Sj7M_aVo

Length: 13min 0sec (780 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 21 2017