EXTRA

Unlike other areas of diving where technological advances have made it safer, more affordable and generally accessible, those "wreckers" amongst us have sadly been left behind, until now...

We have seen the advent of titanium alloys, carbon fibre and exotic materials, but still the same problem exists, human effort. Imagine the scenario. You are two decks in on your favourite wreck, time is limited and your nearest exit is blocked by that large brass portal. OK, so you have enough air to return via your original route, but hey, what a challenge. Just a few old bolts to chop off and you are through (oh and your buddy too). Past experience tells you that the traditional lump-hammer and crowbar normally carried for such an occasion will take an age, use up precious air reserves through manual effort and with no guarantee of success. The new Turbo-Chisel from Black and Wrecker is designed specifically with the technical wreck diver in mind. Its patented turbo-pneumatic dynamic thrust mechanism enables the output to the compression tip to be modulated in line with the work effort of the diver. In plain English, this means that the harder you breathe, the harder the Turbo-Chisel will work for you. So how does it work? Essentially you simply change the exhaust port on your octopus regulator for the specified fitting. The kit comes complete with two universal adapters. One adapter for traditional exhaust ports such as Apeks, Sherwood and Scubapro, the second adapter for side valve regulators such as Poseidon and Dacor Vipers. A one metre long hose connects between the exhaust port adapter and the Turbo-Chisel. Once connected, as you exhale the turbo mechanism in the exhaust valve ramps up the airflow via the connecting hose and starts the hammer action within the Turbo-Chisel. The harder you breathe, the faster the action of the Turbo-Chisel. The idea of having the fitting connected to the octopus rather than the main regulator serves two purposes. One, the fitting is out of the way until you need to use it, secondly why do all the work yourself when your buddy can lend a hand. The Real Test After many hours of thought and deliberation we came up with the following series of tests to find out exactly how effective the Turbo-Chisel really is. We took two regular pieces of equipment and the Black and Wrecker Turbo-Chisel to the “HUBBA RUSTICAL QUIBS”. The “Hubba” rests upright in about 20 meters of water off the South Coast near Eastbourne. Easily accessible as a shore dive it is renowned for the large intact row of brass portals all along the starboard side with easy access to the interior. Start a discussion about this article.
LUMP HAMMER £14.00 (Wicks and Sainsburys Home Base) Similarly performing items, Lump Hammer from B&Q HOW DID IT WORK? Entry level traditional wrecker’s safety equipment but limited in its flexibility. Difficult to use in tight corners. We managed to only remove two of the bolts on one portal in 20 minutes.
STANDARD CHISEL B&Q £8.50 (Available at most larger stores) Similarly performing items, Standard Chisel from Sainsburys Homebase HOW DID IT WORK? Again, this was difficult to use in any restricted area, but the prising action of the crowbar end enabled us to force all the bolts and remove one complete portal plus two bolts off of a second portal within 20 minutes.
HAMMER & CHISEL SET £19.95 (Argos) Similarly performing items, Hammer & Chisel Set from B&Q HOW DID IT WORK? Using a combination of the above we managed to remove two complete portals within the given time. The lump hammer was beginning to show signs of fatigue but nevertheless a satisfactory result. Advanced level users only.
TURBO-CHISEL £99.95 (Black & Wrecker) Similarly performing items, UW Kango HOW DID IT WORK? As first the Turbo-Chisel appeared very disappointing. The action was slow and very sluggish and after 10 minutes we had not even removed one bolt. It was at this time I realised by buddy was looking very anxious and low on air. I immediately passed him my octopus and wow what a difference it made. The turbo-pneumatic dynamic thrust mechanism sprung into action cutting through the bolts like a knife through butter. Within the full 20 minutes we had removed all six portals and started on the sextant.
HOW THEY PERFORMED All the equipment tested did the job. Sometimes, something just comes along that takes the market by storm. A simple idea that has been so long coming suddenly hits the market and wow, in no time at all everyone will have one. The Turbo-Chisel from Black and Wrecker is a winner. Buy one now...
Lump Hammer Performance           Value for money     Chisel Performance           Value for money     Hammer & Chisel Performance           Value for money     Turbo-Chisel Performance           Value for money     Have your say here....