Holy Hose Routing...... Can Someone Help Me

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TigerDiver8

Contributor
Messages
268
Reaction score
14
Location
Ventura County, California, United States
# of dives
500 - 999
Alright guys, Its been cold down here and I've been diving my dry suit lately. I really feel like my hose routing is not right. Everything is so bunched up in the center of my chest, including the dry-suit inflator and hose, low pressure inflator and hose, and second stage regulator on the bungee. Also my second stage hose for my right tank doesn't stay secure, it dangles out in front of my chest.

In addition I have the dive rite travel strap set up with L and R Valves, with this I cant get the tanks to be rotated in the right position (see the picture of my left tank below)

I don't do any cave diving so snag points are not crucial, but I want to do it right, I feel like my set up would be dangerous in a cave or wreck scenerio.

Below is a list of my set up followed by pictures.

Drysuit - Whites Fusion
Rig - Hollis SMS 75
Tanks - 2 AL 40's
Right Tank - Atomic ST1 first stage, Apeks XTX200 second stage on a 26in hose, 6in Highland SPG, 15in dry suit inflator hose.
Left Tank - HOG D1 cold water first stage, HOG classic second stage on a 7 ft hose, 6in Highland hose and 15in LPI

Please look at the pictures that document my mess of a SM and let mw know what I have routed wrong or anything that I can tweak.

Thank you for any input you guys have


Okay its not letting me post pictures and I can figure out why, any ideas?
 
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How does it ride in the water it looks like your tank bungies are riding a little high but I am using dive rites rings so could be perspective. I also have my long hose on the bottle riding in my right armpit since that is the tank I would give up if needed as my inflator is on my left side/tank. This allows me to have more hose stored. But I am just starting out so I defer to others when I demoed diverites new setup they had the long hose wrapped up under my left arm tank and a left hosed regulator on that side.
 
How does it ride in the water it looks like your tank bungies are riding a little high but I am using dive rites rings so could be perspective. I also have my long hose on the bottle riding in my right armpit since that is the tank I would give up if needed as my inflator is on my left side/tank. This allows me to have more hose stored. But I am just starting out so I defer to others when I demoed diverites new setup they had the long hose wrapped up under my left arm tank and a left hosed regulator on that side.


I didn't think about the inflator hose and long hose (donation hose) shouldn't be on the same side. That to me makes complete sense. I guess because I am diving dry I could use my suit as an inflator if I had to, but thanks for that input
 
Alright guys, Its been cold down here and I've been diving my dry suit lately. I really feel like my hose routing is not right. Everything is so bunched up in the center of my chest, including the dry-suit inflator and hose, low pressure inflator and hose, and second stage regulator on the bungee. Also my second stage hose for my right tank doesn't stay secure, it dangles out in front of my chest.

In addition I have the dive rite travel strap set up with L and R Valves, with this I cant get the tanks to be rotated in the right position (see the picture of my left tank below)

I don't do any cave diving so snag points are not crucial, but I want to do it right, I feel like my set up would be dangerous in a cave or wreck scenerio.

Below is a list of my set up followed by pictures.

Drysuit - Whites Fusion
Rig - Hollis SMS 75
Tanks - 2 AL 40's
Right Tank - Atomic ST1 first stage, Apeks XTX200 second stage on a 26in hose, 6in Highland SPG, 15in dry suit inflator hose.
Left Tank - HOG D1 cold water first stage, HOG classic second stage on a 7 ft hose, 6in Highland hose and 15in LPI

Please look at the pictures that document my mess of a SM and let mw know what I have routed wrong or anything that I can tweak.

Thank you for any input you guys have


Okay its not letting me post pictures and I can figure out why, any ideas?

Okay, maybe it's just who I was trained by, but your whole set up isn't what I'd expect. Although it is sidemount, your LEFT post is still a primary tank (the one under your left armpit) would have your SHORT HOSE (the one on the necklace), your LP inflator hose, and your drysuit LPI hose on that 1st stage. Your RIGHT post (the one under your right armpit) would have your LONG HOSE (the one you stuff the loop either under your intertube keepers or in your waist belt).

I know that some people advocate the drysuit hose on the RIGHT to help with dual buoyancy (should your LEFT post fail and you don't have any air bladder your can use your drysuit), but for me I like it on the LEFT.

You normally mount the LEFT post first and attach your LP's to the inflator and drysuit, and then clip your inflator to your right side D-ring), short hose goes around the neck and the necklace over the head.

Then you mount your RIGHT post, long hose goes across your chest, around then neck and is clipped to the RIGHT D-ring. The remaining length is then either single looped into the innertube retainers on the LEFT tank, or tucked inside your waist belt on the RIGHT (I hate this because my belly is too big).

That's what I was taught, and what I've used ever since, and I've yet to be corrected by any other Tec instructor.

Your HOG should have a 5th LP port, this is great for helping unclutter then LP ports (which you need three of course).

