The long hose Blues

[nereas]

Just want to know why she thinks the way she does?

That's how logical inquiry works.

 

[Adobo]

The long hose was originally for sharing air in places where face-to-face air sharing isn't appropriate or possible like in a cave or wreck. As far as I can tell it has little to do with "team diving".

Do solo divers have any utility for a 7' primary hose?

 

[nereas]

Do solo divers have any utility for a 7' primary hose?

A solo diver with twin tanks could get along quite will with two bungeed short-hose regs, like the sidemount divers do. Think about it.

 

[Adobo]

Just want to know why she thinks the way she does?

That's how logical inquiry works.

I don't know much about logical inquiry. But I will admit, you are quite adept at jabbing at people.

 

[nereas]

nice padi patch!

 

[lamont]

Hose length is still a technical matter. Unless you dive caves and wrecks, you really do not need a 7 ft hose. But once you learn to use a 7 ft hose, there is no reason ever to go back, and going back at that point would actually be a hazard if you ever needed to come back to the 7 ft-er. You would be out of practice, then.

The long hose config can also be useful in purely recreational diving. It can give you some distance to deal with buoyancy control issues or to swim side-by-side upslope.

There's also more benefits of the configuration such as having your regulators located where they won't free flow without being noticed (necklace regs or even regs clipped off on a shoulder d-ring will generally be felt or heard). Octos in holder can wind up behind the diver, free flowing.

Also, whatever kind of quick release there is on the octo it can fail to deploy in an emergency (if its too tight it'll fail to deploy in an emergency, too lose and it'll deploy accidentally as above). With the long hose config, deployment of the regulator in your mouth is pretty much bulletproof and if you've done your gear checks correctly you'll find your necklace right under your chin.

The necklace reg is also useful for recreational diving if you take a buddy's fins in your face and it knocks the reg out of your mouth since the necklace reg is always right there.

 

[AndyNZ]

Do solo divers have any utility for a 7' primary hose?

I do a lot of solo diving, in various rigs - mostly single tank with pony, occasionally a set of manifolded twins and more frequently now for my deeper/longer dives in sidemount.

Certainly, the long hose is nice and tidy when diving singles or twins, much less sticking out than a regular set of regs.

Slightly different story in sidemount.

 

[flareless]

Not at all... a two metre hose is not seven feet long. And when was the last time you took a tape measure to a long hose?

Actually, funny you mention this. I'd have to say; August '08. I had 2 long hose setups, one for my doubles and one for my singles. I noticed when setting it up that one 7' hose tugged more when I turned my head to the left. This was regardless of the setup they were on. I finally removed both hoses and laid them out on the floor. Measuring showed that indeed one hose was a full 6" (15.24cm to be fair) shorter! I took the shorty back to my LDS who contacted the vendor. They apologized and replaced it.

But back to the point of the thread.....

I switched from a jacket BC and conventional Rec hose layout to a BP/W and long hose setup after 11 dives. The setup made so much more sense, particularly as I wanted to get into wreck (and maybe even cave) diving. I found it very streamlined and easy to manage. When routed correctly the hose stays in place yet comes free easily in an OOG situation. I use the same setup for both single and double tank configurations. The last thing you want to figure out in an emergency is which configuration you're wearing. It'll further confuse your buddy if he has to remember if he takes the reg in the triangle or the one from your mouth. It's funny though, after taking the Tec course this summer I've had no desire to dive singles (and haven't).

The funny thing is that yesterday I was helping out in an Assistant Instructor training program and at the same time fulfilling some of my DM requirements. To do so I had to don my old BC and reg setup. I found the primary reg a consistent pain in the --- as it pulled when I looked around. The dangling secondary, while clipped to one of the many D-Rings on the BC still really looked like a bad layout in retrospect. Considering an OOG diver will most likely grab the reg from your mouth I like the idea that my secondary is just a head-tilt away.

Looking back, I'm so glad I changed my hose (and BC) configuration when I did and that (with the exception of DMing new students) I dive it consistently.

 

[shoredivr]

I use the same setup for both single and double tank configurations. The last thing you want to figure out in an emergency is which configuration you're wearing.

Exactly.

 

[Lucy's Diver]

To that end I am planning on re rigging my warm water singles rig. My doubles rig is a 7 foot primary/short hose bungee system. I was taught to route my long hose back and forth between loops of bungee on the necks of the manifold. A tug on it pulls the entire 7 feet out of the loops.

So what I think I am going to do is put a 5 foot hose for my primary on my singles rig. My warm water singles diving is pretty much all in a dive rite trans pak. My doubles diving is a BP/wing set. I think I am going to put two loops of bungee on the top D rings on the back of the transpac and route the 5 foot hose back and forth (once) through that to mirror the way I route it with doubles. For cold water singles diving I use a STA and will probably put loops of bungee on top of the plate for the same purpose.

Thoughts?

Don't tell me to just dive the plate all the time, I only dive it locally (it and the stuff on it are heavy) and it belongs to work so I can't really fly off with it.