Single Hose without an SPG?

[simonbeans]

Certified in 1962 via YMCA. Used a "new" single hose (as compared to the DH). It was a USD Hydrolung Supreme. No SPG, just a J-valve, no octo, no BCD. We used a snorkel-type vest with CO2 detonator for surface only. We were taught to correctly weight for the anticipated depth and to swim instead of sink.

 

[Nemrod]

I was recently reading about the evolution of regulators and it mentioned using a single hose regulator without an SPG. I can’t recall seeing that in my limited sphere of visibility so I thought I would see if this was common in other areas.

As I recall, the progression usually went from a double hose, to a single hose with an SPG, and later came the Octopus and inflator hoses. How does that square with what you remember?

I did not see the spg in common/ubiquitous usage by open water divers until at least the mid 70s.

I certainly did dive a single hose in the late 60s with J valve. You do recall that many single hose regulators including my first regulator, a 1966 Calypso J, had a built in J valve. Yes, there was a HP port available. In fact, I do not strictly recall a spg being used in my NAUI Advanced class in the very early 70s.


N

 

[duckbill]

My first dive, 1977, Kona (Kealakekua Bay), Hawaii off the Fairwinds catamaran. Rental/guided dive (of course- no cert). Single hose Dacor Olympic 100 with Dacor SPG/capillary combo (I believe), horsecollar with no auto inflate.

 

[trapezus]

My first dive Istanbul , 1974 Boshphorus 14 m ,La Spirotechnique Mistral (non mouthpiece valves ) no horse collar ...

 

[scubadada]

I was certified in 1970 by the LA County Underwater Unit. In class, used single hose, J valve, no SPG or inflator hose for the vest. Same gear until I bought my own in 1972, Scubapro MK5/109, still had a J valve, but also had a SPG and an inflator hose for a pre-BC, vest that was separate from the back pack harness. I dived this gear until 1980. I still dive the MK5/109 but had the yoke and turret upgraded

 

[Akimbo]

Interesting, and thanks for the info. I wonder how many people switched from double to single hose regulators that didn’t also have an SPG? That would be a case where it is less likely that the price of the SPG would be “the” barrier and the ability to use an SPG would be a motivation to switch.

There were one or two double hose regulators sold with an HP port but I don't remember seeing one. Sportsways for sure and maybe Dacor???

I remember the exact moment I decided to make the switch. I had been thinking that an SPG would be handy for some time but that wasn't the show-stopper. I was diving off a small WWII surplus inflatable and had to be super careful to protect my corrugated hoses. I noticed that a cylinder on the bottom of the pile of gear had a single hose and nobody was worried about protecting it at all. That was in 1964.

I wasn't an "early adopter"; I guess 1/4 to 1/3 of the regulators I saw used at that point were single hose. I can't swear to it but it seems like the great majority of those had SPGs attached.

Single hose regulators were always less expensive then. US Divers double hoses ranged between $90 and $50 while single hoses were $60 to $35. USD SPGs were $20 that year.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Akimbo,

I started diving in 1959, with a double hose Healthways SCUBA regulator. My second regulator was a single hose Healthways Scuba Star regulator, which had a restrictor orifice and I think I used it with a K-valve (no SPG). We were given a demonstration of the strength of the LP hose when a dive shop cut one half in two, and asked people to try to break it completely (we couldn't). He then showed us a photo of one of the HP SPG hoses between to pickup trucks, and they could not rip a half-cut hose in two. It was a pretty good demonstration of the strength of these hoses. Most of our dive club, the Salem Junior Aqua Club, used single hose regulators with and without an SPG (see the photo of Pierre with his dive gear below, using a SPG).

My third regulator was an AFM Voit 40 Fathom single hose regulator (Voit's version of the first USD Calypso regulator), which I used from about 1966 to the mid-1978. As a USAF pararescueman, we went through the U.S. Navy School for Underwater Swimmers, and we used the DA Aquamaster exclusively. After graduation as a PJ, we used single hose regulators with twin tanks (either twin 42s or twin 72s) through the 1970s.

I became a NAUI Instructor (NAUI #2710) in 1972, and we were not required to have an SPG at that time, or an octopus. My first use of an octopus was on the Warm Mineral Springs Underwater Archeological Project, and that was at the insistence of Larry Murphy, in February of 1975. By that time I had converted to an interesting type of BC that was built into the back of my wetsuit by Bill Herter of Deep Sea Bill's in Newport, Oregon.

In 1974 I published two articles in the IQ6, or Sixth International Conference on Underwater Education, sponsored by NAUI. One was titled "The Life Vest," and the other was titled "Comments on Buoyancy Control and Emergency Procedures." I used my brother, Ken as a subject, and he wore a life vest, single AL72 (the floater) and my MR-12 single hose regulator (no SPG, no Octopus). Around this time, Jim Mitchell published several drawings for NAUI showing both buddy breathing and the use of the octopus. Another drawing below comes, I think, from The New Science of Skin and Scuba Diving from the 1960s, and shows buddy breathing with the single hose regulator.

Limons Osis, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Biologist, is using a Healthways Scubair with a SPG in 1975. So at that time the SPG was becoming known, but not necessarily used a lot.

SeaRat

 

[Akimbo]

John, what was the rig in: Samo bagging fish in Okanawa.jpg? The bottles an valve protector remind me of some of the simi-closed rigs I saw in the diving locker but never used.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Oh my John!
those divers buddy breathing are completely "out of trim".
That's a class one scuba felony these days you know...

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Oh my John!
those divers buddy breathing are completely "out of trim".
That's a class one scuba felony these days you know...

Ed, at that time we ascended and descended in a vertical position. Nowadays, I still do that, but I hear rumors of people ascending and descending horizontally. They must have a lot more weight on themselves than I do.

SeaRat