I've been taught that the travel strap isn't intended to be for your main tank hold offs from what I've been told, they are mostly for STAGE tanks which are clipped on rather than under your bungees. And even if you do use them, you have to set them up so that the bolt snaps are positioned correctly on the bottom to mount the tank such that the valves will remain pointed out when you put them on the bungee (you didn't say what kind of bungee set up you are using). The carry strap position to me would be best if its on top of the tank when mounted so it can't snag on anything below or to the side.

Again, I've only got about 50 sidemount dives but this is how I was trained, and it's worked very well for me. I'm sure others will have other comments that differ. Best thing to really do is find a qualified instructor to help you get it right.
 
Hey thanks that helped. Although i dont understand when u say the right tank has the 7ft hose but the slack is tucked in the intertube of the left tank. Can u send pictures.

I DM for a shop but our only SM instructor is gone till the summer season so i am doing simple rec dives getting used to the set up and constantly tweaking it as I go.

Can u post a picture of your set up please.
 
I use the center port in the rotating turret of each of my 1st stages for the LP inflator hoses - left is BC and right is drysuit. The length of these hoses is kept short to reduce clutter across the chest. I stash the long hose in elastic retainers on my right tank. I start by shoving a long loop of hose down the inside of the tank (next to my body), then the remainder goes over the top and down the outside of the tank. After the right tank is clipped in, the long nose is pulled from the outside loop to go across my chest and around the back of my neck. I like a magnetic break-away to clip the 2nd stage to my right chest D-ring. The remainder of the long hose stays tucked into the retainers on the right tank.


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I'll see if I can't find one for you. Simply put, that long length of hose remaining after you pull the regulator across your chest, behind your head, and clip it off to your RIGHT breast D-ring (the one that should be level with your armpit)... then, you simply take the remaining hose and pull it down into a loop with nearly equal sides, and tuck the loop into your belt (not my style), or under the rubber bands on the tank. In my case, when I set up my tank, I put that loop under the rubber bands to begin with, that normally leaves enough loose hose for the chest cross/behind the neck & clip step (on the boat I simply loop the extra around the 1st stage and clip to my top bolt snap to keep it off the ground). After I've looped and clipped on, if I need to adjust it, it is just pull a little more out, or tuck a little back in. (to me, this is a cleaner set up, the GUE guys will argue the other way... no matter, the point is to make it so that when you donate the long hose, that the extra length pulls out easily without snagging (which is why it is looped over the neck AFTER the short hose).

(Something similar to how they've stored the hose on this stage bottle below.

rhea_wakulla2004-161.jpg


If you are working in a shop, find a copy of the SM crew pack and peek at it. The new SM book is great, and the set up is explained pretty well.

---------- Post added December 30th, 2015 at 04:21 PM ----------

I like a magnetic break-away to clip the 2nd stage to my right chest D-ring. The remainder of the long hose stays tucked into the retainers on the right tank.

Do you have a pic of the one you are using? the ones I have tested have been more trouble than they are worth (especially in a wreck, you wouldn't believe how much iron they collect when you are breathing off that side. Almost impossible to replace without cleaning off the magnet. Which in the dark is very annoying.
 
I think you are close, but have a few fundamentals wrong....

As others have said, standard sidemount is short hose, reg necklaced off of your left cylinder, with LPI inflator for your Wing.
Right cylinder has LPI for drysuit and long hose reg which is hog looped.

I would recommend you swapping to the "standardised" config as it'll help you work with other Sidemounters and make progression easier, as your config will fit with almost all standard SM instructors. (There are some differences, for specialised full cave etc)

Over and above switching your hoses around, i'd also suggest shortening the length of the bungee on your necklaced reg, it wants to be nicely up by your chin, not dangling amongst your control systems in the middle of your chest.

I would also look at playing with the attachment point for securing your inflator, just so it sits neatly below (or above if that's your preference) the drysuit inflation point.... this will give a little seperation, keeping it all feeling less clustered and keep both buoyancy control systems next to each other.

If you are able to switch 1st stages so the LPI inflations come from a 5th port on the end of the 1st stage rather than standard ports, that would further decrease the clutter, but understandably, money could be an inhibitor to that for now.

Regards the diver advocating both LPI inflation hoses coming from the single 1st stage..... personally i'd ignore that. For me, SM is about redundancy, having wing inflate and drysuit inflate on opposite sides, maintains redundancy, and providing you make sure the hoses can reach, in the event of a cylinder failure requiring shutdown, you can switch either hose to do either function as necessary.

This is of course only my opinion..... but i'd strongly recommend you make the changes.... and see how you feel then... i'm certain it'll de-clutter you significantly and give you a more standardised configuration more inline with the majority of Sidemounters and agency thinking.

Good luck, have fun.... come back and show us the changes you choose to make and how the revised version looks?????
 
IMHO, excellent advice from Sidemount_Stu.

Sidemount is very simple, but the difference between an horrible configuration and a perfect one is all in the details. There's a reason why things are done a certain way, even if it doesn't seem to make a difference.

People say that if you ASK 10 divers what their sidemount configuration is, you'll have 11 different answers. Its true, but in my experience, if you LOOK at 10 divers with a nice perfectly trimmed and streamlined configuration, the differences will be minimal.
 

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