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Here is the Dolphin KISS conversion completed and being dived by Markus Fant of Oregon City, Oregon.

Markus made his own housing for his RB, using fiberglass and his own hands, one of the main improvements is that the RB can be serviced through the back of the unit by removing a cover.

 

 

  Looking at the back side of the unit without any scrubber or breathing bags.  Notice the very cool handle through bolted to the top of the fiberglass housing.  Tanks are mounted with TigerGear brackets.

 

  Here is a shot with the cover on, I like the stealthly look.  It appears to be quite strong too.

 

     

Here we have the long awaited, improved KISS valve fresh from KISS manufacturing.  Notice the smaller size, fluted sides, new button, it also runs at a higher IP to allow operation deeper than the original design by utilizing a smaller bleed orifice.  Orifice went from .004 to .0035.  Markus added a shutoff valve and green hose wrap denoting Oxygen.  The bypass is now flow limited too.

 

 A standard Schrader male end is where the o2 gets plumbed into the dosage device from the downstream side of the KISS valve, Markus is working on a new method of o2 add. See next pictures.

 

  This adaptor was made from Delrin on a wood lathe, of all things, (Markus is quite the talented guy), it fits nicely between the inlet fitting and the scrubber canister, 1 extra O ring and 2 longer screws fits it in place.

 

  This piece was drilled and tapped to allow the O2 to come into the inlet side of the scrubber canister, making for better homogenization of the mix before being sent to the sensors or the diver.

 

  One gauge for diluent, one for O2, back side holds a compass.

 

Unit assembled, plumbed and awaiting cover.  The cover is currently held on with nylon straps and kydex buckles, but when time allows, ss latches will be mounted to hold it on.

 

   Rigged and ready to go diving.

 

 

 

So, we headed to the Estacada reservoir for some mud diving, max depth 35 ffw, vis about 8 feet, unit preformed flawlessly.  Markus wants to clean up the plumbing, change out the tank valves for DIN and reposition the KISS valve to the right side, the left side gets tangled up with the BC inflator now.  I had some pics from the reservoir, but the exposure didn’t come out.  I was using my new Canon D60 digital SLR and didn’t quite have the settings right, sorry.

Latest dives have been up in Neah Bay, NW Washington and this weekend May 25th up in Hood Canal diving the Sea Mount near Pleasant Harbor, so far so good, looks like another fine Dolphin Conversion.

 

Markus is using the HS Explorer, dive computer with an oxygen port plumbed into the Inhalation CL, he also has a Drager oxygauge for backup monitoring.

 

Markus Fant can be emailed at phantom@ccwebster.net.