Just curious, which hose do you necklace and which do you clip?

[beanojones]

One thing to think about is that if one ever planes to do any monkey diving, not having a/the long hose on the left tank might make for not being used to the setup.

 

[olphart]

Try it. I don't think you'll like it. And in a real emergency, it would be even less fun. Try it with a drysuit as well.

 

[rick00001967]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n5RMSLdwI8&feature=kp

i assume this is the video everyone is talking about ?? please note (especially for those who have not seen this) when discussing his set up that his long hose is on the left. not the right.

i am currently using this type set up to cut my teeth on. only difference is i am using two 5 foot hoses and i have the spgs running down on the front of each tank instead of up to the shoulder

was out yesterday. when i had the inflator on my left dring, my 15" lp hose worked fine. then tried the inflator on the right dring. 15" lp hose worked but was too short to route nicely. the rest seems pretty good. for an amateur anyway.

 

[tbone1004]

One thing to think about is that if one ever planes to do any monkey diving, not having a/the long hose on the left tank might make for not being used to the setup.

Why on earth would someone who is monkey diving need a long hose? You shouldn't be going anywhere that a long hose would be required when monkey diving.... Let us all remember that the point of a long hose is to be able to exit a location single file, i.e. cave/wreck etc. There is 0 reason to have a long hose in an open water environment unless you just leave it on because you don't want to swap the hoses. A 40" hose is plenty long enough to come up and under your armpit and around the back of your neck, especially if it is on a 90* adapter. Anything longer than that is overkill unless you have the need to make single file air sharing exits. In OW environments the long hoses can cause more problems because the diver can get out of your reach on the ascent if they panic and bolt, at least with a short hose they are forced to be within arms reach of you.

The OP is in Gainesville so I'm assuming he's a cave diver which renders the above moot for this discussion, but monkey diving/recreational sidemount has no use for a hose that long.

Also remember on the comments for Brians hose lengths, he is in a wetsuit not a drysuit, and he is not a big guy by any means so the hose lengths should be tailored to your body type. Very different from backmount where all of the hoses can be identical for everyone because the only thing that can be effected by body size is how the long hose has to route whether that be tucked into the waist belt for short/thin divers, or worked out in another way for bigger guys.

 

[tomcatbubba]

FWIW, I like two 7' hoses, left hose clipped on left d-ring, right hose clipped on right d-ring. If you fold the hoses correctly and bungee to the tank, you can keep them very tidy for easy deployment. I don't like behind the shoulder routing as it can eat up the neck seal on drysuits and / or cause some pretty nice chaffing on your neck, especially if you use a hose with any rough texture on the surface (Miflex, phantom etc). Plus it is much easier to get clipped in and out of the tanks when you don't have to worry about routing the hose and getting the necklace donned or doffed.

 

[LakeCountyDiver]

I dive a really short hose on my RIGHT tank (yes right tank). It comes straight up and in a necklace bungee.

My long hose is on my LEFT tank and comes up around my neck and down. It has a clip but unless it is high flow I usually do not clip it.

This method id rare but it keeps my chest clean and is more streamlined. Looking to get a second short hose on right hand reg but that is down the road.

 

[beanojones]

Why on earth would someone who is monkey diving need a long hose? You shouldn't be going anywhere that a long hose would be required when monkey diving.... Let us all remember that the point of a long hose is to be able to exit a location single file, i.e. cave/wreck etc. There is 0 reason to have a long hose in an open water environment unless you just leave it on because you don't want to swap the hoses. A 40" hose is plenty long enough to come up and under your armpit and around the back of your neck, especially if it is on a 90* adapter. Anything longer than that is overkill unless you have the need to make single file air sharing exits. In OW environments the long hoses can cause more problems because the diver can get out of your reach on the ascent if they panic and bolt, at least with a short hose they are forced to be within arms reach of you.

The OP is in Gainesville so I'm assuming he's a cave diver which renders the above moot for this discussion, but monkey diving/recreational sidemount has no use for a hose that long.

