Excalibur II first dive and depth test before bewitched by OBN @

frogmaster-riviera

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Oct 22, 2014
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Greece, French Riviera, Switzerland, North Italy
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Detector(s) used
CTX 3030, Excalibur IIS, Sea Hunter MK II, Ebinger Seacon, Quest Pro, XP Deus, Deteknix Quest Pro, Makro Pointer, Xpointer diver & Wader
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Hi all,

Minelab Excalibur scuba dive photos and video

Just have received my new Minelab Excalibur II and before loosing my warranty on it, I just wanted to make sure it was fully functional before beeing remastered by OBN, the wizard of Excalibur

I've selected a new diving site where I first have to locate some pieces of wood, potteries and iron on the seabed which are proof of shipwreck a loooong time ago...

All my tanks have been sent to the yearly certification, so I'm diving with a friend "oldy" regular air mix tank which is not so good for this depth.


https://youtu.be/pOQPU41pTlI

I've uses a copyright music, so can't see from Germany and from certain devices, computer =OK

0-63m (0-206ft) as quick as possible to stay as much as I can looking for clues of +2000 years old shipwreck..

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Even when detecting underwater, I won't forget my Minelab cap :laughing7:
Sorry for the red nose... just made a jump of nearly 210ft in a very limited time period and you can have blood :unhappysmiley: coming out from your nose, something usual.
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Heading to potential sites of interest, Scuba detection is similar to land relic prospection..it takes time and need some luck

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Trying to read the currents and searching for clues (pottery, irons, wood) of shipwrecks @ approx -65m (213ft)

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Look at the Moray fish on the left of the image....
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Time goes very fast underwater, I consume nearly 6x more air at this depth then i will on surface.....


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My diving computer starts to beep but I couldn't hear it (metal detection...) and I only have a few minutes minutes left in my crappy tank (!)

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This is a good shot of a stupid man realizing he is in deep SxxT :BangHead:
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Heading quickly to the surface (not too fast..) and still a long way to go ... 2 major deco stops to do. Only air remaining for the deepest one (!)
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PS: I only did the first deco step, surfaced and took a spare pony air tank to accomplish my long final deco...did go to the hospital in emergency for checking and analysing the data of my diving computer. Thanks god everythings ok

This not the good example to follow, I am an experienced diver and I was lucky today...can't have luck all the time.


The next step for upgrading my Excalibur II into an Excalibur IIS


- Changing the end caps by OBNs remastered ones
- Remote PP latching mod with led light in All Metal position
- Hot swappable / Removable coil even during underwater prospection
- Use of Bone Phone hearphone, can be placed under the diving suite
- Lipo battery pack with capacity led
- Change the decals for those ones :

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I enjoy to dive and I try to keep this hobby "as simple and enjoyable" as I can. Too much technology kills the pleasure and I don't want to finish at home in a chair behind my computer using a rmote controlled ROV detecting & digging for me :occasion14: (even if it's sounds good)
Med sea is a cemetery of boats from all ages, you have wrecks everywhere due to a massive history >3000 years of good exchanges. I'm not sure it's a good idear either to use extra technology in those areas, so many military forces arounds, cost guards, customs etc... I prefer to stay away from troubles.

I don't have a "physical occupation" (mathematical research) and I love to free my mind when metal detection in the wineyards, forest, fields and of course underwater. I usually only dive from 20-45m (0-145ft) with Nitrox or recreational rebreather which gives me around 2h of time.

Hollis has finally certified their recreactional rebreather for the Euro market, I will give a try shortly, it's "cheap to buy and run" and very simple to service compared to my AP Diving Trimix one.
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Gonna get me one of those....!

Explorer Rebreather

I already tried once at the end of last year. Did a very short dive with it with an instructor. I was amazed by it's simplicity and TCO. Around $1 per dive (without the nitrox) and around $300 every 150hours. Compared to the boieing 777 cockpit of my AP diving rebreather and diving computer it's a real pleasure. It has limitations but used excatly for what it designed for, thanks you Hollis! :thumbsup:
 

Me too i want 2 !

RR

And the ultimate digging tool underwater : use a torpedo

I love this one but it can be used to digg, only to move around

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$

Or the Indycar version of the torpedo



Credit bill of lachine for helping me ressourcing the pegasus thruster ;-)
 

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:laughing7: the worse is that you need to wait at least 8 month to get one. I was at the Monaco boat show last october and tried to buy one with a special paint and battery version... could get one before july! Amazing...

This is a manual torpedo, speed depends of the legs quality behind:

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$150...
 

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