Colder Water / Drysuit with Spirit or LTE

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Dave1w

Member
Having just moved back to the UK, where it is a fair bit cooler, I was wondering about using the Spirit LTE here, and how it may fair both in the cooler water, and in a drysuit.

It seems a shame for a such a lightweight unit to then pile a heap of lead onto it, and think maybe a replacement steel main plate may be a good idea.

Also on the scrubbers, I would like to go for the syntactic foam, but the LTE has rhino guard already son would probably mean buying a pair of clear scrubbers first as well as having them lined. How do people find the duration in cooler waters, and does anyone perhaps use neoprene sleeves?

Cheers
Dave


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I dive my LTE in Monterey, CA (53F/11C) fairly regularly and pack on between 26 and 30 pounds of lead to dive it.

This is while wearing a Fourth Element Argonaut and Fourth Element Xerotherm Undergarments and it's pretty comfortable.

I'm also a pretty big guy at just under 300 lbs. so you may not have to pack on as much.

I've looked into the scrubber canisters and I believe you just have to buy a new set that's already coated from KISS and they're definitely not cheap.

I typically don't push it in cold water and won't do more than 4 hours on my current unlined canisters in Monterey.

I had a buddy take a small CO2 hit up in British Columbia on a regular Spirit on the unlined canisters but they were diving in water that was near freezing with ice already formed on the surface in places.

I'd like to get a lined set to make them more efficient and to combat things like that but I don't know if I'm willing to pay what they're asking.

Brandon
 
BTB79 said:
I dive my LTE in Monterey, CA (53F/11C) fairly regularly and pack on between 26 and 30 pounds of lead to dive it.

This is while wearing a Fourth Element Argonaut and Fourth Element Xerotherm Undergarments and it's pretty comfortable.

I'm also a pretty big guy at just under 300 lbs. so you may not have to pack on as much.

I've looked into the scrubber canisters and I believe you just have to buy a new set that's already coated from KISS and they're definitely not cheap.

I typically don't push it in cold water and won't do more than 4 hours on my current unlined canisters in Monterey.

I had a buddy take a small CO2 hit up in British Columbia on a regular Spirit on the unlined canisters but they were diving in water that was near freezing with ice already formed on the surface in places.

I'd like to get a lined set to make them more efficient and to combat things like that but I don't know if I'm willing to pay what they're asking.

Brandon
Click to expand...

Thanks Brandon, Good information.

As a thought, has anyone mounted a normal backplate to the LTE? I am thinking of having a Steel plate made up to replace the ABS one, but I seem to remember it mentioned somewhere, you can bolt on a standard backplate. I guess that would help to mount weight pouches without damaging the ABS plate.

Cheers
Dave
 
Dave:

Mike has a stainless frame available as an upgrade to the LTE, and it's easy to bolt on a stainless plate as long as it's got enough of a bend to it to allow the counter lungs some clearance. I have mine set up with both, and can send pics if you'd like. In fresh water, with drysuit, Weezle Extreme +, and two sidemount 45s, I need no additional weight with the unit. Great Lakes conditions (38-40F at depth) I run 2 hours with no problems. Water temps in mid 50s and up, 3.5-4 hrs no problem. I have stock canisters. You can't add foam to the stock ones due to the Rhino Liner, so you would have to get replacement ones.


Brian
 
Thanks, I saw the steel one, but by the time I shipped one from the US, and paid the tax here, carrying extra lead would be a much cheaper solution. I'm looking into perhaps fabricating one locally and seeing how I get on. Having spent a lot of time in a 1mm wetsuit, it was so light to be almost unnoticeable, so wonder how it will be weighted for a drysuit!


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As an update, I've just had a backplate made up from 5 or 6mm stainless steel at a local laser cutting place.

Certainly lots of weight to it, and it came out pretty nice, but I still want to smooth the edges a bit before I assemble it all up.


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Hi Dave1w

I am diving in very cold water (5-6c) with the Spirit LTE (not so light)!
I have the steel plate from KISS and the insulated scrubbers. I would find someone locally to make you a plate out of 5-6mm SS. IMHO the plate with added weight(+12KGs) to it needs to be a little longer..

I have found someone here to make the plate for me:) I had them make it 6cm longer so the unit is not sitting in the small of my back! One of the best things I have done to the unit!

In all honestly I do not think the Spirit was really designed for the very cold water!

I know Brian very well and he has his unit setup very nice. He also uses heavy steel stages, that help shave off some weight. Here in Europe we are mostly using Alu. stages.

I would get the insulated scrubbers if you can, it does make a difference.

I hope this helps
Garry
 
I've had a plate made, which has come out nicely, but I haven't got the bend on the bottom. I'm going to tidy it up and assemble it all in a day or so to see how it all goes together, but Wo t get it wet for a few weeks now.


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