What's in Your Pockets

[tbone1004]

Not embarrassing at all, it was recommended to me, and it seemed to work well, it also seemed to be very common to use surgical tubing on the light head. Not saying either method will kill you, either way it doesn't hurt to keep some spares in your pocket, wet notes, etc. as they could get knocked off the lighthead with either way of rigging. I tried both methods and the surgical tubing seemed more secure to me. I did have knots at both ends of the lighthead, don't know if that helped or not. I would add that you shouldn't stretch the tubing very much when installing it, as that will decrease the cross section holding the cookies in place.

Key there is to make sure you if you sealed it at both ends to put a few equalizing holes in the tubing so it doesn't shrink up, or leave one end open.

 

[Aotus]

Left pocket: backup mask
Right pocket: second backup light, wet notes/compass tablet, shears

I've been thinking about putting a backup backup safety spool in the left pocket with my mask, it's kinda the "oh crap" pocket that I hope never to need.

Also, reading these posts before I had pockets made me worry I might have trouble reaching them in sidemount. I'm 6'1" with a long trunk, and haven't had any trouble getting into my pockets using HP100s or LP85s.

Hope that's helpful.

 

[ajduplessis]

Never had a spool/reel unravel.


I agree that bungee works better than surgical tubing for markers.
Left pocket: Mask, SMB, tables
Right pocket: Wetnotes, Safety spool, shears

 

[SillyQuestions]

Interesting thought. This is obviously geared towards the types of cave dives I do, but we wouldn't fit through in drysuit or backmounted configs, so we have to dive sidemount in wetsuits.

This obviously leaves us in a predicament for how we carry our gear, with no pockets and streamlining being an absolute premium (though I will mention we use thicker/stiffer/less tangle prone line)

The answer is on the arms, being the most manoeuvrable part of your body.

Left arm I carry a knife, computer with line markers clipped to it (clothes pegs), wrist slate (when necessary) and go pro (when not on helmet)

Right arm I carry a search reel, secured with bungee through the centre that I can slip down over my hand, gap reels (when necessary) and compass.

The teddy is just to calm me down

---------- Post added September 20th, 2014 at 06:14 PM ----------

Also, sorry for the question but just learning about different ways of doing things...why do you have double enders on your spools?

We use a small bit of lead wrapped around like a drop weight that works as a lightweight belay for searching for the line, but also tie a section of inner tube to the end that wraps around and keeps it very secure and you can also use to create a more secure belay.

 

[corvettejoe]

I dive sidemount.
Left/Right chest straps each have a Z-knife
my cookies/arrows/REM's are on a bungee wrapped around my light head for easy access
I don't have a pocket so I carry a pouch on my butt d-ring with a spare mask and a backup light.
I carry all spools and reels on my butt d-ring as well.
I carry two micro backup lights on my chest d-ring bungeed down to my chest strap. I just got these new lights, so still figuring where to put them.
My primary can light is on my right waist band.
My camera(s) are usually attached to my butt d-ring also, for the initial descent/and final ascent to get them out of the way. Otherwise I keep them in my had or clipped to my chest for quick access during the dive.

ajduplessis - I used to put bungee on the end of my line as well just like yours. I have since replaced/lost/etc most of mine and just completely forgot to re-add bungee to the newer ones. THanks for the reminder! This DOES work well, I NEVER had a line come loose when I had them bungeed like he shows in the picture above.

 

[Patoux01]

I think some of you might find this interesting, about the whole spool coming undone thingy. I don't think that one's gonna come loose anytime soon... (video is obviously not mine)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF2was0HD3g#t=57