Hello again, some folks are asking about rigging a KISS sidewinder to work with a Golem BOV.
The primary problem is that adding a low pressure gas requirement means you have to split your diluent feed from the ADV and manual diluent addition (if you have one, I do not), or possibly just your manual addition, if you have purchased an ADV deleted head. There are a few different combinations.
To explain my setup, i use the standard ADV. I do -not- have a manual diluent addition. My reasoning behind this is that without an ADV, you cannot use the rebreather as a BOB, and I prefer my unit to add gas as required, rather than me having to finger it in via manual addition. There are some downsides. The ADV is prone to filling with sand in very small places, or when dragged through sumps. This is relatively uncommon, and can be mitigated by changing the ADV fixing bolts to a non-tool requiring solution. Most people will never need to do this. Aside from this, I find that in normal use, I never need to manually add diluent beyond what can be accomplished with a double exhale and flushing the loop or forcing addition through low loop volume.
Enough talk, on to the parts.
Overview of all the parts.
To make the most streamlined setup, the first step is adding Omniswivel pivot-swivels to the head, so that nothing sticks out towards the body. This also makes the cannister much easier to travel with.
The swivels are identical: Omniswivel Low Pressure Pivot Swivel with 1/4 inch extensions. Part Number: PS-LP-3. The 1/4” extension allows the knurled locking ring to rotate beneath the hoses without having to remove or rotate the swivels.
Working from right to left, the ADV pivot swivel is attached to a 6 inch Miflex2 Extreme LP hose. This screws into an Omniswivel 3/8” Male to 9/16” female adapter. (OSI-SZM-YM.) the adapter is screwed into the upper port of an Omniswivel low pressure Y block (OSI-MBZ-2.) The Y block comes with different adaptors for the hole on the single port side- the threads are 3/8” Male. I feed my QC6 line into here, so required a 9/16” male to 3/8” Female adapter (OSI-SZF-YM.) The lower port of the Y block gets a quick detach. I prefer my QD here instead of at the second stage, as having a QD at the second stage adds a lot of weight in front of the face, and reduces flexibility of that hose area. In addition, I do not do gas switches at the BOV- that happens at the rebreather QC6. The QD is an odd one, a QDZM-CVZF-S which has a 3/8” male on the female QD side, and a 3/8” female on the male QD side. This allows the BOV to be easily disconnected from the cannister for transport and cleaning without tools.
As for hose lengths, I’ve found the 25” Miflex is just about right for under the shoulder routing, though an even shorter one might be appropriate if you are running your hoses over your back. I use a 29” Miflex for my QC6 connection. This is a little long, but makes for easy connections, and adds a little extra length for when I have to connect across my body to a stage or deco bottle.
A note on Miflex hoses. If the braided hose you got does not have miflex engraved on the fitting, or it did not come directly out of a miflex branded bag, be wary. In my experience the non miflex braided hoses have a very bad track record, and they are sometimes difficult to tell apart. If you purchase them at a shop, they should come in the miflex branded bag, or it is probably a knockoff. The same goes for swivels and hard parts. The aftermarket swivels are very low quality. Purchase omni-swivel parts, and service them regularly, and you will never have problems.