Moving hoses

[MichiganScott]

Can anybody tell me what's involved in moving the hoses on a Jacket style BC from the left to the right?

My daughter has extremly limited range of motion in her left arm. Inflating her BC is ok but deflating it is pretty difficult. She has one dump valve at the bottom/back which isn't very useful when she's trying to desend, but thats the only extra valve on it.

She likes this BC, and as it was hard enough to find one to fit her comforatably, and one that was; {sorry} "pretty"; it had to be colorful (girl thing, didn't want black...).

Any ideas would be appreciated, up to and including do they make colored trans pak set ups?

 

[Web Monkey]

Can anybody tell me what's involved in moving the hoses on a Jacket style BC from the left to the right?

The hole for the inflator/dump valve is usually reinforced from the inside. I don't think you can just cut a new hole and (safely) move it.

If you really need it moved, you might want to consider selling it and buying a Backplate and Wing with a single center mounted hose, since you can run it down either side.

Is red enough of a color?

Terry

This is from OMS:

 

[marchand]

If the corrugated hose is long enough you could run it behind her neck to the right side and then bungee it to the shoulder strap.

P.S. You can get various colored backplates from TDL.

 

[BabyDuck]

or if the hose *isn't* long enough, you might be able to switch it out for a longer one so it can be routed over to the right side from where it connects to the bc.

 

[Ken abucs]

How about a BCD with a dump valve on the right shoulder activiated by a pull string?

Check out http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/gear-equipment-classifieds/145232-scubapro-bc-size-medium.html

 

[BSea]

If you go the BP/W route, call Deep Sea Supply. I think they make or made a blue wing with kind of a tropical pattern look to it, and I believe their wings have the hose coming from the center of the wing. Oxycheq makes a pink wing, but the hose is slightly left of center. But you could probably get a slightly longer hose to go over the right shoulder. It's easy to redirect the hose to point that way.

 

[Glycereine]

If she is fine using the inflator on the left I would look into a BC with a top right shoulder dump as well as the bottom right one (Most Aeris BC's have this as well as several other manufacturers).

However if the inflator is an issue even a little bit, it's better to be comfortable and I'd go with a wing that has the hose coming from the center or something that's routable to the right side. It's fairly hard to give good advice about this over the internet without you being able to see the BCs. I would go into a local shop and look at the way the inflator valves are to see which would be easily rerouted if you're going to go that way.

Keep in mind though with rerouting any of them over the right shoulder, the emergency dump valve (pulling the low pressure hose to dump off the left shoulder) will not work as intended, but it's also not a necessity.

 

[Glycereine]

Mares has a "pretty" BC with a dump valve on the right shoulderKaila BC

Aeris Contour

There was a review of 6 or 8 female BC's in a recent issue of Scuba Diving. I'll try to find it and post a link. If I remember right most of the BCs had right shoulder dump valves and weren't just plain black.

 

[Glycereine]

Scuba Diving Women's BC Review

The Aqua Lung Pearl has a totally different inflation system which also may be an option. Check out the article, but hopefully with what people have posted here you're able to find something that will keep your daughter diving in comfort and without an inconvenience.

 

[frankc420]

It would be easier to sell the BC she has and purchase one that has a right side hose or a center hose. As stated above, a BP/W would be great but they aren't for everyone.

I know for a fact on the Oceanic Probe LX you can pull on the hose and it will dump air, you don't have to raise your arm and press the deflate button on the hose itself. It also has a right shoulder pull ball dump valve.