It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

freewillie · Dec 15, 2011

I've seen previous threads describing divers a Christmas trees. I've always thought I'd never be one of those divers but ...

I geared up last weekend for a local shore dive. Now, in my defense I'm still using a hybrid of my own personal gear and rental gear. On my left upper BC D-ring I have a retractable compass. Right upper D-ring I have a console SPG, compass, and dive computer (rental gear). Lower right D-ring have velcro style octo holder (cord goes around mouthpiece and inserts into velcro holder. just pull when needed and coumes out) and octo. Small dive light goes in pocket BC but did use during dive and clipped off when doing surface swim back to shore. Now I'm thinking I've got all this gear hanging off of me on clips and retractors and I must be one of these Christmas tree divers.

I'm eventually planning to streamline to wrist mounted AI computer, and using inflator/octo combo (not Air2 but Atomic SS1) so won't have as much dangling off of me.

But got me thinking, what is necessary in terms of gear and what makes you (me) look like a Christmas tree?

eponym · Dec 15, 2011

That was a cogent and serious opening post.

I might have a response in kind since I've been re-thinking my rig lately.

But in the meantime, I'm sorry but I just can't resist . . .

MXGratefulDiver · Dec 15, 2011

I once was at a dive site where an AOW class was about to get in the water for their night dive. One of the students was wearing what looked like a dual bandolier of cyalume sticks ... she had zip-tied probably a dozen of them to her BCD harness and tank straps. I guess she was worried about getting lost in the dark. She literally looked like a Christmas tree ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

racerx_ · Dec 15, 2011

how about some tips to keep things less 'dangly' too?

finished some dives in phuket this week, but was a bit annoyed i couldn't find a good way to keep my backup light from floating around as the octo was stuffed in the rental BC pocket so couldn't put it in there.. just clipped off it was flying around. already had a gopro on my wrist, decided not even to try to put the compass on so i wouldn't be a christmas tree ha.. felt like there was gear all over me. i guess that's partly a rental gear hazard, but still..

Quero · Dec 15, 2011

racerx_, for future reference, a lot of rental BCDs lack octo holders, but most of them allow for the octo hose to be curved and slipped into a gap near the right shoulder where the adjustable strap comes out. That way your pocket is freed up to hold your dive light. (Also, putting an octo in a pocket isn't recommended since it's not easily visible and accessible to an OOA diver.)

MXGratefulDiver · Dec 15, 2011

Rubber snorkel keepers make cheap and easy octo holders ... and in a pinch, you can even fashion one out of a simple rubber band, allowing it's a thick one ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Bubbletrubble · Dec 15, 2011

My suggestions to the OP:

Ditch the retractors. In my experience, they present an entanglement hazard (don't ask how I know) and, over time, they tend to rust out.
Wrist-mount your compass. The Suunto SK-7 with the Deep Sea Supply elastomeric mount is a wonderful combo.
Get a wrist-mounted non-air-integrated dive computer. The hoseless air-integrated computers cost more and can lose the wireless connection in the presence of camera strobe firing. For this reason and the occasional issue pairing with the transmitter pre-dive, many folks with hoseless air-integrated computers end up attaching a "backup" analog SPG anyway to their first stage anyway.
Get a simple brass-and-glass SPG with attached bolt-snap to clip off to a convenient D-ring.
Mount your backup light DIR-style. Connect a bolt-snap to the end of it. Clip it off to a chest D-ring. Use a small length of bicycle tire innertube located on the shoulder strap to secure the head of the light.
Stick with a full-size second stage for your octo.

At some point, you might consider switching over to a long hose primary/necklaced backup reg configuration. It tends to be more streamlined in the water and can make air-shares more convenient.

FWIW, I'm not a DIR diver at all. I'm just an OW recreational diver who eschews danglies.

fjpatrum · Dec 16, 2011

racerx_:
how about some tips to keep things less 'dangly' too?

finished some dives in phuket this week, but was a bit annoyed i couldn't find a good way to keep my backup light from floating around as the octo was stuffed in the rental BC pocket so couldn't put it in there.. just clipped off it was flying around. already had a gopro on my wrist, decided not even to try to put the compass on so i wouldn't be a christmas tree ha.. felt like there was gear all over me. i guess that's partly a rental gear hazard, but still..

Hair bands are your friend. I use them with a simple girth hitch to hold the "dangly end" of my lights to my harness shoulder straps. Wrap the band around the strap, pass it through itself, and stick the light through the remaining loop. No more dangling light. It works for other things too...

I bungee my octo around my neck to keep it from dangling (though I don't have a long hose config), my SPG is clipped to my right chest D ring and everything else stays put on my arms or my waist belt so no more dangly stuff. My DSMB is clipped to my backplate. In a jacket I would clip the SMB to a lower d-ring somewhere but that's the only change I would make, really.

DivemasterDennis · Dec 16, 2011

Eponym, it's a great picture, but we MUST know the colors! Is there a color version of the human sub-aquatic Christmas tree?
DIvemasterDennis

scubadiver888 · Dec 16, 2011

freewillie:
I've seen previous threads describing divers a Christmas trees. I've always thought I'd never be one of those divers but ...

I geared up last weekend for a local shore dive. Now, in my defense I'm still using a hybrid of my own personal gear and rental gear. On my left upper BC D-ring I have a retractable compass. Right upper D-ring I have a console SPG, compass, and dive computer (rental gear). Lower right D-ring have velcro style octo holder (cord goes around mouthpiece and inserts into velcro holder. just pull when needed and coumes out) and octo. Small dive light goes in pocket BC but did use during dive and clipped off when doing surface swim back to shore. Now I'm thinking I've got all this gear hanging off of me on clips and retractors and I must be one of these Christmas tree divers.

I'm eventually planning to streamline to wrist mounted AI computer, and using inflator/octo combo (not Air2 but Atomic SS1) so won't have as much dangling off of me.

But got me thinking, what is necessary in terms of gear and what makes you (me) look like a Christmas tree?

When I think of a 'Christmas tree' diver, I think of someone with a lot of things which are pretty but not functional. Do you have anything you don't really need? Going for a dive in the local mud hole, do you bring a reel, finger spool, DSMB, signal mirror, spare air, etc. If you answered yes to any of those you may be a Christmas tree. If everything you are carrying is useful or necessary for the particular dive you are doing, then you are not a Christmas tree. If I'm diving a wreck in the St. Lawrence River I NEED a light, a finger spool or reel, a DSMB.

How stream line you are is something totally different, IMHO. Everything dangling isn't a Christmas tree, it is just not good mounting of the gear you need. Having things you really don't need is being a Christmas tree.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

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freewillie

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eponym

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MXGratefulDiver

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racerx_

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Quero

Will be missed

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Bubbletrubble

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fjpatrum

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DivemasterDennis

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scubadiver888

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