6th D-ring?

[Divin'Papaw]

Let me start out by saying that I don't want to start a war here and I'm not trolling! Just posting an honest question and looking for honest advice.

I have a DSS hogarthian harness and SS BP with 30 lb wing that I love. However, I have been thinking of one small modification. First, a bit of background. I am a new diver. I don't have any plans to move into technical, wreck penetration or cave diving. My plans are strictly recreation diving. I will be getting into some wreck diving, but strictly external survey and at recreational depths. I have no plans to move into doubles or can lights. Just too expensive, at least for the foreseeable future as I'll have kids in college for the next 7 years! I do not use a long hose or bungeed octo. I tried it but didn't care for it. Given the recreational diving that I'm doing, I don't really plan on going back to it.

Given all of that, I've been considering adding a 6th D-ring on the right side waist band opposite the left D-ring. Given the type of diving I'll be doing, I can't really see any downside with having another D-ring in that location for attaching a light (I have both a UK SL4 and a PT Shockwave LED), reel and/or SMB.

Have I missed something? Why should I NOT add a D-ring to the right waist band?

 

[Mark Vlahos]

One of the main reasons that a D-ring is not placed on the right hip is because the light canister is placed there and if you need to ditch it a D-ring would be in the way. If you are not using a canister light I see no problem with putting a D-ring on your right hip, although I find that the shoulder D-rings to be a better place to clip on a light.

Mark Vlahos

 

[Soggy]

The reason why there is no d ring on the right side is because anything clipped there has the potential to interfere with deployment of the long hose. If you don't use a long hose, then there is no particular reason for you not to put a d-ring there.

 

[do it easy]

Go for it! Just make sure it fits with the style of diving you do.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Personally I use an OMS light mounted to the backplate so there is no need for hip mounting a canister light. Consequently I have used a right hip D-ring for the last several years.

I understand the concern with the theoretical problems clipping something on the right could cause in deploying the long hose. But in practice it is not an issue.

Not having a cannister on the right hip, you will most likely need to tuck the extra hose lenght inside the waist band on your right hip to prevent the excess lenght from floating up over your head during the dive. In that position anything clipped to the hip D-ring is highly unlikely to impede the deployment of the long hose anyway as the hose will remain close to the body while whatever is clipped to the D-ring willhang forward or down and away from the hose.

In addition, in terms of long hose deployment, the inital hose lenght comes from passing the hose over your head and only the last couple feet come from pulling the hose out from under the cannister light. So in a sense, the cannister itself could be construed as "impeding" long hose deployment and this would be no different than pulling the hose out form under a reel or other item clipped to the D-ring.

If you decide to carry a deco or stage bottle on that side, you do want to be sure the lower clip is not clipped through the loop on the long hose as that would then require you to unclip the lower end of the stage bottle to fully release the long hose. That is the only potential problem I have ever legitamately associated with using a right hip D-ring.

As for an SMB or lift bag, I prefer to stow it on the bottom of the backplate secured by a pair of bungee cord loops. It is easy to deploy and is much more streamlined there.

 

[HNITSUJ]

I have the cannister on my plate, a right side fixed d-ring and a 5 ft hose which does not require it to be tucked. Works fantastic

 

[MikeFerrara]

I don't see any real problem with a ring on the right bu, in your case, I also don't really see that you need it. I've carried as many as 6 or 8 extra tanks and still onl;y use 3 d-rings. My two backup lights are mounted on the shoulders and I put stages/deco bottles on the left. If I have too many tanks to carry for that to work well I use a leash for the extra tanks. In the event that I need the tanks closer to my body and I temporarily stow some on the right, I just use a loop of bungie rather than another d-ring.

The reason that many of us put backup lights on the shoulder is because of the way we deploy them. you just yank it down through the bungie and turn it on before unclipping it. That does two things. It reduces the chances of losing it if we do unclip it and drop it because it's on and very often we don't need to unclip it at all. You just leave it clipped on and pointing down in front of you supplying light and leaving both hands to work with. In your case I don't see the d-ring as being as much of an issue as the way you are using your lights. When I dive without a can light, I still leave the two backup type lights on the shoulders and if I need a light intermittently, I use one. Either way, I dont, see dangling a light off a d-ring as a great way to stow it.

 

[grazie42]

Go for it...the d-ring itself won´t "hurt" and if anything you put there gets in the way, you unclip it and put it somewhere else...

 

[Green_Manelishi]

Or you could try something innovative like ...

www.green-manelishi.com/main/products/productsindex.html

 

[super opus]

go for it, test it, fix it ,dive it again