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When you speak of bolt snaps, are those the best option for some reason?
I've a bolt snap on my keys for as long as I can remember (and while writing this I think it may come from when my father dived) and I have no problem with it, but I've also used what I think are called "trigger snaps" and they look like easier to open with cold hands, tremors or whatever problem you might have with your fingers.
So, stating the question in a more SB-friendly way, will I die if I use trigger snaps?
When you speak of bolt snaps, are those the best option for some reason?
I've a bolt snap on my keys for as long as I can remember (and while writing this I think it may come from when my father dived) and I have no problem with it, but I've also used what I think are called "trigger snaps" and they look like easier to open with cold hands, tremors or whatever problem you might have with your fingers.
So, stating the question in a more SB-friendly way, will I die if I use trigger snaps?
Trigger snaps certainly open more easily than bolt snaps and I certainly wouldn't use them on anything that wasn't attached elsewhere. If you're concerned about ease of use in gloves/cold then butterfly bolts should fit the bill.
Trigger snaps certainly open more easily than bolt snaps and I certainly wouldn't use them on anything that wasn't attached elsewhere. If you're concerned about ease of use in gloves/cold then butterfly bolts should fit the bill.
If butterfly bolts are those that are like bolt snaps but with a double curvature on entry that allows easy attachment, I think they might be dangerous. I'd rather have an opposite system. One that's hard to lock-on and easy to unlock.
However, if trigger snaps are just too easy to open and unreliable, I'll just go with the tried and true bolt snap on everything. Using a trigger snap for the SPG and other "attached things" and bolt snaps for the rest doesn't feel like a good idea.
Boltsnaps require a positive/deliberate effort from the diver to attach something. Swing-gate style clips will attach anything that makes contact with them. That's why we don't use carabiners etc. Boltsnaps are preferred in technical/cave/wreck diving because any entanglements can have serious consequences for the diver.
Triggersnaps are similar to boltsnaps from the entanglement perspective, although there is some doubt whether they are as secure as a boltsnap. Pretty much everything I secure by a clip has a safety value or dollar value... so I've always chosen to go with boltsnaps.
Butterfly snaps look similar to boltsnaps, but they can still cause entanglement, especially with thinner gauge line (as used for guidelines, DSMBs etc). Not so much risk for thicker lines/cables/electrical wires etc as a carabiner - but an entanglement in your penetration line or as you deploy your DSMB...is still a risk not worth taking IMHO. I've seen some tech divers use these - especially for stages, as they are easier to attach than boltsnaps. IMHO, they might as well use carabiners.
Personally I prefer the cold water or "butterfly" snap. For myself up here in Canada's cold water a safety hazard is not being to unclip or clip off due to the thermal protection on our hands. Warm water stuff I change em out for smaller bolt snaps.
Personally I prefer the cold water or "butterfly" snap. For myself up here in Canada's cold water a safety hazard is not being to unclip or clip off due to the thermal protection on our hands. Warm water stuff I change em out for smaller bolt snaps.
I'm still not sure what a "butterfly" snap is, but I've had no problem clipping off boltsnaps with drygloves. Just takes a little practice (and gloves that fit).
Oh, I see it. Having had an entanglement around the clips off my hip D-ring this very weekend (step 1: get on boat. step 2: kiss my knife), that would make me extremely wary.
a lot of us use the butterfly's for sidemount. If you get caught by a line on your butt plate, you have bigger issues... They are still very difficult to open, in the same way that the bolt snaps are and in order to get line to feed into them it has to be VERY taught with a LOT of pressure pulling it in. You'll feel the tug long before that snap opens. I only use them on my main sidemount tanks because they are damn near impossible to put on without them in a cold water situation with gloves on.
On the stages I use bolt snaps for attachment, but I also put D-rings on the cam bands of my sidemount tanks for attachment which people also have issues with. I can honestly say that there has never been any lines above me in a cave that I could have gotten caught in, and when I've been inside wrecks I've never had an issue. When my cave instructor tried to intentionally hook me with the line it slid right off, and when he got me with a reel around the valve of a stage bottle it was easy enough to unhook.
Never used triggers for diving, although as far as their security, we use them to hold up saxophones regularly, and there is nothing in scuba *spare some of the camera systems * that can come close to the dollar value of the bass saxes we hold on them, and there is very little that will come close to their 38lb weight *not sure you'd want to clip tanks off with them because they can be really irritating to hook into a D-ring and they're awkward.... They have never let go and I've been using them for 10 years. Still not going to use them in scuba because the butterfly clips work best fo rme on the bottom attachment in sidemount and normal bolt snaps work just fine for everything else
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Originally Posted by Thanshin
