cold water/sealed regs

[chrisw]

Hey all,
I need advice regarding cold water/sealed regs. (I dont want
to make another hideous gear decision like my split fins )

I will be diving near the Antarctic pennisula where its
salt water and water temps can be 28F. I need to have
2 complete sets of regs (2 X (1st stage + 2nd stage + octo)

<steel tanks, DIN, Y valve supplied>

Got any suggestions, recommendations, warnings etc...

Thanks,
-chris

[Inspirationdiver]

If you are going to be diving a Y-valve with 2 separate regulators, you won't need the octo on either of them. You get better redundancy by just diving the two separate regs, the octo's would only add clutter to your rig. I've always been a fan of the Apex TX50 or the newer ATX50, its a little lighter weight but essentially the same reg. They both come in DIN.

[DRE]

I agree with Inspirationdiver - get rid of the octos, put a long hose on one of the first stages, use argon for suit inflation, and you might want to consider rigging an AL40 stage Hogarthian for added gas and/or deco mix.

Apeks regs work great in cold water - also consider the new Zeagles. They use all standard hoses (3/8" ports), which might be beneficial in terms of ease of finding spares.

[cdtgray]

If it's between the zeagles and the apeks, I'd go with the zeagles. They are essentially the same regs; zeagle just has all standard ports, is made in the US, and the company has excellent customer service/great warranty.

[chrisw]

These dive operators are strict. NO DECO. no argon. NO DECO. no nitrox. NO DECO. no stages. NO DECO. no pony bottles. NO DECO.
Use what they supply or stay on the boat. I am guessing its due to the circumstances: Southern Ocean. no chamber on the continent. improbability of transport to nearest chamber (i thinks its New Zealand)

Will do on the long hose!

[igotoofar]

No Argon, No Nitrox, No Pony bottle.........

No sense letting safety and prevention get in the way of a good dive.

No Dive

JMO = Warning => RunAway, RunAway

[chrisw]

so you take a pony bottle on a dive to 40ft?

[igotoofar]

Why wouldn't you? If you have the equipment, why place your backup/safety in the hands of your buddy? For his/her sake as well as yours.

Consider it Plan B, Dive plan A, but know that you have the option.

If you are only diving to 40ft, why wouldn't you be using Nitrox?

At 40fsw, with air and a 120min bottom time. The US Navy table puts you in the Nitrogen Group K. With a 2 hour surface interval, your New Group Designation becomes G, which means a new dive to 40fsw has a "Penalty" time of 73 Min.

The same dive with EAN32 starts you in Group G. The same 2 hour surface interval, places you into the New Group Designation of C. This means you only have a "Penalty" time of 37min. Almost half the time.

Even if you just use Nitrox with air tables, you would get another level of safety.

[chrisw]

obviously i am not an expert at this. i am just
stating what the dive operators require. i think
its a question of economics and simplicity.

they have to haul all the gear and supplies from
europe to south america and then to antarctica.
i am guessing that pretty damn expensive to tote
argon and nitrox.

they supply the y valves, tanks (compressed air) and weights.
i think this keeps it simpler for them to manage/repair/maintain the
equipment.

in addition they do specify that dives should be
no deeper than 60 ft MAX. and 30 min or less.
the water is 28F and there is virtually no way to
airlift a person to New Zealand for decompression.

while i realize that simplicity and rules do not make for
safety, i think it sure helps them keep a better
handle on their divers and their equipment needs/safety.

i remain unconvinced that not using nitrox or argon
constitutes so much risk as to make it unsafe to dive
with them.

[igotoofar]

With a limit of 30min bottom time, it really wouldn't make much of a difference, assuming you wouldn't be making more than a couple of dives a day.

Of course with the 28F water, You could perform a great test for us with Argon vs Air