This weeks topic: The Drager Dolphin Rebreather (Disclaimer: this article is rather technical in nature… we are not liable for any cranial cramps) So half way through one of my technical diving courses (TSD) 2 months ago I started asking questions about my instructor’s rebreather fetish. BIG mistake. I think he has like 6 of them or something. I didn’t think by any stretch that the curiosity would lead me any further than questions. But what I learned about them surprised me; there’s a lot of myth out there. First of all not all rebreathers are the same, there are 2 main types, semi closed circuit and closed circuit. The Drager Dolphin is a semi closed and you may be surprised to learn how safe it really is. Drager was founded in 1889 in Germany and started out building gas masks for miners and things like that. Today, Drager is an industry leader in medical, safety, and aerospace technology; they even make a really cool hyperbaric chamber. The Dolphin is the only rebreather on the open market that holds a CE rating. It is a very simple standardized piece of equipment, so much so, that PADI even offers a training course for it. PADI has always been conservative in their tech training regiments (1.4 ppo2 etc.) Do you really think they’d endorse something dangerous? Now having said that you must take the same approach that the open water video states - you don’t have to be a straight AAA student type athlete, but you do have to have your s@#*% together to be a diver because this ain’t basketball. The same applies for tech diving and for using equipment like rebreathers. So Why spend the extra dough?? What are the benefits?? The first thing that attracted me to closed loop diving was the ability to get closer to critters. I love photography and this is a step so far ahead there’s no comparison. You become more like a fish than a diver and I think that’s what I like best. No bubbles (or a tiny stream of bubbles) compared to the constant blast of open regulator exhaust is so quiet I couldn’t believe the difference. There are some very different skills one needs to master, buoyancy control will never be the same again after trying this. Because your breath goes back into your “loop” and not out into the water there is no such thing as a fin pivot. (When you inhale, you don’t go up – when you exhale, you don’t go down) this takes some getting used to. I found that I was warmer during my dives because I wasn’t breathing cold compressed air. There is also a little bit more equipment preparation and tear down after the dive. Everything must be properly cleaned. All the extra work scares some people off, and I say... no problem – it’s natural selection and probably a good thing. There are some other things notable about this product and what it comes with/doesn’t come with that I feel need mentioning. The Dolphin does not come with an O2 monitor, this is mostly do with its gas blending capabilities and you don’t have to have one. Am I ever gonna dive with out it?? Never. Here’s why: The O2 sensor, which could be a VR3 or some other dive computer with an interface, is readily available. If for some reason you have a scrubber breakdown or a malfunction in the orifice that controls your fresh gas (nitrox 40, 50 or 60%) you would know it by checking your monitor. Simply stated the human body likes a range of oxygen partial pressure between .16% and 2.0% these are extremes. If you get less than .16% your in trouble, same with too much. Manditory equipment if you ask me. The Dragers scrubber canister holds enough for 4 hrs of continuous diving and the 20 cu. ft. bottle lasts approximately 2 hrs. The only thing holding you back from longer dives is the size of bottle you use and your NDL’s. But really, I think that 2 hr long dives are long enough….for now. Keep in mind this rig weighs about 35 lbs ready to go (excluding your lead). Anyone wanna throw on their twin 100 steels and join me? I don’t think so. I will never wear mine for extended recreational depth dives again. We are offering the PADI Drager course starting now!!! “Breathe continuously “ Dan Sidney Dive n Surf |