It's here!!

[Joew]

My new DSS rig came in the mail today! Tobin must bribe the Postmaster, because it only took 2 days to get to Hawai'i. I just got it all rigged up, and it feels great. Hopefully I'll get it wet in the next couple of days so I can get it adjusted properly and give a formal review.

[tc_rain]

Have fun and please don't forget to give a good review.

[Judestudio]

Yea it took 3 days to get from US to New Zealand, now that's scary. Congrats and have fun with the new gear! Let us know how you like it.

Oh by the way, I still have trouble rigging up the cam bands, I couldn't tighten them up for some strange reason, something I did wrong, but don't know where. I bought an Apollo Bio-Tank though, so I can still use the rig no problem, but when you got your gear rigged up, do you mind letting me know how you did the cam bands [img]smileys/smiley24.gif[/img] ? Thanks!

[Joew]

I didn't have any problems lacing the cambands. They are the same as most others I've used. There are numbers on the buckle showing you the steps for lacing them. I don't have a tank handy to strap them on, so I can't test to see how secure they are, but I don't foresee any problems. If you're not used to this type of camband, have someone show you how to tighten them properly. You need to pull on the loose end while rocking the buckle back and forth until it is snug. Then while holding the buckle half closed so there is tension on the strap, you lace the loose end throught the slot on the end of the buckle and then pull the strap until it latches shut.

[cummings66]

The thing is very secure, but I have managed one time to have both straps come loose. Second dive, I don't know what I did but I would have sworn that it was tight, of course I noted that the bands seemed to be in a different spot but couldn't figure out why until I had been under water about 30 minutes.
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Kicked myself for that one, I should have taken it back off and redone it when I noticed something off but couldn't figure out what.</DIV>

[fire diver]

Originally Posted by Judestudio

Yea it took 3 days to get from US to New Zealand, now that's scary. Congrats and have fun with the new gear! Let us know how you like it.

Oh by the way, I still have trouble rigging up the cam bands, I couldn't tighten them up for some strange reason, something I did wrong, but don't know where. I bought an Apollo Bio-Tank though, so I can still use the rig no problem, but when you got your gear rigged up, do you mind letting me know how you did the cam bands [img]smileys/smiley24.gif[/img] ? Thanks!

<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>I'll post details tomorrow when I get home and can look at mine. You have to keep in mind that the buckle needs to pull on the strap, not just rotate over it. I had to sit there and play with mine for a while before I got it right. </DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>FD</DIV>

[mwhities]

Originally Posted by Judestudio

Yea it took 3 days to get from US to New Zealand, now that's scary. Congrats and have fun with the new gear! Let us know how you like it.

Oh by the way, I still have trouble rigging up the cam bands, I couldn't tighten them up for some strange reason, something I did wrong, but don't know where. I bought an Apollo Bio-Tank though, so I can still use the rig no problem, but when you got your gear rigged up, do you mind letting me know how you did the cam bands [img]smileys/smiley24.gif[/img] ? Thanks!

See if http://mwhities.dirdivers.com/index.php?level=album&amp;id=11 will help you. I played with it for 20 minutes or so before I could figure it out.

Michael

[Judestudio]

Great link! Thanks mwhities!

[fire diver]

Originally Posted by mwhities

See if http://mwhities.dirdivers.com/index.php?level=album&amp;id=11 will help you. I played with it for 20 minutes or so before I could figure it out.

Michael

<DIV></DIV>
<DIV>Ya beat me to it. Nice photos Michael.</DIV>

[Joew]

I finally got a chance to dive the new BP/W today. [img]smileys/smiley4.gif[/img] As I expected, it was wonderful in the water. It almost felt like I was freediving. I could barely notice I was wearing a BC at all. I knew there would be less drag compared to my jacket BC, but it was still surprising. When I tried kicking in high gear I was scooting along pretty easy, and it seemed like I went through less air than normal for each dive. The 26# Torus wing is great. it is very compact and streamlined. I've heard some complaints that the corrugated hose is too short, but I didn't have any problems with it. When it came time to rinse my gear after the dives it was easy to remove the wing from the plate. Having the wing unattached made it real easy to rinse and drain the inside of the bladder. Rinsing the inside of my old BC used to be a big headache.

Well, I think we get too hung up on gear some times, so heres the important part -- the dive report.

5 turtles, 7/11 crab, 3 imperial nudibranchs, 2 tiny (~3mm) lined sea hares (?) free swimming, 2 devil scorpionfish, leaf scorpionfish, octopus, magnificent snake eel, a few morey eels(white mouth, undulated, and a BIG yellow margin), and an up close encounter with a white tip. Oh, and we had a pod of spinner dolphins riding the bow wake for a while.

All in all it was a great day of diving. It would have been perfect if I wasn't having camera troubles [img]smileys/smiley19.gif[/img]