Also remember on the comments for Brians hose lengths, he is in a wetsuit not a drysuit, and he is not a big guy by any means so the hose lengths should be tailored to your body type. Very different from backmount where all of the hoses can be identical for everyone because the only thing that can be effected by body size is how the long hose has to route whether that be tucked into the waist belt for short/thin divers, or worked out in another way for bigger guys.

Addressing the things in turn.

Why does anyone ever need a long hose? For people who dive lakes and quarries, perhaps, open water means still, calm water that always allows people to swim in a big ole' ball I guess. In the ocean I swim in, 10 foot swells, the resultant surge, and mask ripping current are just a fact of life. Unless I am doing a 'fsck you' dive, and will never be potentially helping anyone because I am diving on stage tanks without a BCD, the left tank will have an inflator hose, and a long hose, and an octo of sorts, whether I have two right tanks, no right tank, or one right tank.

My ability to handle surge, current, and surface waves is my ability to handle surge, current and surface waves, and not the ability of someone I am helping to handle surge, current and surface waves. A short hose is the worst possible position to be in in an OOA situation regardless of whether there is an overhead environment or not. At no point do I want an OOA diver forced into my face keeping me from seeing what is going on.

By whatever reasoning one can decide against a short octo hose in open water diving, they can similar decide against in caves. After all can't the OOA cave diver simply back kick their way out breathing off a 40" octo hose, facing the donor or vice versa? If they cannot, what are they doing in a cave in the first place?

For some perhaps, recreational diving has some strange meaning that says we will never take lessons learned in a cave and put them to use otuside a cave. Luckily for the dive community at large that is hardly the case. In fact that is the whole reason for the entire DIR area of diving. In fact what makes for safety in a cave where everyone is assumed to be fairly expert only makes more sense in open water where no such an assumption is warranted.

Decidiing on how someone should route their hose, and the length they should use, and what sort of swivel should be on it: "A 40" hose is plenty long enough to come up and under your armpit and around the back of your neck, especially if it is on a 90* adapter." ???

All I can say is OK, if you want to tell people you have never met what works for them, well have at it. Most people are looking and listening for stuff to try to see what sort of sidemount system/setup works for them.

 

[mddolson]

Well said Beanojones.
I adopted the long hose on the right when I started wreck diving (about 30 years ago). I was actively teaching also, & added the long hose to my teaching rig.
I found everyone (me & the recipiant are) more comfortable with the long hose, whether in training drills, or a real assist.

I like consistancy, so for me : in a single, back doubles or sidemount, I rig long hose on right side routed around my neck (aka DIR) no clip, & 40" short hose neck laced.
I change my suit inflator (Viking HD) to right tank when I sidemount.

Mike D

 

[Sidemount_Stu]

IMHO the only time a long hose is NOT warrantied, is on extremely tight/long restriction cave diving where it would be no use and every diver is effectively diving completely solo.....

In EVERY other scenario i can think of, the Long Hose is hugely advantageous. I've never understood those that refer to SM and say Long hoses are for cave use, not open water.... and yet the same divers will put a BM twins (doubles) set on and configure it DIR with a Long Hose because that's what is "standard" and then do the same type of Open Water Dive that they've said it's not appropriate for SM on....

Each to their own of course, but please, why o why would you NOT use a Long hose.....

 

[Narked Scuba]

FWIW, I like two 7' hoses, left hose clipped on left d-ring, right hose clipped on right d-ring. If you fold the hoses correctly and bungee to the tank, you can keep them very tidy for easy deployment. I don't like behind the shoulder routing as it can eat up the neck seal on drysuits and / or cause some pretty nice chaffing on your neck, especially if you use a hose with any rough texture on the surface (Miflex, phantom etc). Plus it is much easier to get clipped in and out of the tanks when you don't have to worry about routing the hose and getting the necklace donned or doffed.

I dive and teach the same. 2 long hoses cuts out having to think about which one I'm breathing and which one I need to donate, etc.