Rod Nairne's 'Top Gun' Rebreathers.

These would have to be the only 3 identical homebuilts in the world. These are prototypes of the TopGun rebreather. Rod designed and built this rebreather in 1997 and early testing, developnment and diving took place that year and in 1998. The current 2000 model is available from Silent Submersion. Click here to go to the Silent Submersion website. BTW These three TopGuns have been dived consistently for the past 3 years without any manufacturing or design failures.

Above you can see the 3 Top Gun rebreathers on the dock at the back of Rod's house on the Gold Coast in Queensland. In the background is Rod's 'Nitro' speed boat which he uses to terrify his freinds with when they visit.

The 'Top Gun' rebreathers are all closed circuit and feature shutoff mouthpieces, Hawaiin slings for easy donning and doffing and have a solid alloy box which contains and protects the scrubber and electronics module. Tanks from 20cft to 150cft can be fitted to the sides using the modular attachments. All hoses and wires enter and leave from the top of the box.

Below you can see the Hawaiin sling which makes the unit very easy to get in and out of compared to using a traditional harness.

The shutoff mouthpiece in closeup.

Another shot of the 3 Top Guns from the back.

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For more information on the 'Top Gun' check out the rebreatrher site at The Rebreather Site

or go to an interview with Rod about his breather.

Ask the A.A.R.G.

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