P-valve tips

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loosebits

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This is what I've learned from my use of p-valves:

1) Rochester Widebands *never* blow off.

2) After several days of diving, the glue tends to build up and you can lose skin taking the catheters off. Scrub *well* after removing it and the next one will be much easier. If you're enjoying the scrubbing, you're doing it wrong.

3) Trim the grass.. you don't need to look like a porn star but hairs that find themselves in the wrong place can really tweak.

4) Cut a bit off the tip of the catheter to avoid kinks. Trim enough so that the nipple on the p-valve goes just past the tip of the catheter.

5) If it's hot outside, put the catheter on before going to the dive site. Sweat keeps it from staying on.

6) If it's cold outside, put the cathetar on before going to the dive site. If your turtle has run back into his shell, the cathetar won't have as much surface area to adhere to.

7) Give it a test go before suiting up all the way.

8) If you do have a kink, don't try to force it. If the catheter doesn't blow off, it will balloon until you can no longer hold the pressure and then you will end up with a urinary tract infection. Your wife/girlfriend can tell you how fun those can be.

9) If you have a balanced p-valve, make sure the bolt is open before ascending
(or don't dive with the bolt at all). Otherwise the air in the catheter won't have anywhere to go and it will blow up like a balloon.

10) If you're not sure you remembered to plug in, you probably didn't.

And finally, when you get a new suit first thing you need to do is take it out back, turn it inside out and piss all over it. It's going to happen some day, might as well get it over with.
 
I now clearly understand why my drysuit instructor, who is also a tech instructor, just uses Depends!
 
And finally, when you get a new suit first thing you need to do is take it out back, turn it inside out and piss all over it. It's going to happen some day, might as well get it over with.

:rofl3: :rofl3: :rofl3: :rofl3:
 
And finally, when you get a new suit first thing you need to do is take it out back, turn it inside out and piss all over it. It's going to happen some day, might as well get it over with.

To that comment, I'll apply my age old Irish adage of doing it later rather than sooner.
 
This was posted to another thread, but seems relevant for this one as well:

Suggestion on routing your tubing.

Go to McMaster-Carr website:
http://www.mcmaster.com/

Click on the top subheading, which is fittings, pipe, tubing and hose; second sentence, last item, which is "Quick Disconnect Tube Couplings (page 174) --
http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/framewor...Tube+Couplings

You're looking at a page of quick disconnect poly couplings, male and female plugs/sockets with barbs that fit into the plastic tubing.

Find the one that fits the tubing on your P-valve. Buy about six of the little suckers, male and female halves. (You tend to leave the male part connected to the short catheter tube laying around in hotel rooms, charter boats, and/or other places even more embarrassing...) I always have one in the ziplock of caths in my drysuit bag, plus a spare in the saveadive kit...

Cut your tubing about 5-6" from the end that attaches to the catheter. Install the male plug in that short piece. Install the female locking socket on the end that runs down to the overboard discharge valve.

I don the catheter in the hotel room before leaving for the dock/charter boat. Use two tiny o-rings to hold the catheter onto the end of the tubing (in case one breaks). You can get these dinky o-rings at the dive shop, from a reg tech. Take the parts so you can figure out what size fits your P-valve tubing. Wear long shorts upon donning, or the unexpected appearance of the end of this bizarre little configuration peeking beneath your shorts may lead to interesting looks and or conversations as you board the boat....

When donning your drysuit the tubing runs up inside your shorts to your waistband, and then through the bottom of the zipper in your undergarment. Weezles, for example, have a 2-way zipper in them. Many undergarments do also. Fleece sometimes doesn't, but you can cut a small slit in the fleece anyway, so who cares. Stick the male end of the tubing through the undergarment, and then plug it into the female socket at the top of your waistband. This configuration runs the tubing up from your personal plumbing through the undergarment at the base of the zipper, then down your leg to the overboard discharge valve installed into the suit. If you give yourself a few inches of leeway where the tubing clears the waistband of your shorts (or whatever you wear beneath your Weezle - if its a Speedo we don't want to know ) through your undergarment zipper and then down, you wind up with enough tubing to accommodate movement or stretching, but not enough to kink or allow excess tubing to block drainage. The valve not only makes donning the drysuit more comfortable for all concerned on crowded dive boats, but also prevents kinking from trying to run the tubing while donning the suit, etc. The downside is that the quick disconnect coupling constricts the tubing to a smaller diameter where it is installed, so you need to 'pee lightly' until you're sure that 'all systems are go', lest you blow off the catheter.

Works for me and the guys I dive with, but still simply MHO.

YMMV.

Doc
 
loosebits:
And finally, when you get a new suit first thing you need to do is take it out back, turn it inside out and piss all over it. It's going to happen some day, might as well get it over with.

I still remember the day I wondered why my leg was suddenly nice and warm.

Then it was cold. 8-(

Warm for 5 seconds cold for the whole afternoon.

Terry
 
Divin'Hoosier:
I now clearly understand why my drysuit instructor, who is also a tech instructor, just uses Depends!

If not by accident...why would someone piss on themselves during a dive? I wont wear a diaper unless I'm drooling and incoherent, and someone else can put it on me!
 
jjwdiver:
If not by accident...why would someone piss on themselves during a dive? I wont wear a diaper unless I'm drooling and incoherent, and someone else can put it on me!

Go drink a liter or two of water, zip up your drysuit then spend 4 or 5 hours in the water and you'll have your answer.

Terry
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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