Posted by MHK on August 02, 2001 at 11:05:16:
In Reply to: Re: drysuit diving - why an Argon inflation bottle? posted by AADIVER on August 02, 2001 at 10:50:34:
Frank,
I use the term * argon bottle* merely as a decriptive term.. As I noted, I rarely use argon if diving recreationally, however, when we do the deep stuff that requires long and motionaless decompression obligations I'll fill it with argon..
That aside, I disagree that it wouldn't have helped Mia, however I fully concede that it is my opinion..
It just seemed to me that when she ran her inflation source off her back gas and then bled the tank dry she was left with NO inflation source whatsoever and my recollection of the facts is that she appeared to be pretty overweighted with a belt that wasn't able to get ditched because of a ill-fitting buckle, or something along those lines.. Accordingly, she was sinking like a rock, unable to inflate and unable to ditch the belt. More than likely her suit was squeezing so her movements were impaired, I believe that had she had a separate bottle she could have used that bottle to inflate, prvent the squeeze and probably ascend..
That's my opinion from the facts as I understand them to be, but I wasn't there so I can only go on what the information I receive..
As for the added gear and expense, where talking about 50 cents a CuFt. in a 6 CuFt. bottle, or ~$3.00.. That's not a big expense, and as for teh bottle itself, given some of the diving that I do, my view is that if you can't afford to do that kind of diving then don't do it..
There also is a theory that is way beyond the scope of recreational diving that suggests that Helium in your drysuit can create certain issues.. It's beyond the scope of recreational diving so I'm not going to get much more into it on here, but suffice it to say Helium based mixes at depth do not provide warmth, so we use argon..
Later