Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Hollis S-series Bladder

Two of us use this Hollis S-series bladder, Jose and I. We bought them at about the same time, roughly over a year ago. To date and over 500 dives on each bladder, earn it the double OK. Better yet, the thing is well made.

For those who are thinking about switching to a back-plate, I highly recommend it. With a jacket style BCD, the bladder wraps around your body. As you add air, it fills up around and squeezes you depending on how much air is being added and how snug it has been adjusted to begin with. The jacket style bladders allow for a higher range of motion, meaning that the air can shift from one side to the other throwing off your buoyancy a bit. At times air gets trapped on one side and does not shift over to the BCD hose side. Granted one can become very efficient at controlling this. It is more of a comfort thing when it comes to back-plates. Either jacket or wing,  divers should remember to hold their BCD hoses at the highest point which may include getting into a vertical position to allow expanding air to vent, or any air for that matter.

This really was not meant to be a sales pitch for why one should purchase a back plate, but if you are looking for this type of set-up the Hollis S-series bladder is an excellent choice. The previous bladder I had was a Dive Rite. It unraveled at the seams within 5 months of use. The craftsmanship of the Hollis is heaps better than the Dive Rite. The BCD hose on the Hollis is double stitched and has a bit of protective material sewn to prevent tearing right where it attaches to the bladder itself. The Dive Rite seems to have been put together and never tested. The same thing happened to one Rags, a fellow instructor here at Coconut Tree Divers, used as well a previous instructor. Stick to the the Dive Rite regulator but not the travel wing. This is coming from someone who uses dive gear six days a week. If you plan on using it once a year, don't worry about it.

I purchased my wing from LeisurePro as did Jose. Should you have any questions feel free to contact us via our website.

As of this writing, I am expecting my first child to be born any day now. I will let you know if it turns out to be William Alexander or Gabrielle Alexie.


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