Inspiration Travelframe

How can I travel lightweight with the rebreather?

The primary goal why the Travelframe was designed is to put the entire frame and rebreather unit into a carry-on bag to take on-board a plane. The construction of the Inspiration rebreather is very reliable and has proven its quality over the years. However, there has always been a search for an additional and more compact or universal model. For travelling the unit is not very easy to handle. One of the desires was to have a unit in which one can mount different sized bottles. To this purpose a small group of designers developed the Travelframe. Their design appeared attractive for a specific group of divers. I am very happy that I could buy one of these frames to try the functionality. Hereunder described you can find the placing of Inspiration components into the Travelframe.

Here you see my first impression. A very slim, light and streamlined design. The unit has been build from stainless steel (AISI304), the joints are TIG or (WIG) welded. Very light materials were used for this robust and strong construction. We are, however, still awaiting the first carbon < 0.3 kg design! This unit weighs about 2 – 2.5 kg depending the model.
As you can see the scrubber easily fits in the unit. We now have to think of a way to assemble this unit further.

This picture, of course, can not be an example of a standard usual Inspiration rebreather. However, I am the proud owner and am using this unit since 1999! It takes courage to disassemble my baby and put it in a cold stainless steel frame….. But, I have my reasons. I am planning a trip to Italy or Egypt and I am not a millionaire. The overweight price has killed my trip to Palau, to Surinam and other locations I would have loved to go.

To dismantle the unit I started to disassemble the oxygen feed hose of the solenoid.

I then disassembled my fourth cell system. I have to tell you I really dislike this system. It never managed to give me a proper pO2 and I followed years of discussion about this subject. It is really not good. The producer of the VR3 never offered good information how to achieve a proper cell reading. I also think the new handset of APD solves all problems. Another solution would be a true 4/5 th cell core in the lid.

Therebreathersite travelframe 005 — Remove the velcro

Therebreathersite travelframe 006 — Now you can unscrew the oxygen feed from the solenoid. Of course you don’t need tools. It should not be too tight. That should have been told many many times during the course 😉

Therebreathersite travelframe 007 — There it is. The soul of your system. There can be small differences between this picture and your Inspiration Vision electronics…..

Therebreathersite travelframe 008 — Start to look like a re….

Therebreathersite travelframe 009 — I used the standard webbing to mount the scrubber.

OK, this is an experiment. I received a model for a new distribution bar and tried to use it for my Travel Inspiration (Travi or travo 😉
It did not fit properly but offered me a good planning of the final bar I want to use. The red tape is put over the oxygen feed of the solenoid to prohibit contamination.

Therebreathersite travelframe 012 — I now start to dismantle the counter lungs, starting with the ADV feed.

Therebreathersite travelframe 013 — Inside the unit against the back there is more Velcro to open to get access to the bolts..

Therebreathersite travelframe 014 — We then take off the wing, the lungs, the distribution bar. When you take out the DB you can see what hoses are used.

Therebreathersite travelframe 015 — The wing is really simple. A tire with a center and two holes! However there is a sophisticated apparatus hanging on the wing…

This is the amazing story. The wings. They are constructed very very careful. Note that there are many factors which have an important role in this counter lung design, for instance the size, the materials, the dimensions, the position and many more factors. I first want to start with the original Inspiration CL to experience how they perform on this frame. Back or front mounted CL’s are a next step….

Therebreathersite travelframe 017 — Wing and Counter lungs are going to be mounted on a back plate. I am searching for the best solution now…..

Therebreathersite travelframe 018 — The cover of the unit.

Therebreathersite travelframe 020 — Please do not to forget to test dive, leak test and check all parts of the unit. Ask your buddy or teacher what he thinks…

Here you see the final result of the rebuilding. I have changed the distribution bar and still studying the CL concept.

During the rebuild please mark all O2 and Diluent parts. Don’t think you can’t make a mistake. This frame is a very nice self-study object to test your material knowledge. Also replace all O-rings and use oxygen compatible grease. The unit should be rebuilt in oxygen service for all high pressure components!

OK. after finishing the nice part, now the more difficult parts appeared. The wing, the lungs, the final touch of using the frame in the right way. Some of my diving friends asked me why I changed my standard gear to the travel frame.. The weight will almost be the same… What is the advantage? I think you need to follow the next steps to find out. My first impression is that the unit compared to my (very) old unit is lighter and more flexible. I am very pleased that the unit is more easy to strap on and dives like….. 😉 fantastic.. check this out

Therebreathersite travelframe 024 — I decided to use stainless steel 40 mm bolts like shown

Therebreathersite travelframe 025 — You need to figger out the position of the wing and CL before making the hole square

Therebreathersite travelframe 026 — Mark the position to prevent damaging the frame

Therebreathersite travelframe 027 — OK when shown in this resolution it is not exact square ….. 😉

Therebreathersite travelframe 028 — Now the bolts won’t offer any problems when mounting your wing in foreign countries….

Therebreathersite travelframe 029 — This is the position I added my bolts and wing..

I have added some protection strip in the unit to prevent cutting when opening the valves. I have written to the manufacturers to fold this part of the frame to. I really dislike sharp edges…

Therebreathersite travelframe 031 — The material weights nothing and is used in the car industry

Therebreathersite travelframe 032 — I have added two metal eyes in the wing on the original position

Therebreathersite travelframe 033 — The standard position of the bolts correspond the distance

Therebreathersite travelframe 034 — I did the same with the original counter lungs

Therebreathersite travelframe 035 — Just place them over the wing

Therebreathersite travelframe 036 — Nice ehh

Therebreathersite travelframe 037 — Now, the backplate.. I found my ideal plate at Sharkeysstainless. He is from the USA and lives in Holland. Robert has a lot of experience with back plates and is always helpful picking the right model.

Therebreathersite travelframe 039 — I did not choose the DIR style 😉

Therebreathersite travelframe 040 — I used D-rings and the original buckles to faster the front mounted counter lungs.

To achieve the main purpose of the travelframe I have bought Scubapro belts to fasten the bottles. It is possible to fix a wide range of bottles with this top material.

Therebreathersite travelframe 044 — To lift the unit I use two of these titanium hooks. During the dive I just take them off

Therebreathersite travelframe 042 — A small D lock offers a point to hang all parts during the transport.

Therebreathersite travelframe 043 — The handsets safely connected.

Yesterday I have been diving the unit. I am very happy to tell you that the unit dives like a dream. I just need to add 2-3 kg weigh on my waist while diving a semi closed neoprene suit. I think this configuration is much better for me 😉 I will keep you informed when returning from the southern Egypt trip…

Therebreathersite was founded by Jan Willem Bech in 1999. After a diving career of many years, he decided to start technical diving in 1999. He immediately noticed that at that time there was almost no website that contained the history of closed breathing systems. The start for the website led to a huge collection that offered about 1,300 pages of information until 2019. In 2019, a fresh start was made with the website now freely available online for everyone. Therebreathersite is a source of information for divers, researchers, technicians and students. I hope you enjoy browsing the content!

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