Can't find BCD inflator

[DevonDiver]

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.

No, not on all BCDs. But it could be retro-fitted.

Personally, I wouldn't choose a pull-dump LPI... when you look at how the corrugated hose is attached to the fitting, or the fitting to the bladder, you may reconsider wishing to tug on it every dive.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Get rid of the snorkel. Unless it's a folding or roll up pocket snorkel the best place for one unless you are actually snorkeling is in your bag. In the car. I have gone to this one:Welcome to UDM Aquatic Services

It rolls up and fits in any BC pocket and has a quick release to take off and put on. I don't recommend anything else for my students. Dry snorkels? Overpriced junk for diving. Semi dry? Same thing. Simple solid j tube? Better cause you can shove it under a strap or bungee but still not ideal.

And I agree with Andy. I got rid of the inflator pull dumps on all my gear. Simple elbow and corrugated hose.

 

[DevonDiver]

No wonder so many novice divers have problems locating the LPI if they're that long and cumbersome. I never quite understood the necessity to provide LPIs that resemble Elephant.. urm... tails...

Compare that 'swinger' with a Halycon Eclipse...

 

[g1138]

Get rid of the snorkel. Unless it's a folding or roll up pocket snorkel the best place for one unless you are actually snorkeling is in your bag. In the car. I have gone to this one:Welcome to UDM Aquatic Services

It rolls up and fits in any BC pocket and has a quick release to take off and put on. I don't recommend anything else for my students. Dry snorkels? Overpriced junk for diving. Semi dry? Same thing. Simple solid j tube? Better cause you can shove it under a strap or bungee but still not ideal.

Jim, have you ever looked at the Cressi Corsica Snorkel. It's my personal favorite, with less gimmicks.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

No wonder so many novice divers have problems locating the LPI if they're that long and cumbersome. I never quite understood the necessity to provide LPIs that resemble Elephant.. urm... tails...

Compare that 'swinger' with a Halycon Eclipse...

You never understood it????????????? It is necessary to support a VERY popular configuration.. the Air 2.. Somebody probably mentioned one on this board before.

 

[gcarter]

Get rid of the snorkel. Unless it's a folding or roll up pocket snorkel the best place for one unless you are actually snorkeling is in your bag. In the car. I have gone to this one:Welcome to UDM Aquatic Services

It rolls up and fits in any BC pocket and has a quick release to take off and put on. I don't recommend anything else for my students. Dry snorkels? Overpriced junk for diving. Semi dry? Same thing. Simple solid j tube? Better cause you can shove it under a strap or bungee but still not ideal.

And I agree with Andy. I got rid of the inflator pull dumps on all my gear. Simple elbow and corrugated hose.

I see a lot of posts suggesting putting your snorkel in your BCD pocket. I find mine fairly useless, between its awkward location to the side, the fact that it is on top of the integrated weight pouch, none of that helped by 5mm gloves. I am thinking I should add a wetsuit pocket in a better location, with velcro instead of zip.

I have a quick release on my current snorkel - semi dry - but for the life of me don't see that it is practical with the 5mm gloves. Haven't tried it mind, but the gloves kill me on that stuff.

 

[g1138]

You never understood it????????????? It is necessary to support a VERY popular configuration.. the Air 2.. Somebody probably mentioned one on this board before.

I'll just leave these dueling sabres here......

 

[fisheater]

Jim, have you ever looked at the Cressi Corsica Snorkel. It's my personal favorite, with less gimmicks.
View attachment 115591
View attachment 115592

Plus one on this.

My Corsica folds up nicely in the bottom of my left drysuit or tech shorts pocket.

 

[DevonDiver]

If a diver opted to use an AIR2, then they could fit a longer hose. Why fit a over-sized hose with a regular LPI?

Also, if the diver was using an AIR2, then having a pull-dump on the corrogated hose wouldn't make great sense either. So why ever have a long hose and and pull-dump together.


Sorry, but I just don't buy into the concept that any design effort has gone into this. It's a cluster.

 

[FPDocMatt]

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.

When you're swimming horizontally, I don't know that it will be down. Oh well, I just need to practice with my eyes closed until I can find it in any situation, as another poster suggested. I just think there should be an algorithm for finding it, as there is for finding a dropped second stage, since it's critical to find it instantly when your buoyancy is changing.