Category: DIY

Building a Sidewinder / Gemini rebreather clone

macado

I suppose I should start this post off with a bit of a disclaimer. Rebreathers are dangerous and can kill you without proper training, discipline and understanding. Don’t build or modify a rebreather unless you have a proper understanding of all the concepts behind everything you’re doing, even then things can still go wrong. Always know your ppO2. If you’re not sure or something doesnt feel right then there is no harm in bailing out. Plenty of really smart (and unquestionably stupid) people have died because they thought they knew…

My compressor and fill panel setup (updated)

macado

Not a lot has changed with my compressor setup. I’m still running my Alkin W31 compressor and have about 250 hours on it. I bought it brand new in mid-2019. So far the only maintenance I’ve done is regular oil changes and filter changes. Full disclosure: I did have 2 issues. The 240v to 12v transformer on mine failed (broken wiring/ bad contact) but Alkin shipped me a new one overnight. Also the pneumatic valve on my autodrain was sticking closed but that’s more general maintenance. It was very easy…

Building The Under $50 O2 Cell Checker

macado

I have been interested in building an O2 Cell Checker for a while now, not only to test if my rebreather cells are current limited but also to check the linearity of them. That is when I remembered seeing an older thread on RebreatherWorld.com aptly named “The Under $50 Cell Checker”  A bunch of people on that thread had some really cool designs. I merely copied what other people were doing and can’t take any credit for this idea. So the question is can you build a cell checker for…

DIY Drysuit Heated Vest

macado

I finally got around to “finishing” my DIY drysuit heated vest project. While I have been using a Thermalution heated vest for the past two seasons I wanted something with a little longer runtime that heated over a larger area. I also wanted the ability to isolate the battery in the event of failure.  I really can’t take credit for this design as I pretty much copied the parts list from my friends Matt and Lea who designed their vests before me.  I waited for them to be guinea pigs until…

Scootering at Old Garden Beach

macado

It’s been a while since I’ve been in the salt water (ok I just realized that’s a lie..it’s been a while since my rebreather has seen salt water) and had a few things I needed to test.  Most importantly, my aqualung/tear aid repair job on my exhale counterlung.  I also wanted to test my repaired battery on my Suex Xjoy2 scooter and my new Light Monkey bailout system. What better place than Old Garden Beach in Rockport, MA on a Sunday morning. Me and Mike W. met up at Old…

Fall first-stage rebuilds that are O2 “clean enough”

macado

I discovered that my car battery was dead Thursday morning before work so I figured I would work-from-home and use that opportunity to do something truly productive. I figured I would catch up on a little scuba gear maintenance and rebuild some regulators, specifically first-stage rebuilds. All in all, it was a very productive day. I rebuilt a bunch of my regs that were well overdue.  I have a bunch more that I’ll save for a rainy/snowy day sometime this winter. Why Rebuild Regulators? My philosophy for most regulator rebuilds…

Rebreather surgery completed, kitten even tried helping..

macado

Because my rEvodream (secondary redundant ppO2 monitor) had died on me during my last dive I decided I would do the right thing and install a new one.  When I was in Florida in March I actually bought a brand new “used” rEvodream from AddHelium because I knew my current rEvodream was acting up.  It was basically brand new because someone had removed it to install a Shearwater NERD on their rEvo. It didn’t take very long to install. Hardest part was fishing cables through. Maybe 1 hour or hour…

Gear Review: KUBI dry gloves system

macado

It’s been a year since I purchased a set of KUBI dry gloves.  I figure a year is plenty of time to run them through their paces and give an honest review.  From what I gather it’s a pretty popular system in UK/Europe but not so much in the United States.  Anyway, that seems to be changing fast..  I can’t say for sure how many dives I have with them since I switch back and forth between wet and dry gloves depending on the water temperature but I would conservatively…

How they “fix” split fins in Mexico

macado

I was looking through some old photos from a few years ago in Cozumel and stumbled across these gems.  One of the instructors I met, actually he might have been a DM, I don’t really remember..  Anyway, he wasn’t very happy with his split fins so he simply went to a local cobbler and had them sew a piece of rubber onto his fins to “unsplit” his split fins. I simply title this masterpiece “How they fix split fins in Mexico” or “Fixing split fins.”      Just another great…