*Coming to Big Blue Tech in November 2009

The most exciting thing to happen with BCs since the invention of the Scuba tank.
Halcyon Manufacturing is proud to announce our newest BC model, the Infinity ™. The Infinity’s most distinguishing feature is the novel harness adjustment known as the Cinch™. Our quick-adjust Harness (patent pending) redefines what it means to dive a backplate, providing unparalleled comfort and stability in a system with infinite adjustability. Unlike other designs the Cinch™ adjustment eliminates all quick release buckles and dangling webbing. This industry-first innovation marries the stability and streamlining of a backplate with the comfort and flexibility of a recreational jacket BC.
Key Features

• Infinite adjustability in the blink of an eye
• Snug, stable fit with easy removal
• Easily adjustable while in or out of the water
• Quick, easy fit is ideal for diver training
• Useful for managing stressed or unconscious divers
• Easily convertible for suits of varying thickness
• Seamless use of weight pockets, canister light, hip D-ring
• Includes Quick-adjust Crotch Strap
• Deluxe shoulder/backplate pads for unparalleled comfort
• Backplate pad contains pocket for lift devices
• Comes standard with ACB10 Weight Pockets
• Cinch adjustment can be used with singles or doubles

The difference between this and their other BCs is profound; there is a new adjustable harness which allows you to pull tight your harness. This lets you go between a wetsuit and drysuit without having to adjust those pesky belt slides. We got one as a demo in the shop recently, and we are very impressed with it. The cinch is tight enough that it won’t accidentally loose slack, but tightens with a quick pull. They’ve also created an adjustable crotch strap that can be lengthened or shortened in a pull. The harness has two other features worth mentioning; the left D-ring is on a fixed piece of webbing so it will stay stationary as you tighten the harness, and there is a buckle on the right side that serves to hold your canister light.

The new chinch harness is available in several configurations: you can buy the entire package with wing and backplate for 35,000 thb, just the harness pads for 4500 thb, just the cinch adjustment harness to upgrade your current system for $5000, or just the adjustable crotch strap for 2000 thb.

We are offering these online now as a pre-order. Halcyon has told us they expect to ship the first week of November, and we’ll ship pre-orders on a first come, first serve basis.

Big Blue Tech have been rebuilding a Drager Dolphin Semi Closed Rebreather in an attempt to create a Semi Closed Rebreather that functions and resembles the Halcyon RB80

The Drager Dolphin SCR always had some draw back that kept it from being respected amongst the more adventurous divers:

1. The in water trim was terrible;  The breathing bag or counter lung was located in the top of the unit and the steel cylinder slung in the bottom which made the diver very vertical, almost like a baloon with a weight tied on to the bottom. Additionally the bail out cylinder was mounted on the side making it unbalanced even if you did get vertical in the water.

2. The blue “Commando” bcd wasn’t black.

3. The white box that held the breathing bag wasn’t black

4. The small steel cylinder wasn’t big enough and a larger cylinder would only make the unit worse.

5. There was no way to mount deco or stage tanks.

6. The BCD was restrictive and could not be used with a backplate and harness.

Our initial purchase of a used unit in thailand gave us everything we would need including the oxygen sensor for our pp02 display. Out of the box, the unit was working perfectly with all the tests passed and no leaks.

Our first goal was to remove the old and restrictive built in bouyancy compensating jacket to allow the installation of a backplate and wing mounting system. This mounting system from V4Tec would allow all technical diving backplates and wings to be fitted in the same manner you fit diving gear to twin tanks.

The mounting system and side by side tank brakets arrived and fit perfectly. This alteration improved trim, bouyancy immediately. With the twin 6Lt (S40) cylinders mounted side by side it was difficult not to be balanced and horizontal.

The final and most dramatic improvement was the flexible manifold. Contacting our friends in Pattaya who own an engineer shop, we were able to source the high pressure hydraulic hose along with the fittings for our cylinders. This would give us redundancy and increased gas volume. We would still carry a bailout but that could be slung from the harness.

The testing later moved into shallow water trials where different divers of different skill levels went for a short dive to test the trim and overall experience. While this would be their first time in a rebreather they found it quite easy to reach neutral bouyancy and effective trim. The divers practiced bail out techniques  and general rebreather loop use.

Open water ocean trials will be conducted in the near future to test exposure limits and functionality in saltwater.

August 9th 2009

Big Blue Tech found itself with a complete day off with the end of one course and another series of courses scheduled to begin. The Tech Crew used this say to service equipment, order new gear and plan for the series of incoming students and events.

Some of the activities included working more on one of our project rebreathers slated to be dived on next month. We’ve taken a old Drager Dolphin SCR and converting it to a side by side tank system with a mounting unit for a backplate and wing. Currently being engineered is a flexible manifold found already on the Halcyon rebreather. On this day we sorted out the scrubber and checked all the major features like possitive and negative pressure, flow rate and bubble check before taking it diving. The advantage of this little breather is for shallow caves and recreational diving. The film Sharkwater was created using one of these rebreathers so we’re hoping to integrate this unit into our future technical videography courses.

In addition to getting the rebreather organized was boosting pure oxygen to 200 bar for our remote technical diving expedition in Khao Sok where getting oxygen fills on the dive site will be difficult. This was also a chance for crew to show our intern how these systems work and how to operate them.

And much like any normal day at Big Blue Tech the local staff and divers came by for a coffee and a chat in  our relaxed atmosphere.

