Stainless clips on primary regulator?

[bvmjethead]

Have seen many pictures showing divers with stailness clips on their primary regs.

I have my idea what this is for but wanted to hear from those who practice it for DIR reasons.

Could not post in the DIR forums.

 

[piikki]

It’s there to clip the primary regulator to your right chest D-ring when it is not in use (mouth). This is handy both in water and above water, so the regulator on long hose does not dangle around. Generally it is not only DIR practice but nearly all divers with long hose attach a bolt snap to their primary.

P.S. You should be able to post in the general DIR Forum, it’s only the Practitioners’ zone that is restricted

 

[Randy43068]

When using a long hose on the primary (7ft) there is a lot of hose to stow when not using the regulator. We have a stainless bolt snap tied as close to the regulator as possible. When not using it we loop the reg through the hose a time or two, then clip the regulator off to the right chest "D" ring which keeps it handy and prevents it from dangling and getting in the way of other things. Does this explanation help?

I'm not sure it's a DIR thing, however. More on the lines of how things are used on a Hogarthian (Hog) rig.

 

[HenrikBP]

Not DIR by any stretch, but here's why I use one;

I use a 5 foot hose on my primary reg, and my clip is there so I can clip the reg to a harness D-ring. I do that during set-up, when traipsing to the water, and to secure the primary when I breathe my bungeed back-up - I do that for a bit during every dive for practice and to make sure the back-up works well.

Henrik
(oops, others beat me to it

 

[RJP]

Have seen many pictures showing divers with stailness clips on their primary regs.

I have my idea what this is for but wanted to hear from those who practice it for DIR reasons.

piikki (and others) answered your question perfectly above, but I would like to provide a point of clarification that I rarely see clearly explained:

The bolt snap should not be attached to the REGULATOR but rather to the HOSE, approximately 3-4 inches from where the hose attaches to the reg.

The reason for this is that if you needed to breathe off this reg while it was still clipped off to your chest D-ring, you would be able to get the reg to reach your mouth. (Suppose you fell off the boat before you were ready, slipped off a dock, had to quickly switch back from your alternate, etc.)

It's important to not only know HOW gear is configured a certain way, but to also understand the "WHY" as well.