First OW class, lots of gear questions!

[Aloha Joe]

Overall I'm really happy with how my rig turned out. There are a few things I'd like to change before Catalina:

SPG hose: 36" miflex hose wings out past my left shoulder and gets in the way when I reach for inflator. I can read the gauge on my hip so I'm thinking 24" will help. Miflex is nice and light, but also kind of rough on skin.

Ballast: I had 4 pockets w/ 10lbs total on my harness waist strap but really don't have enough space, and it made it tough to get the belt tight enough. I have a rubber weight belt, so maybe 10lbs on the belt, +4lbs on the upper cam band to compensate for AL80? Should I get my own weights for the belt? I'd prefer not to carry around 14lbs of lead!

Secondary regs:
1) What do most people do to keep primary reg from dangling when not in use (on land)?
2) If I keep using a necklace I need to find a way to clip my alternate off when doffing my rig, but bolt snap on reg sounds bad.
3) I'm going to stick to alternate-donate until I have proper hoses and can practice proper method. Should I keep the 36" hose and just re-orient the 1st stage and hose ports, or should I get 40-48" hose? Small price to pay for comfort in emergency situation...

Pocket for SMB? I accidentally 'deployed' it a few times since I had to move it in front of me to fit weight pockets and things were sliding around a bit.

Metal/glass SPG is heavy - it's a nice unit so it makes me cringe every time it hits the deck. I guess I can clip it to chest d-ring but prefer not to need more work.

I'm trying not to think about the Oceanic Accel fins

 

[tbone1004]

@Aloha Joe
SPG hose-if using bare SPG, then going to 24" will certainly help. Clip to left hip d-ring, leave clipped to left hip d-ring. You can move it up to your left shoulder d-ring if you want, and for now, I would urge you to cross clip it to your right shoulder d-ring to take up the slack. When you go to get out of the unit, unclip, and put it on the left hip to make it easier to get out. Hitting the boat deck won't do anything to it compared to the abuse we give them in caves

Weight belt-use the rubber belt, and there is no way you need 14lbs on there. I'd do away with the pockets altogether and do a proper weight check. You should need about 8lbs on the belt give or take

Secondary regs

1. bolt snap a fists width from the hose fitting and clipped to right shoulder d-ring
2. clip necklace into the primary regulators bolt snap to keep them together
3. you didn't post what hose lengths you have now and this thread is way too long for me to go back and look at it. Swap the shortest reg hose you have to the secondary, put it on your neck in a suicide strap. Take the longer hose and use it as is for now. It will be bowed out a bit, but such is life. When you order your short HP hose *Piranha has good made in USA rubber hoses in all sorts of lengths*, then order a 22" short reg hose, and a 40" long reg hose. Get a ball swivel with them, and you'll be good to go. 360 Degree Swivel for 2nd Stages

no pocket for SMB, though now that you have your own wetsuit, I would urge you to consider having a pocket put on your hip and using that. Good life decision right there

Accel fins aren't worth the money

 

[dmaziuk]

I'm trying not to think about the Oceanic Accel fins

They do fit into the "standard" carry-on and they are light, so if you're looking for travel-friendly...

 

[Aloha Joe]

Thanks! Is the 40" hose supposed to be for secondary/donate reg? I thought 48" was the min for primary/donate (not saying I prefer either, just asking).

 

[Aloha Joe]

They do fit into the "standard" carry-on and they are light, so if you're looking for travel-friendly...

Smaller and lighter is nice. But I was also thinking about swimming through all the kelp - I felt like I had much more control for confined spaces with the Accel fins. I'll wait until I can try some more fins before buying I guess.

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks! Is the 40" hose supposed to be for secondary/donate reg? I thought 48" was the min for primary/donate (not saying I prefer either, just asking).

40" is for primary, 22" is for secondary

You want it to look like one of these two setups. I personally prefer the second one

 

[dmaziuk]

Smaller and lighter is nice. But I was also thinking about swimming through all the kelp - I felt like I had much more control for confined spaces with the Accel fins. I'll wait until I can try some more fins before buying I guess.

I'm a satisfied Accel customer myself, but yeah: try more fins. The important part is that they fit well and if you didn't grow yourself well-calibrated reference feet, that may also be the challenging part.

 

[Aloha Joe]

Thanks, the videos were helpful!

Maybe it's another topic but I don't know about the alternate/secondary being yellow when you're donating the primary. But I've got enough now to get me going on setup for this coming weekend

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks, the videos were helpful!

Maybe it's another topic but I don't know about the alternate/secondary being yellow when you're donating the primary. But I've got enough now to get me going on setup for this coming weekend

color of regs and hoses doesn't matter, personal preference but most of us have matching second stages. If yours are already color coded, just leave them as is, lots of threads on primary donate and colors so search through, but the general consensus is that color doesn't matter, especially if you do a proper briefing with your buddy prior to entry

 

[stuartv]

Thanks, the videos were helpful!

Maybe it's another topic but I don't know about the alternate/secondary being yellow when you're donating the primary. But I've got enough now to get me going on setup for this coming weekend

Personally, I don't have or feel the need to have any yellow stuff on my reg set. I have 2 identical 2nd stages. Black hoses to both. If I do single tank dives for fun, I breathe off the 40" hose reg. If I am working with students (i.e. OW class), I breathe off the short hose (which is on a bungee necklace) and put the long hose reg in an octo holder, so it can be pulled loose easily.