Posted by JR Gordon on November 15, 2000 at 15:04:47:
In Reply to: Ah, more info, thanks... posted by JRM on November 13, 2000 at 16:36:03:
josh,
I dive poseidons in the open water and love them, but I'm well aware I'm dancing with the devil. They always breathe exceptionally well, even at extreme depths (350 fsw), which is what they were designed for. I have had one fail at 130 off a wall in Cozumel. When the intermediate seat fails, which has been their achilles heel, they slowly creep up in pressure and the upstream o/p valve in the hose releases that pressure. I was in a cave/tube on a wall offshore Cozumel (Punta Sur)when my backup around my neck starting bubbling in spurts. Because it was intermittent and below my direct view it took several minutes before I realized where this bubbling air was coming from. When I exited the tube I had 1300 lbs. left in my AL80. I knew that potentially I was in big trouble so I gave my son and daughter a OOA sign and both of them were immediately on me with their primaries out in front of them and their backups in their mouths (small plug for good and repetitive DIR training). We started to surface normally and I went completely OOA at 60 fsw. When I checked the IP later that day it creeped from 140 to well over 200 within 1 minute. A recipe for disaster at depth. Keep it serviced and I srtrongly suggest you get a LP pressure guage you can plug into your inflator hose to check the IP before you dive. Just watch that the IP stays firm at 130-150 and doesn't creep upwards.
I also dive caves in mexico and florida, and I wouldn't dream of taking my poseidons anywhere where there's the possibility of silt. As Kendall said, you want to be able to remove the cover of your 2nd. stages underwater.
JRG