Can't find BCD inflator

[redacted]

My snorkel is only attached to my mask when I am snorkeling or in an emergency where a snorkel is required. Then look at your specific rig to figure out how you might keep your inflator corralled so it does not get away but can still be moved to your mouth and above your head. I use velcro high on my shoulder capturing both the LPI and corrugated hose and then a loop of bungee down lower just capturing the LPI hose so the corrugated hose can still be raised.

 

[spectrum]

Hi Matt,

If reasonably rigged it does become one of those things that is "just there" once you get accustomed to it. It does need to be restrained. Any modern BC will have a strap, usually Velcro on the left shoulder. On harness systems something like a section of bicycle inner tube is used. You can put both hoses under the Velcro strap though many including myself prefer to just have the LP hose under the strap. This gives better freedom to get the corrugated hose high for best venting.

Corrugated hoses and LP hoses do vary in length as does the orientation of the 1st stage port you start from. There can be a perfect storm of gear, build and range of motion that suggests alternate hose lengths. If a seasoned buddy can observe how this all fits you, especially in the water it may be telling.

You should not have to reach over your shoulder at all, it should essentially be there more or less in front of your shoulder. Just chicken wing your arm straight back to your shoulder. If I am in a creative situation I can reach across with my right hand to add a shot of air.

FWI this is not a snorkel problem, they can coexist nicely.

Pete

 

[Kilili]

My suggestion...
1) Take the snorkel off your mask, and strap it to your leg with surgical tubing.
2) With a short piece of bungee cord or surgical tubing, attach one end next the actual inflator and to other to the front of your rig. I have D-rings, so it's easy. If necessary, you could attach a small plastic 1" D to your rig with a piece of strap.
Doesn't have to be overly strong as it isn't really weight bearing.

I had shoulder straps, but didn't think them very useful, so I removed them.
If you use a regulator necklace, you need not worry about dropping your reg and trying to find it again.

 

[freewillie]

Sorta what dumpsterdiver said. You need to know where everything on your BC is by feel. Put on your BC and go into dark room like a closet. Then find everything on your BC by feel. Find LP hose, rear dumps, ditch able weight handles, octopus, and anything you normally attach to D rings. You should be able to find them "with your eyes closed."

 

[Quero]

Matt--the snorkel/LPI mixup is a very common one among new divers. From my observation, this only happens when student divers want to dump air, not when they want to inflate the BCD. Is this when it happens to you, too? Given this correlation, I think that one of the reasons new divers have this problem is that they are thinking Lift the LPI and dump air with the operative word being lift​, so they reach up, and what's there? The snorkel! So instead of thinking Lift the inflator to dump air think instead Grab the inflator and lift it. Your instructor is correct that eventually, and as DevonDiver says, with familiarity, you will no longer have this issue.

 

[Nitro91]

my DSS didn't come with much of a strap and the inflator hose being shorter than normal, i think its just above my left pectoral when geared up, it can go behind my head if its not tied down.
but a velcro strap solves that problem.

as seen with this image on the left strap there is a velcro strap for the inflator hose

 

[kwinter]

Due to the fact that your training probably taught you to hold the inflator over your head to vwent it during ascents, having it too securely tied down might case a problem for venting.

You can always attach it to your BCD with velcro. It will stay in exactly the location that you want and is easy to pull free (and put back) if needed.

I agree. (Just covering all the boards)

 

[p1p]

One thing (you may not have been taught this), is to deflate your bcd, you dont have to find the inflator end, you can just tug on the hose, and there's a valve where the hose enters the bc to dump. Then you dont have to do the "hand high" deflate. Except upon first descent, this is often the only dump valve I use.

I dont know if all BC's has this, but mine does.

 

[TSandM]

I'm with the folks who say to figure out how useful your snorkel is in your diving environment, and make a decision about whether it needs to be flopping off your mask during the entire dive. Where we dive, a snorkel is almost never useful, and most people stop carrying one altogether.

 

[g1138]

I find that whenever you try to find things on your person it's easier to slide your hand around rather than trying to place it in a pinpoint location to search for something. For a BC inflator, you usually have a velcro strap on the shoulder to tie the top of the corrugated hose down to the BC. From there you can tap your left shoulder to find the hose and then slide your hand down till you get to your inflator.

Same works for your console or SPG, tap your hip bone and then slide your hand in a circular motion to where your connection point is.

Tying down the inflator only solves the problem of finding it. It adds a few problems of it's own, such as being able to use it quickly to dump air. Divers who tie down their inflator should be comfortable utilizing other dump ports to vent air from their BC, rather than relying on their inflators entirely for that purpose.

If tying it down, you should use a bungee loop or a hair tie, something that's stretchy so you can easily slip the inflator in and out of the loop. When you're ascending you either have to practice unlooping your inflator or utilizing your right shoulder dump, you can even use your butt dump if you're horizontal.
For the latter I find that reaching over your shoulder and tugging the dump line makes it easier to control how much air you vent, YMMV