Solo Gear & DIR Setup

[FishDiver]

An octapus is not backup for anything, it is not redundant nor is it independent. An octapus has only one purpose, to supply an out of air BUDDY with redundancy, a circumstance not possible if solo being as you would have no buddy and therefore no need for an octapus on short hose, middle hose or seven foot long hose. However, a set of independent doubles, a single with buddy bottle, the interesting side mount rig all have "backup", I suppose an isolation manifolded double set also, but your seven foot long octapus does not provide any back up and therefore is not an optimum rig for solo diving no matter how great it is for buddy diving in caves.

From the original post:

"I realize the DIR philosophy fundamentally opposes solo diving. How relevant is the gear configuration to solo divers? It seems to me the long hose would offer no benefit and fins would be personal choice. Other than a redundant air source is their any consensus on the best solo gear setup?"

Answer:

I understand the ostensible question, he is asking if the long hose octapus is useful in solo diving and if like DIR divers, who use a fairly regimented gear set up, do solo divers also recommend a rigiid defined gear set up--the answers are NO, the long hose octapus is not useful in solo diving and NO, as you can see from this thread, there is no concensus upon a single gear set up or even it's specific uses. N

Nemrod, thank you for correctly interpreting the "ostensible" question. I think your post succinctly answers my original (or restated) question. I did not anticipate that my question would be so cryptic or contentious.

 

[Nemrod]

FishDiver, I thought your question and topic a good one, I was not being smart alec, I understood your question and it spurred a lively and interseting debate and I answered from my perspective fully understanding that there are many ways to "skin" a cat.

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[FishDiver]

FishDiver, I thought your question and topic a good one, I was not being smart alec, I understood your question and it spurred a lively and interseting debate and I answered from my perspective fully understanding that there are many ways to "skin" a cat.

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I wasn't being a smart *****, I truly think your response summed up the thread responses well.

BTW, you have got me intrigued with the Air Buddy. I use a necklaced octo now, but I am thinking of getting a "buddy" and running it along my BC inhalator hose. Do you tie yours down somewhere or just leave it loose?

 

[JimC]

with the sidemount it won't be nessesary, thats my guess.

The only compelling reason to put a longhose on a sidemount rig would to so you could donate to another diver. Best way I have found to do that is to put a second reg on one of the posts (or an h-valve on one tank) and bungee it down but I much prefer to dive with people prepared to rescue themselves.

 

[TomP]

Although the long hose is the primary in useage it is the one passed off to the OOA diver and the octo than becomes the primary. A situation which can not happen when solo, so the long hose is of little value.

While the long hose may owe its origin to optimizing the air sharing process, I wouldn't dismiss its other advantages.

One situation that i'm not sue has been touched on is that air sharing is not the only reason you'd remove your primary from your mouth. For example i do some light deco diving and generally do my deco, even safety stops somtimes, on O2. In this case, when you remove the primary reg the second stage just hangs neatly around your neck or can be clipped off to a shoulder D ring.

At the end of the day it's all just personal preference but I think the long hose is a more elegant solution.

 

[Nemrod]

The Air Buddy is new to me. I have only managed to use it a few times. I slip it under my harness though I may well clip it to either my chest D ring or even rig a slip away bungee for going around my neck. I am still studying on it. On a pony I expect to tie restrain it suing bungee around the cylinder, looped back as one would a standard second stage.
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