TheFinalCut

Ok, here it all is, hopefully in a nutshell. How does one convert the stock Dolphin into a CCR.

First, have a Dolphin, then filet slices of Dolphin steak and marinate for several hours…oops, sorry, wrong dolphin recipe…

This is the big picture, refer to this and the other close up diagrams below. This is all the plumbing necessary for the Dolphin to become a CCR, it looks really simple here doesn’t it? The only thing you add to this is remote gas gauges (if you want them, a good idea for the beginner) and a suit inflation/bc inflator system. On my rig, I only have one additional hose from the dil cylinder going to an Air2 that comes over my left shoulder, that hose is not shown in this pic. The oxygen cylinder should be mounted on the divers right side.

Diagram 1.

Hopefully this pic is self explanatory. Take your stock dosage device and remove the drager hoses , right angles and 1^st stage from it.

Then remove the jeweled orifices from one of your orifice ports (use a spare, or one you don’t care about) To do this remove the foam filter disc from the hose end of the port, under that you will find one or two threaded in jeweled orifices. Unthread these with a small flat blade screwdriver, they may break and you might have to drill them out.

The tecme adaptors will only go on one way, and they are different for each side, make sure the o-ring is in place inside the bell on the dosage device side of the adaptors and thread in place good and tight via hand only, no tools here unless you’re a real weakling then a slight tightening with a pair of pliers is ok. Open the top of the dosage device and make sure the backing nut and o-ring are still in place there on both ports.

The 15 inch hose on the right will plumb directly to a standard scuba regulator 1^st stage on a low pressure reg port. See the big picture at the top.

This is the diluent side of the system, when the breathing loop volume decreases during descent and you suck up all the usable gas in it, this demand system will fill your loop with whatever is in your diluent cylinder, works just like sucking on a scuba reg. It is not necessary to have a super high performance very expensive reg here, but you do want one that is reliable and is serviced annually.

The 34 inch or longer hose on the left side will plumb to the KISS valve, the length of this hose wont matter because we will be cutting the end off of it anyway. On to the next diagram.

Diagram 2

Here is a close up of the plumbing into the KISS valve. Starting from the top left side of the pic.

The hose coming from the Oxygen regulator is a standard scuba low pressure hose with the end cut off, inserted into this cut end is a Parker barbed hose adapter part # 4-4B2HT2-SS. This part threads into the filter, its probably possible to get a filter with a barbed end already on it, this might be a neat solution. I already had the filter so I used it this way. The other end of the filter is the same fitting and sex of the fitting on the KISS valve, so you only need a bit of 1/4inch tube and the compression ferrules and nuts to complete the input to the valve. The inlet side of the KISS valve is the end with the button on it. (both old and new KISS valves) The barbed fittings need some type of clamp, I used crimp clamps as I had them and the tool already, you may also use ss hose clamps but they tend to snag on things. There are also “push LOK” barbed fittings but they need to be used with a special type of hose to hold properly and you cant use a clamp on them as it tends to cut the hose, so don’t let anyone talk you into these.

The outlet side of the valve uses the same barbed adaptor to ¼ tube, the barbed end slipping into the 34inch (or longer) hose with the end cut off that plumbs to the Dosage device.

Diagram 3

This is the oxygen cylinder , the one hose leads to the KISS valve inlet. The ambient pressure blocker fits into the end of the reg, as in the below pic. Don’t dive the rig without the blocker in place.

NOW A WORD OF CAUTION.

The ambient pressure blocker must be in position to dive, you can sit all day in your living room watching the tube using a normal, unmodified regulator and the unit will work just fine. I am assuming that you have read all the other pages about how it works, the theory etc. You may have even convinced yourself that the blocker isn’t needed. THIS IS NOT THE CASE AND YOU JUST MIGHT KILL YOUSELF FROM THE “INCURABLE DUMBS”. Take it from someone who has been diving this rig for over 100 hours, THE BLOCKER MUST BE THERE. I have had this discussion with at least 5 divers who have their own theory about how this should work, I was even there myself at one point and Gordon straightened me out. It really works this way, really!!

There are a lot of ways to skin this cat, I used to use another way that you might have seen in the gen 1 and gen 2 pages. This is what I am now using and by far it is the easiest and neatest way to plumb this system.

You do, of course have to find a way to mount two cylinders on your rig, upside down, you need to get to the cylinder valves while wearing the unit, but this is about all there is to it.