Aaron Harmon is an active Zeagle Diver and a member of the Harnett County Sheriff’s Office – Dive Team, the Harnett County Underwater Search & Recovery Dive Team, North Carolina Public Safety Divers’ Association and the National Academy of Police Diving. He is also a PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer. Aaron submitted these photos and story in his own words about his experience with a Zeagle Rapid Diver System while he was evaluating it for various First Responder Agencies.
On April 15, 2006 the Harnett County Underwater Search & Recovery Dive Team tested the new Rapid-Diver System during a team training dive at Sharon Harris Lake in southern Wake County, NC. Following are the observations and comments from the use of the system.
Transport
As can be seen from the photo on the left, we currently utilize a rapid deployment system consisting of a Zeagle Ranger BCD w/Octo+ and a Zeagle Tech-50D regulator system mounted on an aluminum-80 cylinder. The entire system is mounted on the rear door of the dive team response unit for immediate access and donning. Obviously this method requires the use of the response vehicle if responding to a rescue call. In an inland county we do not service many rescue calls and use the unit mostly in response to S&R calls. Coastal community response teams and those collocated in areas with inland waterways and lakes will of course service many more rescue calls.
You can also see the Zeagle Rapid-Diver System located on the rear bumper of the unit. It has been removed from its storage bag and is ready for the diver to don it. The Rapid-Diver System can be stowed inside the vehicle under a seated diver and can be fully donned while in transit to a rescue site by a seat-belt restrained diver thereby eliminating about 5 minutes of suit-up time. The Rapid-Diver System, due to its small size, can also be transported in privately owned vehicles (POV’s) which may respond to a rescue call independently of the department response vehicle or cruiser eliminating run time to the station -placing a rescue diver on site much quicker.
Deployment
To test the rapidity of deployment from a POV I configured my POV with my dive gear and the Rapid-Diver System. I independently (without assistance) was fully suited up and had the Rapid-Diver System donned in 128 seconds (2 minutes, 8 seconds). The test was started while I was seated in the driver seat wearing street clothes and ended when I took my first step towards the shore line. I had only placed the Rapid-Diver System on myself twice before to see how the unit fit and the straps worked. Pay attention to the donning directions and the correct location of the back pad. All adjustment straps are easily reachable by a diver wearing a wetsuit. I did not test the unit while wearing a drysuit but anticipate that the donning time will be longer due to the extra connection required if using a drysuit inflator hose attached to the unit.
The Rapid-Diver System unit itself can be donned in one smooth motion by reaching into the storage bag, slipping your arms through the straps and lifting the entire unit over your head while reaching skyward with both arms. After slipping the unit over your head you simply reach around and pull the adjustment straps tight, turn the unit on, check the SPG and place the regulator in your mouth. You are ready to dive! No assembly of the unit is required. The figure at the left shows a fully suited diver wearing the Rapid-Diver System ready to grab his weight belt at his feet and walk to the water. No support divers were needed to assist with the suit-up for time reduction or to prevent diver fatigue prior to immersion. The Rapid-Diver System is FAST to don and employ. Obviously the diver shown to the left is not diving in a contaminated environment requiring the use of a full face mask/drysuit.
Duration
To test the duration time of the Rapid-Diver System with a 20cf bottle (as supplied) we simulated the rescue of a victim falling overboard and sinking from a pleasure craft. We weighted a doll (not his daughters doll people – we bought it from a thrift shop) which was dropped into the water from an IBS out of sight from the search diver. Disclaimer: We used a doll – not a real human baby! No babies were used or harmed in the test! The diver was deployed and given a search location for the victim. The diver (me) immediately submerged and began the search. Searches in our area are usually conducted in zero visibility due to the nature of our environment (lakes & rivers) and are mostly time based since divers rarely can see their gauges. I could however see the SPG in this case. I conducted a fast search in the indicated area for 6 minutes at a depth of 20 ffw. I then surfaced to reorient my location relative to the indicated search area. I dove again for another 8 minutes, surfaced to reorient and conducted a third dive for 5 minutes. Upon my final surfacing I had about 500 psig remaining in the cylinder. Total bottom time was 19 minutes at 20 ffw. Individual diver SAC rates, diving depths, regulations and S.O.P.’s will all come into play to determine diving times for the individual diver and/or dive teams. The unit should be tested by each diver using it to determine safe dive profiles for the unit/diver combination. In the test case at depths usually present for our dive team, the 20cf bottle provided more than enough air to complete a rescue dive profile. We would not use the unit to conduct recovery operations since dive profiles can run for 30 minutes. If your unit has divers with nicknames like "big dog" or "pork chop" you may wish to determine if the 20cf bottle will suffice. Divers should also spend some time in a pool with the unit to learn the location of the dump valve, the instrumentation and to become familiar with regulator recovery methods for the unit. Another adjunct use for the Rapid-Diver System is to employ it on safety divers required by OSHA to be present on any dive team dive either for training or actual operations. This dual role for the unit(s) can help offset costs for another entire scuba unit(s) used only to outfit a safety diver. In departments with limited budgets (isn’t that all of us?) we can free up a scuba unit for actual searches and the safety diver will be much more comfortable while fully suited up.
A final word about testing your unit.
I initially dove the Rapid-Diver System in a pool to become familiar with it and played around with it for about 1 hour. A pool does not represent actual dive scenarios in black water where your work load is increased, the temperature is usually frigid and you are about to grab something that wiggles and/or may bite you. Test the unit in the field under conditions that you will dive in the field. The picture above of the SPG was taken on site the day I performed this evaluation. In the pool I could read it just fine. I could barely make it out in field use. I figured that about 1 hour in the pool equated to 30 minutes in the field. I was correct.
Reliability
Unfortunately our department has not purchased the Rapid-Diver System yet so I can only address the reliability of the unit based on my limited exposure to it. As with all Zeagle products, I had 100% confidence in the product. Everything worked flawlessly as I donned it, charged the unit and then dropped into zero visibility water. The pneumatically balanced second stage made the work of breathing effortless and I was comforted by the reassuring hiss of my inhalations knowing I was breathing on a Zeagle unit. I liked the dump valve configuration and once I trained myself where it was located it was very easy to grasp in zero visibility conditions. The low pressure inflator button is also very easy to locate and operate. I did not however particularly like the low profile of the tank valve and as I write this, Zeagle is improving its design. I am sure other feedback has been received and product improvements are getting incorporated into the system if needed in response to field use by customers.
Features
I was particularly impressed with the rapid donning capability of the Rapid-Diver System, its remarkably small storage size and its ease of use. Any law enforcement diver will immediately appreciate the small size of the Rapid-Diver System. I attended some cross training last year with a sheriff’s department in Florida whose dive team stored and transported their dive gear in the trunk of their cruisers. I can only imagine their delight if their department issued the Rapid-Diver System to the dive team. They would have more room for road flares...yea that’s it...road flares.
Summary
I find the Rapid-Diver System a well designed system incorporating ergonomically situated controls essential to its operation. It is the quickest donning and doffing system I have ever used and that feature alone will save valuable time – critical in a rescue scenario. The Rapid-Diver System uses half the space of conventional scuba units – a feature that should be considered. Divers responding to a rescue call in a dive unit can don the Rapid-Diver System while remaining restrained and not get thrown about the response unit attempting to don a conventional scuba unit. Pricing on the Rapid-Diver System is exceptional and there is high value for the dollar.
And now...did I find the baby doll?
NOPE!
And I hope it never floats up in that lake! |
