independent doubles - long hose

[docmartin]

for those of you who dive independent doubles: how do you set up your second stages? in general, i do like a long hose for my primary and a short hose with necklace for the backup. however, with independent doubles there is not really a backup but rather two primaries as you will breathe from both regs during your dives. do you use two long hoses? how do you stow the second stage you are not currently breathing from?

 

[ianr33]

I have dived independant doubles on vacation and will probably do so again. I use the exact same reg setup as I do on manifolded doubles.Long primary and bungeed backup. To stow the long hose I clip it to my right D ring. Hose is attached to the clip by an O ring so that in dire emergency it can be broken free.

Most of the time if diving independants I am likely to be either A) With a buddy on independants or B)solo. In both of these scenarios it is very unlikely that I will need to donate a reg to anyone,but the O ring is there if I do need to donate while I am on the backup reg and dont have the time to unclip.

Edit- forgot to mention that with independants the extra spg (on the righthand tank) goes under my arm and is clipped off on the right D ring

 

[DA Aquamaster]

I will use 1/3 of the gas from the right tank, then use 2/3rds from the left tank before ending the dive on the 2nd 3rd of the gas in the right tank.

Consequently, I put the long hose on the right tank. This means I am on the long hose when I start and end the dive - the times I am most likely to end up sharing air. It also means the long hosed tank has more gas in it for the bulk of the dive, which is again a good thing in an air share situation.

I am not a bungeed backup fan. Instead I attach bolt snaps to the mouthpieces of each second stage. The long hose is just long enough to clip to a D-ring on the waist band just slightly right of center. Similarly, the short hose reg is also just long enough to go over the shoulder and down to the same D-ring. It's clean with no dangling or excess hose and is easy to access to clip and unclip the second stages during a switch. In an emergency where you need the gas right now and don't want to mess with unclipping, a sharp tug will pull the reg out of the o-ring leaving the snap on the D-ring.

Similarly, I also route the SPG from the left tank over my right shoulder and down to the same d-ring where it is held in place with no excess slack. It easy to clip and unclip when you need to check it. I take care that it is always the bolt snap farthest to the right.

I'm going to patent it as the "DIL" configuration (Doing It Larry).

 

[Hoosier]

I am also using a long hose right tank and bungee left tank. So, there is no difference with the manifold double. The only difference is a gas management like DA Aquamaster explained.

BTW, I have the new set of double band that my GF never used.... Anyone?

 

[slimshady]

Is it possible to connect the LP ports of the independent doubles and use gas from both tanks without switching 2nd stages?

 

[Hoosier]

Is it possible to connect the LP ports of the independent doubles and use gas from both tanks without switching 2nd stages?

Not yet, but you might be interested in this stuff.
http://www.technodivers.com/products.htm

 

[wedivebc]

I use gas management same as DAs. I place my long hose on the right tank and use a left handed second stage on the left tank. Some, regs, aqualung XLC, scubapro R190 can be converted to left hand drive, also poseidons, dacor (viper I think) and oceanic omegas will work in any position. I like to keep my right reg and spg on the right side and my left tank spg and reg on the left. Helps me keep things straight without too much thinking about it.

Is it possible to connect the LP ports of the independent doubles and use gas from both tanks without switching 2nd stages?

Seems to defeat the main advantage of independants

 

[*Floater*]

I've just used independent doubles for 5 dives so far but will probably use them again when manifolded doubles are not available for rent. I used the the same hose configuration that DIR followers use with manifolded doubles, except for the extra spg which i attached to an added right hip d-ring (i have no can light). I used a boltsnap to attach the my longhose primary to the right chest d-ring when not in use. my octo was on a bungee necklace.

if another diver needed my air, i would have given him the reg i was breathing - if this reg happened to be the shorthose one, then i would have unclipped the longhose primary while he was breathing from the shorthose octo (or regular hose octo for me as i haven't bought the shorthose yet) and then given it to him after checking it. my reasoning was that any ooa diver would find a way to breath from my shorthose for a few seconds or a minute at most while i switched the regs.

observations: a) i thought it might have been better to run the longhose the other way; under the left spg, across the chest, behing the neck and clipped onto the left chest d-ring, but i didn't bother to change my configuration to try this out. the reason was that it might have been easier to have one 2nd stage come from the right and the other from the left, so that the hoses wouldn't criss-cross. i could also have run the octo from the left. b) a bigger boltsnap for the longhose primary would have been better (i was just using a small one since usually i don't need to clip and unclip it much underwater).

 

[slimshady]

Not yet, but you might be interested in this stuff.
http://www.technodivers.com/products.htm

I have done it above water using two LP hoses and a valve between them. I can breath down both tanks without reg switching. In the event of failure I can close the valve and isolate one tank and reg.

 

[Hoosier]

I have done it above water using two LP hoses and a valve between them. I can breath down both tanks without reg switching. In the event of failure I can close the valve and isolate one tank and reg.

Can you equalize both tanks through LP ports?