Regulator bungie for recreational diver

[SeahorseDeb]

I'm going to take heat for this post, however after positioning a fire extinguisher nearby, I've decided to post and see how you feel about the issue. We have caver's here, DIR, Tek, recreational, etc. lots of divers, lots of opinions, and I welcome it.

I am a recreational diver, started in 1976, climbed out of the water in the 1980's to have a family and jumped back into the water in 2008. I am a drysuit diver in the Pacific Northwest, lots of gear, and I always stay as streamlined as possible.

I caught onto the idea of the regulator bungie after looking at the tek setups, and put about 50 dives on it and loved having it right where I needed it at all times, no arm sweeps. My LDS owner told me in no way could I wear the configuration in a class because it takes precious seconds to remove the reg over my head to donate to a buddy. I seconded his opinion and cut the thing off. I had used the elasticized cord, tied two knots and zip tied it to my reg. I enjoy the convenience, especially when on a long surface swim. I haven't put it back on, and after 30 dives without it, I miss the convenience. I don't have a spare octo for my buddy if I need to share air, I have to donate my primary and use my b/c for my air. When I do a pre dive buddy check, I show my buddy in the water how I remove the reg and donate it to them.

Do I put the bungie back on and enjoy the convenience, or leave it off?

 

[Fishpie]

If you were using standard length hoses and the bungied reg was the one you'd donate I'd probably have to agree with your LDS.
If you go back to using a bungied back-up have this on a short hose and have a 7' hose on your primary and use this to donate.

 

[Hickdive]

Having your secondary reg bungied under your chin is only safe if you're going to donate your primary to an OOA buddy. Attempting to donate a secondary bungied under your chin is just a disaster waiting to happen.

Donating your primary is only safe if the primary hose is a long one. Trying to donate it on a standard-length interstage hose is, again, a disaster waiting to happen.

If you have a hog loop or similar system then it will work and work well but trying it with a regular octopus hose and primary, with the octopus bungied under your chin, is a bad idea.

A lot of "tech" rigs are actually carefully thought-out systems that require the adoption of the whole to work. Simply copying parts without understanding the reasoning behind them can result in people getting hurt. I'm not saying that is what you've done (there isn't enough info in your OP) but I think it needs saying as a general comment.

 

[koozemani]

I'm confused! Why did you zip tie your reg to the bungie? My wife and I both use bungied octos and share our primary regs if need be, however, if the bungie is tied right you can always grab it and it will easily detach from the bungie. It involves tying 2 sliding knots which creates a loop to fit over the mouth piece. When sinched, it holds it in place, but with a tug, it will come loose if need be. You can find step by step directions.

am I not understanding the problem?

---------- Post Merged at 02:31 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:28 AM ----------

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=SIFyUJo98E4&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DSIFyUJo98E4

google regulator necklace. Here's the link

 

[Jim Lapenta]

As others have said, the reg bungeed under your chin is not for an OOA diver. It is for you. It sounds like you went to the configuration with only half of the idea. And it also sounds like you need to find a new lds. I'd have let you take the class. But I would have known how to configure a set up like that and advised you how it should have been set up. This shop sounds like it doesn't know or doesn't want to have people using that "tech stuff". There are more than a few of those shops that live in ignorance and don't want to be enlightened.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[SangP]

I'm going to take heat for this post, however after positioning a fire extinguisher nearby, I've decided to post and see how you feel about the issue. We have caver's here, DIR, Tek, recreational, etc. lots of divers, lots of opinions, and I welcome it.

I am a recreational diver, started in 1976, climbed out of the water in the 1980's to have a family and jumped back into the water in 2008. I am a drysuit diver in the Pacific Northwest, lots of gear, and I always stay as streamlined as possible.

I caught onto the idea of the regulator bungie after looking at the tek setups, and put about 50 dives on it and loved having it right where I needed it at all times, no arm sweeps. My LDS owner told me in no way could I wear the configuration in a class because it takes precious seconds to remove the reg over my head to donate to a buddy. I seconded his opinion and cut the thing off. I had used the elasticized cord, tied two knots and zip tied it to my reg. I enjoy the convenience, especially when on a long surface swim. I haven't put it back on, and after 30 dives without it, I miss the convenience. I don't have a spare octo for my buddy if I need to share air, I have to donate my primary and use my b/c for my air. When I do a pre dive buddy check, I show my buddy in the water how I remove the reg and donate it to them.

Do I put the bungie back on and enjoy the convenience, or leave it off?

Like the guys have said, the octo is for you and your primary for you ooa buddy.
Check out how it's done:
UTD Essentials of Recreational Diving DVD Skills Preview - S-Drill - YouTube

You also don't need to zip tie the bungee onto the reg. You could make a bungee necklace like this:



Which allows you to slip it over the mouth of the octo and remove whenever you want.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Okay, I'm confused. I use a silicone (or some similar rubbery material) regulator necklace (not bungee cord) for my secondary with the idea that I would donate this secondary to the OOA diver and keep the reg I'm using in my mouth. Why would it take any longer to pull the secondary out of my necklace and hand it to the OOA diver than to pull the secondary out of the crappy traditional "octo holder" I used to have clipped to a D-ring on my BCD or a snorkel-keeper octo holder that some people use?

Granted, I have come to understand the advantage of donating the in-use long hose to the OOA diver and switching to the secondary below one's chin, but I adopted the way I'm doing it now as a transition toward that end. Is there something dangerous about what I'm doing?

 

[Bopper]

I don't have a spare octo for my buddy if I need to share air, I have to donate my primary and use my b/c for my air. When I do a pre dive buddy check, I show my buddy in the water how I remove the reg and donate it to them.

(Edit: I realize now that the OP has some kind of AIR2 on her BC)

 

[Bob DBF]

I liked the tech setup for Solo diving but it didn't really work for me when buddy diving, the snorkle stays. I am now trying a bungied primary and found a bulletproof holder for the safety reg, it seems to work for now.

"Bungied" regs were around when I started diving only they used snaps and a rubber strap. Most divers didn't use them because it could slow down an air share and buddy breathing (before safe seconds and SPG's were used), as well as finding your dropped reg was not even consirered an issue. As SPG,s and safe seconds proliferated, the straps disapeared and tech community found a good reason for keeping them.

Just insure that your choice is not a gear solution for a skills issue, that reg may still disapear and you will have to go find it.



Bob
-----------------------
I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[klauricella]

Why do you need a long hose for open water rec. I am not DIR but I believe standard length hoses are fine according to them for open water. Long hoses are good for confined spaces where divers can not be right next to each other.

Having your secondary reg bungied under your chin is only safe if you're going to donate your primary to an OOA buddy. Attempting to donate a secondary bungied under your chin is just a disaster waiting to happen.

Donating your primary is only safe if the primary hose is a long one. Trying to donate it on a standard-length interstage hose is, again, a disaster waiting to happen.

If you have a hog loop or similar system then it will work and work well but trying it with a regular octopus hose and primary, with the octopus bungied under your chin, is a bad idea.

A lot of "tech" rigs are actually carefully thought-out systems that require the adoption of the whole to work. Simply copying parts without understanding the reasoning behind them can result in people getting hurt. I'm not saying that is what you've done (there isn't enough info in your OP) but I think it needs saying as a general comment.

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