Re: Helmets, bells (was: "Bootlegging Real Psubs")

[SJSVOB@aol.com]

<<How old were you?   I was between 12 and 15 that I tried my wash tub 
diving bell.   Inspired by a book I found at the junior high school
library; today, that would make them liable for any accidents.>>

>From 14 to 17.  Sounds kind of old to be doing that but it was alot more fun 
skinny dipping with the girls and our diving bell then staying at the boring 
parties we were at.

<<Maybe I should get back to that idea, now that
I'm not longer having seizures and my parents have decided that
I'm a lost cause . . . .>>

Oh my mother never knew.  I still can't forgive her for not letting me go on 
my open water check out dive at age 12.  It was fun being underwater with a 
source of air.  Especially something as inexpensive as a bucket and an 
anchor.  Who needs expensive regulators and tanks?  Lately I've been thinking 
of attaching a ball valve to a snorkel.  Then connecting a pony bottle filled 
with oxygen to the snorkel with a needle valve.  So when I'm skin diving and 
I want to stay down longer I can give a twist of the ball valve, then hit the 
needle valve and fill up my lungs.  In scuba diving classes they scare the 
hell out of you, talking about air embolism (air expanding in the lungs on 
ascent) and build up of carbon dioxide (skip breathing).  But the majority of 
my diving has been in shallow pools, rivers and shallow anchorages on lakes.  
On canoe trips I just can't feasibly lug heavy scuba gear around.  I need 
something compact to satisfy my desire to really explore those rivers.  The 
reason I haven't built this rig yet is because I don't know much about 
shallow water blackout and I want to do more reading first.

Steve