What I have:
A single AL80 DIR set up. Diving 7mm wet.
What I don’t have:
Enough money to get a double’s setup, or a dry suit.
What I want:
Increased safety through redundancy
Increased bottom time.
Adaptability
DIR compatible configuration
Gear I can Afford
What I’m thinking:
Most of my dives have been shore dives in the 30-70 fsw range, but I would like the ability to dive comfortably in the 70-100 fsw range. There are a variety of wrecks in this range near by, and it would be nice to go a little deeper in the canyons every once in a while. One of the problems I’m running into is that with a conservative rock bottom (amazing what stress will do to your breathing) the 70+ dives are severely limited, not because of the ndl, but because of the amount of working gas I have. Of course I am working on lowering my SAC rate, but that can only take you so far.
I’m looking at adding an AL80 stage to my gear configuration. I think this best fulfills my wants.
-It offers me the redundancy of another first stage.
-It increases my bottom time. (By breathing down the stage to rock bottom, then switching to back gas and breathing that down to rock bottom, I retain my redundancy through out the dive and still increase my working gas by a substantial amount.)
-This rig would be extremely adaptable. If I’m doing a 30fsw shore dive I just strap on my single rig and have fun. If I head out to the Yukon I can add my stage and increase my efficiency and safety on the wreck dive. If I want to do that same 30fsw shore dive but I want to have an incredibly long bottom time, I use the stage. I could go on but you get the idea.
-I believe this rig would meet DIR standards. In fact, I got the idea watching DIR3. It might not fly with GUE standards though…not sure.
-I can afford this. All I need is a reg, a tank, and a stage set up.
What do you think?
Is the set up DIR?
Any safety issues?
Is an AL80 my best choice?
Anything I’m missing?
Don’t worry about my feelings
