Where to buy surgical tubing or bungee to make a necklace for alternate reg

[D.I.R.Lizard]

Nope not George

Came with zipties, man that's crazy.

Where did they come from? If you don't mind.

I was trying to help re-rig a friend of a friend the other day and show him the light. He had just put brand new zipties on his scouts and I twisted one to show him why not to do that. Only a slight twist mind you and it snapped right off, he now agrees on the cave line. And he was thankful, I most likely saved him some mullah.

You only need one ziptie to hold the reg mouthpiece and the necklace on. Works great, check out GI3's images onwww.wkpp.org

 

[metridium]

Originally posted by D.I.R.Lizard
I was trying to help re-rig a friend of a friend the other day and show him the light. He had just put brand new zipties on his scouts and I twisted one to show him why not to do that. Only a slight twist mind you and it snapped right off, he now agrees on the cave line.

Where can you find #24 line? I've checked Lowe's, Wal-Mart, and the local building supply places, but no luck. Only place I ever saw it was in a diveshop, where they wanted $20.00 for one lousy spool (no, not a dive spool).

Check your PM.

 

[Joe R.]

Many marine fishing supply stores sell the rubber bungie by the foot. I bought about 50' to use on a spear fishing surface float and cut off pieces as needed for necklaces. Used with a couple of wire ties,its a snap.

 

[Scubaroo]

metridium,

I just bought 50' of woven nylon line from Ace Hardware for something ridiculous like $2. It's thicker than 24, but I was still able to get two loops through the hole on my Canadian Extreme scout lookalike. Quick reef knot, melt the ends, dob of Aquaseal on the knot, and it stays put.

 

[ericfine50]

You can also check McMaster-Carr www.mcmaster.com for all your bungee and tubing needs. They also have the tubing,clamps, shrink wrap for making stage bottles up. And any marine store will do - also a good place for SS Bolt Snaps.

Eric

 

[large_diver]

You can make an effective bungee necklace that will stay secure without using a zip tie.

Try this on for size -- and it's very easy to do:
http://www.northeastdir.com/images/pages/necklaceclose.htm

You just pop the "loop" over the mouthpiece and get it snug up against the second stage -- you're all set. This was shown to meby a guy who has taken GUE Tech 1 & Cave 1....so apparently it has passed GUE inspection ;-)

Just tied a new one of these last week for my first dive of the season.....

 

[metridium]

Originally posted by large_diver
You can make an effective bungee necklace that will stay secure without using a zip tie.

Try this on for size -- and it's very easy to do:
http://www.northeastdir.com/images/pages/necklaceclose.htm

You just pop the "loop" over the mouthpiece and get it snug up against the second stage -- you're all set. This was shown to meby a guy who has taken GUE Tech 1 & Cave 1....so apparently it has passed GUE inspection ;-)

Just tied a new one of these last week for my first dive of the season.....

Okay, for those of us who weren't in the Boy Scouts or Merchant Marine, how did you create the loop and tie the knots?

 

[large_diver]

Try this link for an illustration of the knot:

http://www.mistral.co.uk/42brghtn/knots/42ktfish.html

For the necklace, you basically do the same thing, except you don't cinch the two ends together as the illustration shows (you leave a loop in the middle to go over the mouthpiece). The loop should be about 1.5 inches in diameter.

Also -- regarding the knots...I basically tie a square knot for both vs. the simple knots shown in the illustration. The knots shown in the picture from my last post are slightly different, but square knots work fine.

Here is a detailed description -- this is long and VERY detailed -- I've made 2 of these now and it is really VERY easy despite the length of my description (and I'm no boy scout):
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(1) Cut a length of bungee -- include the circumference size of the necklace + 6-8 inches to ensure you have enough extra to tie the knots.

(2) Lay the bungee on a flat surface and form it into a circle with the ends overlapping as they will when the knots are finished (with the ends making a smaller circle that will go around the reg mouthpiece. Make sure you have enough extra bungee overlapped to be able to tie the two knots.

(2) Tie the first knot. It doesn't really matter which one you tie first. Don't tighten too much at first in case you have to adjust later.

(3) Tie the second knot. Again – don’t tie things too tight yet – just tight enough to hold everything together.

(4) Check to see if the necklace is the right size. Put it around your neck (ideally with reg attached to your tank/BC) – does the mouthpiece seem to lay in a comfortable position under your chin? How does it feel when you have it in your mouth? If it’s not right – re-adjust by untying the knot from Step 3.

(5) One you have it the way you want it, pull the knots tight. Trim the extra bungee off fairly close to the knots. I used a match to melt the cut-off ends of the bungee as well. I do this with cave line and figured it would not hurt to try and prevent unraveling. If nothing else, burning the ends gets rid of some of the little bungee strands that occur when you cut the bungee. Run it under some cold water before mounting on your reg.

(6) Pop it over the mouthpiece on your back-up. Push it as far up against the second stage as you can. I find that by getting it over the zip tie "connector" that is holding the mouthpiece on, the bungee is held securely. Check link below for a close-up of how this looks.

Here are some more pictures of the loop described above -- click on the photos for a larger image.

http://www.northeastdir.com/gearpage1.htm

Good luck.

 

[11B3Y]

I just orderd some 1/8th inch black bungee. Is that the correct size? Does it matter?

Thanks,

Thomas

 

[JamesK]

1/8th inch works just fine. I used to have mine done with it.


Now I use black surgical tubing zip tied in place. Mainly because I ran out of bungee, and I lost my other one. Works just fine for me.