Capsule Air Systems

[Composite Specialties]

Can anyone tell me about all of the different options offered for Capsule on-board Air Systems for tunnel boat racing, which are the best, worst, etc..

[Jakob77]

Personally, if I were looking to put air in my boat, I'd work with one of the systems from Tiger Performance. www.tigerperformance.com

They've been working out the bugs for a few years now and have what I believe is a pretty reliable product. Again, I would tend to use their full-face helmet system as opposed to the open face helmet. I've heard from a few people that water coming in the capsule upon impact can cause the mask to be knocked off your face, but the full face helmet helps to keep the mask from being dislodged.

You might be best off to talk to Howie Nichols in Cocoa, FL. He just went through all of this last winter and I'm sure he'd be more than willing to share with you what it took for him to get it done. I know he went with the Tiger Performance stuff, but he chose the open face helmet option. Actually, I believe that he had them install the mask to his existing helmet, but I could be wrong.

Give him a call:
Howie Nichols - 321-638-0666

Mark

[mr_velocity]

Personally, if I were looking to put air in my boat, I'd work with one of the systems from Tiger Performance. www.tigerperformance.com

They've been working out the bugs for a few years now and have what I believe is a pretty reliable product. Again, I would tend to use their full-face helmet system as opposed to the open face helmet. I've heard from a few people that water coming in the capsule upon impact can cause the mask to be knocked off your face, but the full face helmet helps to keep the mask from being dislodged.

You might be best off to talk to Howie Nichols in Cocoa, FL. He just went through all of this last winter and I'm sure he'd be more than willing to share with you what it took for him to get it done. I know he went with the Tiger Performance stuff, but he chose the open face helmet option. Actually, I believe that he had them install the mask to his existing helmet, but I could be wrong.

Give him a call:
Howie Nichols - 321-638-0666

Mark

Tiger makes some nice stuff. I know weight is an issue in tunnel boats more so than offshore boat but I'm not a fan of the systems with the tank that straps to your leg. Things get very violent in a crash and the last thing I would want is to have that strapped to me. I've gone over at 100+ in a canopied offshore cat but we ran full time air (2 big heavy bottles) and the system was flawless. I did not have any problems with the mask being ripped from my face either, though we didn't have any water slamming us in the face either. I was knocked out on the way over as well so I am glad the system worked.

[orchy]

This past year we put together our own air system by purchasing a small oxygen bottle not sure of size but it provides 6 min of normal or 3 minutes of paniced breathing. We then attached a normal scuba regulater which is strapped to the top of my capsul suit. With a full face helmet i just put it in my mouth and it fits under my helmet. The bottle is strapped to my leg so when i get out of the boat i can still breath oxygen, this system has worked for me, though if i went to anything larger than 45 i would think about a full face, masked system from tiger performance.
Dan Orchard 97

[Fred Curtis]

This past year we put together our own air system by purchasing a small oxygen bottle not sure of size but it provides 6 min of normal or 3 minutes of paniced breathing. We then attached a normal scuba regulater which is strapped to the top of my capsul suit. With a full face helmet i just put it in my mouth and it fits under my helmet. The bottle is strapped to my leg so when i get out of the boat i can still breath oxygen, this system has worked for me, though if i went to anything larger than 45 i would think about a full face, masked system from tiger performance.
Dan Orchard 97

Dan,

What type of helmet do you use? I went to the open face after our first capsule escape training (very retro since I had one of the first full face's) because of the impossiblity of getting even the smallest Scuba regulator to the mouth with my BELL full face helmet.

We know that we do not want one of those awful helmets like the motorcycle dirt riders wear that sticks way out in front of your face because the leverage on that, in an accident, could break your neck. And if you had the regulator in your mouth while racing( i.e. regulator in mouth before putting helmet on) seems like it could end up a lot further in after an accident.

In other words I can not picture what you are doing. Please discribe in more detail.

Fred

[mr_velocity]

Dan,

What type of helmet do you use? I went to the open face after our first capsule escape training (very retro since I had one of the first full face's) because of the impossiblity of getting even the smallest Scuba regulator to the mouth with my BELL full face helmet.

We know that we do not want one of those awful helmets like the motorcycle dirt riders wear that sticks way out in front of your face because the leverage on that, in an accident, could break your neck. And if you had the regulator in your mouth while racing( i.e. regulator in mouth before putting helmet on) seems like it could end up a lot further in after an accident.

In other words I can not picture what you are doing. Please discribe in more detail.

Fred

One question, if you get knocked out on the way over how do you stick a regulator in your mouth? I only asked because I got knocked out on the way over, luckily had a full time air system. If you like the little bottle Tiger has them where you run a full face mask but only breathe the bottle when you go over.

[orchy]

To give you a better picture of what i am doing, i do not race with the regulator in my mouth, but rather have it velcroed directly to my capsul suit on my collar bone area. The regulator that i have fits under my helmet just fine, well, i can make it fit just fine. The BIGGEST drawback to this system is the possibility of being knocked out. For this i have looked into a full face mask, but since we were just starting out last year i opted for this system, we only ran half the races, and start up costs were pretty high. I would never imagine doing this with anything like 120, but would go directly for a full face helmet with a mask. I don't like the idea of an open face helmet, a 45driver this year came out of a roll over with a cut up face and a black eye.
Dan

[Jason Diamond]

I have been looking into air systems for a bout a year now. I spent the summer asking drivers that wear air what their opinions are. The common complaint with the open face helmet and mask is that it gets knocked loose, or completely off in an accident. It seems that this happens much more in capsules with wind sheilds vs. capsules with impact resistant lids, ie. a Jones inboard capsule. Often times OPC drivers take a whack in the head or face as the lid and wind shield leave the boat, sometimes knocking the mask off. Most that I have talked to would get the mask under full face, or the SRP full face air helmet, which has a neoprene neck seal.The full face air does take some time and help to put on though (from what I understand, I do not own one).

Just my two cents.

Jason