Closing/opening tank valves

[Josh Levinson]

Hey guys,

I've recently done my Decompression diver course, in which I learned how to close/open the valves on my doubles underwater. I was able to do it well enough to pass the course apparently, but I had to use a trick. I had to undo the crotch strap and waist belt on my harness and swing the tank valves forward above my head so that I could reach them, and evev then it wasn't super easy. This perhaps isn't the most efficient way to do it, but if I don't do it like that, I just can't reach the valves.

So I was wondering if anyone has any tricks or anything like that to access the tank valves underwater without undoing any straps. Is using the method where you undo the straps considered acceptable in tech diving (open water or overhead)? I'd greatly appreciate any advice on the matter, as I'm planning to do some cave diving courses this summer and would like to prepare in advance by practicing techniques like this. Thanks a lot guys.


Josh

 

[Green_Manelishi]

those of us *cursed* with short arms must do what we
must do.

i too must pull the rig forward to access the valves.

the other option is to move the tank bands down (?) and
therefore push the valves "higher" .. the downside to
that is it might negatively effect your trim and then you'll
want to start using ankle weights to offset the effect ....

 

[chrisnycdive]

I began to dive doubles at the end of last season....and was loosening my crotch strap as well at first, especially when going for the manifold,....but no longer. Here's a few things I had progressively worked through, (much may be overly basic, sorry)

1) Make sure your BP/harness is fit propery, ie when wearing your bp (no tanks), you can reach back and touch the top of the plate. If you can't, your straps are too loose, and therefore your tanks probably too low. (and floppy)

2) Make sure you have that appx 1" of slack on your crotch strap. It'll give you a bit of wiggle room "built in", so that you can shift your rig up, w/out undoing the strap.

3) Not knowing how many times you did you shutdown drills for your class, but it took me a progressive 12+ dives, 2-5 drills per dive before acheiving the "muscle memory" to find the valves w/ relative sucess. I say "find" rather than "reach" b/c I believe that's more of a factor. For a while, I was having my buddy "guide" my hand back to the valves until my arm remembered where to go for them.

4) I tend to dive w/ my suit a bit over-squeezed. I notice this most when my arms are too "shrink-wrapped" to have a full range of motion. Just something to pay attention to.

5) Extra, and consistent stretching couldn't hurt

6) On line w/ GM's comment about moving the bands down,...in my DIR Fundamentals class, AG actually had us move our bands UP as far as they would go, for the reason he mentioned, it's better for your trim.

Basically, it's like most things and takes time and repeated practice. Get your buddy to help. I noticed a regression myself, when I dove 2 weeks ago, from not diving over the winter.

While I don't recall ever hearing/reading that loosening the crotch strap as being a real negative, it would only add a couple of extra seconds to the process, but I agree in that if you can learn to do it w/out, you should go for it.

Good luck,
Christine

 

[Wendy]

What position are you in under water when you are trying to reach the knobs? You should be able to reach the knobs if you are in a horizontal position. Its much harder to do if you are vertical or slanted in that diagonal somewhere between horizontal and vertical position.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Wendy is correct it is better to be horizontal. Also, I have noticed that many people want to lean their head forward when reaching back, which limits your reach. When reaching make sure you lean your head back and arch your back or at least keep it streight. If you lean your head way back can you touch (or almost touch) your isolator or your regs with the back of your head? You can reach the back of your head. Anything you need to do to reach the valves needs to be fast also you shouldn't need to change positions or lift the tank away from your back. In a cave or a wreck you might not have the room to reposition equipment.

 

[chrisnycdive]

Originally posted by MikeFerrara
also you shouldn't need to change positions or lift the tank away from your back. In a cave or a wreck you might not have the room to reposition equipment.

That is a VERY good point.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Josh Levinson
So I was wondering if anyone has any tricks or anything like that to access the tank valves underwater without undoing any straps.

Hi Josh,
I had a very difficult time with my Gates Vulcanized drysuit as it limited my range of motion.... I bought a light weight trilam and this really helped. Not everyone is going to buy a new suit to solve the problem though....

Another thing that I currently do is to stretch out UW at about 20' after I get a nice comfy squeeze.... I extend my arms out in front with hands together and then stretch from side to side to get as much fabric in the suit pulled up as possible... then I can reach my valves very easily.

Shane wears a CF200 and even though he has long arms he has to push on his elbow with the other hand to reach his valves quickly.

I will be diving my CF200 tomorrow for the first time so I will find out if it is harder for me to reach my valves.

Another thing that can limit range of motion is the undergarment not having enough room... as well as the friction between the undergarment and the interior of the suit.

Try stretching exercises before you put your rig on to see of the suit is binding you up... then try the same movements after donning the rig to see if that is adding interference.

As Wendy said vertical position makes reaching your valves much harder. But with my trilam I can still reach the valves on the 104s while standing on the beach.

 

[Campana]

Yes, you must remain pretty much horizontal, as in a cave or wreck you can't do otherwise, but you can get pretty "head down" to a point of sliding your tanks along with your whole backplate up higher on your body, after loosening your crotch strap a bit, and it's easy to reach valves even for a 53 year old oak tree like yours truly. It was so easy I had to laugh when he showed it to me, because I had struggled and struggled and could hardly reach them at all without dislocating my shoulder.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Campana
even for a 53 year old oak tree like yours truly.

Shoot, you really are old!!! They let fossils like you dive doubles?


Hmmmm... come to think of it.... 2002 minus 1948 is....
Hmmmm... shoot... I really don't like math...

 

[Campana]

what a great year. Course I don't remember much.