Best way to stow/ restow 7' hose on sidemounted bailouts

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tstormdiver

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Scuba Instructor
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Location
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So,... Last weekend I was practicing deploying & stowing the 7' hoses on my bailout bottles, for my upcoming CCR Cave class. Big difference from the 40" hoses I am used to on my stage bottles. Needless to say, I got rather humbled:facepalm:. The Hoses seemed to have a mind of their own & getting the second stage to go where I wanted it (tucked within easy reach, but nestled between my body & the cylinder) was a major chore. After the first go round, the hoses were flexing outward & the regs were on the outside.... Not exactly what I wanted. My cylinders are clipped in the rear to a butterfly style d-ring up high on my crotch strap (short arms) & held in place up top by a loop of bungee around the valve. I basically tried to restow the hose about like I do with stage bottles (unclip the rear, swing around to access the hose retainer straps (DR) & start stuffing). After several frustrating minutes, I got it put away, but not correctly & not very prettily. In fact my buddy was quite entertained by my cussing going on:D. I realize,... anything new takes a little practice to get proficient at,... but this was most aggravating. Looking for ideas on how to stow & restow the hose. Accordion style? Loop within a loop? Would Myflex be easier to handle than a standard hose? Just looking for ideas. I've got a couple days I can practice in the pool before leaving. Thanks, all!
 
Miflex not easier. They are very floaty. For sidemount its a double looping. Wish I could post an illustration. You run two bands, slip the first loop down through to about the bottom of the cam band, create another and slip it through next to the other. Like a lazy looping narrow w . the other thing to remember is if you do have to deploy it you're giving it to someone. Unless you are in a restriction they can help you restow it when necessary. Routing it this way though involves you feeling for two pops when you deploy it for your own use. That's the first loop coming out of the bands with the amount of hose you need for your own use.
 
think paperclip. NORMALLY! most sidemount instructors aren't mean enough to make you fully deploy the long hose and restow it knowing how much of a PITA it is.

The best way to actually do it is to push the bottle out in front of you and have your buddy stow it for you if he's familiar with how it is supposed to go, and the alternative is for him to hold the bottle while you stow it. It can be done on your own, but it's not easy and almost never pretty
 
Thanks guys! It gives me a clearer picture in my mind. Hopefully I can get to the pool next week & get a little practice on it. Trust me, my instructor is very tough on me & I personally, would not have it any other way. I am a personal friend of his & his repair technician,.... he wants to keep me around for a while:D. I am fairly certain he'll make me work those hoses on both sides, probably wile also giving me other problems to solve. That is the way he trained me in OC full cave, so I have no doubts he'll be just, if not more so tough. At the time it can be so frustrating, but by the end, I know well, what I am doing & can actually safely enjoy the dives.
 
Edd Sorenson told me it was easiest to be breathing off the long hose while you stow it. This is what I tried and it worked alot better. This is of course for OC where the reg is clipped off to a D ring while not in use.
 
I can see that... A tad more difficult on CCR, I found. I tried to loop the hose over the back of my neck,.... Didn't work so well with the loop pushing the hose off. I'm sure I'll figure it out eventually. I just need to figure what will work with me.....
 
CCR cave works great when using 40" hoses on bailout you can donate, by swapping the cylinders. It was a large part of my course. Having a long hose in my opinion seems like an open circuit thing. As mentioned, it's a pain in the ass on CCR so why do it? The tendency for divers using the over the shoulder method is to not practice because of the pain in the ass factor of removing the loop while in an emergency.

There certainly is divers doing this though but something I think people should question on whether there is another way, does the other way work better and am I more likely to succeed by doing one way over the other. I don't think there is one right answer for everyone however I know what I choose.

Garth
 
Garth, huge advantage to the Poseidon regs for that since they are truly non-sided, it doesn't matter which way is up. The new 500se from Hollis is similar, but I'm discovering a fondness for the Cyklon, use Jetstreams as backgas regs fwiw. Having a truly non sided reg makes the whole wrapping around the neck thing less crucial as it is just as comfortable to have the hose come up from the left as it is if the bottle was on the right with a normal second stage.

If I had my choice I would run 40 or 44 inch hoses on everything and just as soon not deal with the long hoses, but alas, not an option with mixed teams.
 
Not interested in caves, but why would you have a 7 foot hose on a bailout? If you're handing off to someone else, give them the whole thing, and take their empty to stay in trim. I've seen a lot of wreck rebreather divers, but I've never seen a 7 foot hose on a bailout.

Edit. I see I am merely the third person to ask the question. Still, I'm interested in the answer.
 
I'm still curious about that one too. Last I checked in CCR you have 2 options for bailout. Individual or team. In team bailout you pass the bottle off, in individual bailout, you have no need for a hose that long..... 5' might be necessary if you're a big guy and want to wrap it around your neck and still have it go down, but if you have a turret first stage a 40" with a 90* adapter is plenty to go from sidemount position behind your shoulder, to in front of your shoulder, around your neck, with enough room to look all the way to the left. Even without a turret, you are going to be mostly there. You can find 48" hoses that are fine as well and the nice thing with those is they still stay in the top hose retainer so you can stow them easily. 7' is too long to stow with one loop, 5' is pushing it, especially on smaller bailout tanks. 48" works pretty well and allows you to have a hose retainer at the top and bottom of the tank. On restow, the top band still has the hose inside of it, so you can push it down through there, swing the bottle forward and tuck the loop into the bottom. 40" works for most normal sized people, but I'm pretty big, so I prefer the slightly longer hoses.
 
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