Tomorrow will be very different with the start of an Advanced Nitrox and Decompression Procedures Course.

by James Thornton-Allan

Based in Montgomery NY. and founded in 1991, Ocean Management Systems Inc., commonly known as OMS (www.omsdive.com) is revolutionizing the future of sport and technical diving through the implementation of today’s most advanced technology. The company is leading the dive industry with innovative life support, computer and analytical products that greatly enhance the diver’s situational awareness and safety during every phase of dive. OMS Inc. has built its core business, around neutrally buoyant steel cylinders, patented BC’s and backplate harness systems. These and other OMS products are typically known throughout the dive industry for their innovative design, and robustness.

The ‘Workhorse’ unbalanced regulator has been the standard in SCUBA diving for years. Why? Its rugged, simplistic, dependable, low cost design lends itself for use as a primary, recreational, technical and DECO regulator. This regulator in fact was utilized by the National Park Service as a primary SCUBA regulator
in its 190+ foot dive to the B-29 bomber in Lake Mead! The Workhorse now comes standard with (1) Black (installed) (1) Green (Nitrox) and (1) (Oxygen) Yellow cover.

Big Blue Tech. own four OMS ‘Workhorse’ regulator sets and use them solely for the 6m to surface ascent zone of accelerated decompression on 100 % oxygen. To deliver this review in a clear and fair manner, the review will be broken down into seperate areas of consideration.

Function:

The OMS ‘Workhorse’ is an unbalanced regulator which means the tank pressure has a considerable effect on the breathing resistance. This is not related to our review since we never took a breathe from it below 6m. With this regulator being unbalanced it also means its very easy to repair and service which is essential for this unit, - more on this topic in the section reliability and robustness that follows-. If you look at the picture below you can see how simple it is inside. When we compare the ‘Workhorse’ to other regulators we found the Scubapro MK2 almost identical inside.

Robustness:

The OMS ‘Workhorse’ is by far the most fragile and delicate of all our regulators. There is one major design flaw: the exhaust cover. The exhaust cover is a large piece of plastic covering the area where exhaled bubbles escape via channel openings on either side. This cover is also looped behind the mouthpeice and secures on to the rest of the regulator by 2 very small clips. Below you can see a comparison of this exhaust cover; one with and one without such clips.

While waiting for replacement parts, we used the mouthpiece to secure the exhaust cover on to the regulator with a strong cable tie. This doesn’t really help since the mouthpiece comes off very easily. In fact, the mouthpiece is always twisting in your mouth during decompression. You can see below how the second stage is assembled.

This problem became quite dangerous when the regulator comes apart in your mouth but you still have the mouthpeice where it should be. For trained and experience divers it’s not an issue, but it could prove very dangerous for novice divers. Being divers, we assume that having a regulator come apart in your mouth would certainly pose some concern to someone.

All of our regulators broke this way. Despite becoming increasingly aware of this issue and exercising caution during use of these regulators during decompression, they would still come apart.

Features:

One of the great things about this regulator are the interchangeable covers. This is a really nice feature when diving in a large team, allowing easy identification of the gas the other team divers are on. Identifying and differentiating instantly oxygen from nitrox, can prove to be handy in certain tech. diving situations. That would be the only unique feature about this regulator.

Reliable:

Building further on the issue of robustness, we also found the 1st stage of the ‘Workhorse’ to have a great tendency to leak after only 20-30 dives post service. Not a major leak, but a slow and steady trickle of bubbles tickling the divers chin (in technical diving, your oxygen cylinder is slung onto your chest; this oxygen cylinder being the one the OMS reg’s 1st stage in question is mounted on). When decompressing for 30 minutes it’s very aggravating and distracting. Additionally, getting parts in Thailand is somewhat difficult and we were unable to find available service schematics at the time of writing.

Testing Grounds:

We have taken these regulators from swamp bottom lakes to open ocean wrecks. We are certain we have been putting these regulators in the conditions they are designed for. As these regulators are secured by strap to the cylinder (for retrieval in the latter stages of the dive for decompression purposes), they are subject to impact with rock walls and boulders when penetrating caves and narrow overhangs. Furthermore, add to this the possible degrading effects of silt, sand and sun and ofcourse the occasional bashing about on busy dive boats during the kit up and storage process and one can understand why a regulator can fail mechanically at some point. However, given that these regulators are designed with such issues in mind, have a name like ‘Workhorse’ attached, and are produced by a company like OMS, one would imagine they could withstand these conditions (despite the stress or amount of repetitive diving strain placed upon them). During all dive testing and opinions formulated, the ‘Workhorse’ was only used at 6m.

Breathing:

It breathed fine at 6m, no worse or better than any other regulator we have used. Since it is a simple unbalanced regulator we imagine it would perform the same as any other entry level piston regulator.

Price:

One great feature of this regulator is the price tag attached to it. It’s cheaper than the competitors and when buying in bulk it makes a difference.

Conclusion:

If you’re thinking of buying a ‘Workhorse’ regulator, you have to consider primarily what environment you will be using it in and for what type of diving. If you’re using it for simple recreational diving where the regulator will be stored in a nice padded bag, you dive maybe once or twice a year and you live in the United States where spare parts are abundant and easily accessible; then this is a good regulator for you.

If you are considering of doing all the cool things advertised in the OMS catalogue then perhaps this is not the best option for you. If you are an avid recreational or technical diver with frequent dive exposure and you require a reliable strong regulator then you will find yourself dsappointed quite early on. For consistent performance - such as that required by a dive professional- we recommend the MK2 regulator with a R295 second stage (pictured above). We utilize these for dives to 40m and shallower and they prove to be very dependable indeed.