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CURRENTLY BEING RE-ASSEMBLED FROM LONG LOST PARTS!!!!
(LAST UPDATE: May 2026)
Latest:
18th May 2026: Current quandary is the issue of the correct plastic spacer and foam pads assembly sequence for the BioMarine MK15.5/16 scrubber lid. Numerous images offer two alternatives only one of which can be correct. I've asked US Navy's NAVSEA for confirmation based on their servicing of the USN MK16 UBA. In the course I undertook with Kevin Denlay on the CABA SM1600 (Australian Navy MK15.5) I always fitted the filled scrubber, then the white plastic spacer and finally the circular foam pad/disc but photos of the unit prior to me collecting it from CABA in Sydney show the spacer on top?!
See here for an Update on this issue.
General:
I've decided to rebuild this resource in recognition of the pioneering and benchmark influence the BioMarine family of rebreathers has had and is still having on both Military and civilian closed-circuit rebreather design. It was a single picture of the back of a MK15 with spheres in Popular Science Magazine back in the late 70s that set me off...
The last time this site was up and running was as: www.impartialpressure.com back in 2003 odd. Older material has been resurrected from web.archive.org.
Standby for the definitive picture and media set (including the official training animation of the CDBA (UK RN MK16) rebreather by Rod Lord which I'm hoping is fully declassified.
If you have ever owned one you'll be only too aware of how manufacturers are still trying to match the concept and quality. The BioMarine family inspired the Ouroboros and remain the quintessential embodiment of minimalist, functional rebreather design.
My thanks to Kevin Denlay of the Gold Coast, Oz for suffering me as a student. As he so rightly said: "To Air is Human, but to Trimix is Divine". (I can't mention what else he said through his DSV off 'Spot X', Byron Bay...). Also to Kevin Gurr for being the pioneer of RB technology and diving in the UK and his efforts expressed through IANTD UK and his product innovations such as the first dedicated CCR dive computer - the VR3, and the Ouroboros and Sentinel CCRBs. To Dr. Jerome Meynie, one of France's foremost technical cave divers who also used the MK15.5. Finally to my dive buddy Tim Hayes who is in the header photo above, another (rare) MK15.5 dive buddy and cave diver.
Any queries, corrections or suggestions please to: the.abyssal.plain(at)gmail.com
James Laver, Corfton, Craven Arms, Shropshire, UK
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