When is it time to switch to a long hose setup?

[growcurlyhair]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently diving with a standard recreational setup; Octopus on a short hose clipped to my BPW, standard length primary, etc. I’ve been reading up on long hose configurations (5–7ft hose for primary donate and bungee backup) and I’m curious when divers typically make that transition.

I'm not tech diving (yet), and most of my dives are recreational, within 25m depth, with decent visibility and usually with a regular buddy or guided group. However, I am thinking more about streamlining, ease of gas sharing, and just having a cleaner setup that works well in emergencies.

So my question is:

At what point does it make sense to switch to a long hose configuration?

Was there a specific dive scenario or training progression (e.g., Rescue, Cavern, or Intro to Tech) that made it worthwhile for you?

I'm also curious if any of you made the switch early in your dive journey; Do you need to get some training for it?

Appreciate any insights, especially from those who started recreational and later moved into more advanced diving.

Thanks!

Best
Garrett

 

[DivingLane]

One thing to consider for the 40" or so hose setup is that because the hose is coming from below (under your arm) rather than the side as in a traditional rec setup, you may wish to get a 70 or 90 degree swivel where it connects to your second stage to alleviate the reg pulling on your jaw in an uncomfortable way.

I do the 40" primary donate, using a yellow hose, but have it over my shoulder. My bungeed secondary comes from under my arm. Should I have both under my arm? I have a swivel 1st stage

 

[boulderjohn]

At what point does it make sense to switch to a long hose configuration?

As I suggested earlier, I made the switch in my recreational diving as soon as I realized it was a better system. I suggest that would be the time for anyone to make the switch.

If you think it is a better system, why not switch to it?

 

[Markoohay]

Hi everyone,

I'm currently diving with a standard recreational setup; Octopus on a short hose clipped to my BPW, standard length primary, etc. I’ve been reading up on long hose configurations (5–7ft hose for primary donate and bungee backup) and I’m curious when divers typically make that transition.

I'm not tech diving (yet), and most of my dives are recreational, within 25m depth, with decent visibility and usually with a regular buddy or guided group. However, I am thinking more about streamlining, ease of gas sharing, and just having a cleaner setup that works well in emergencies.

So my question is:

At what point does it make sense to switch to a long hose configuration?

Was there a specific dive scenario or training progression (e.g., Rescue, Cavern, or Intro to Tech) that made it worthwhile for you?

I'm also curious if any of you made the switch early in your dive journey; Do you need to get some training for it?

Appreciate any insights, especially from those who started recreational and later moved into more advanced diving.

Thanks!

Best
Garrett

I started with the GUE long hose setup on day 1. No regrets.

 

[chaajiro]

Some time after I'd finished my AOW the setup was explained to me and seemed to make perfect sense. Made the switch with the guidance of my instructor and store at the time. I have been asked why I dive a tech setup (I am not a technical diver) in a manner that suggested the asker thought I was getting ahead of myself. I simply respond because this is the setup that I am comfortable with and that makes sense to me.

 

[tursiops]

I do the 40" primary donate, using a yellow hose, but have it over my shoulder. My bungeed secondary comes from under my arm. Should I have both under my arm? I have a swivel 1st stage

Put the bungeed necklaced secondary over your shoulder...shorter hose, clean routing.
Put the primary under your arm so as to take up the length, and to allow L-R head movement without pulling on the hose.

 

[34109411]

w

Hi everyone,

I'm currently diving with a standard recreational setup; Octopus on a short hose clipped to my BPW, standard length primary, etc. I’ve been reading up on long hose configurations (5–7ft hose for primary donate and bungee backup) and I’m curious when divers typically make that transition.

I'm not tech diving (yet), and most of my dives are recreational, within 25m depth, with decent visibility and usually with a regular buddy or guided group. However, I am thinking more about streamlining, ease of gas sharing, and just having a cleaner setup that works well in emergencies.

So my question is:

At what point does it make sense to switch to a long hose configuration?

Was there a specific dive scenario or training progression (e.g., Rescue, Cavern, or Intro to Tech) that made it worthwhile for you?

I'm also curious if any of you made the switch early in your dive journey; Do you need to get some training for it?

Appreciate any insights, especially from those who started recreational and later moved into more advanced diving.

Thanks!

Best
Garrett

well i complete my sdi sidemount class you do need a long hose. Beside you need one also if you get in cavern/cave diving.

Be safe

 

[tursiops]

Reminder: this thread is in Basic Scuba. Tech/Cave/Doubles/Sidemount are out of bounds.

 

[bradlw]

Some time before I started tech training, I had to share my spare on a dive. Don't recall the particulars but as I recall it was a recreational "deep" dive and the diver used my spare for teh ascent and safety stop. It was a royal pain trying to manage a steady ascent, leashed together so close, face to face

I started diving a 7ft hose when I started technical training. Loved the concept. It just makes perfect sense with very little downsides as fat as I've seen
It was then that I started also diving it recreationally with a single tank set-up too. I don't think taht I've dove traditional set-up since then. No regrets really, except sometimes such as on the boat it gets to be a little bit in the way

Recently though here I was reading about this "florida rig" idea, and I'm considering giving it a try as a compromise. 40-inch seems a tad short to me, so maybe with a 60-inch, although for what I'm picturing for a Florida rig, something in between those lengths seems like it might be better...maybe 50-ish inches if they make such a thing. Just theoretical though, I don't think it's worth the bother trying to find that. I might just switch to a 60 and give that a try

 

[boulderjohn]

I would like to relate an irony about this topic regarding my own switch. I have been on ScubaBoard for 21 years, and when I started I was a typical OW diver with not much more than 100 dives. I was diving a typical regulator setup. It was about that time that I first encountered the whole BP/W and long hose debates, with a certain group of participants leading the pro-long hose charge.

Those adherents were zealous in their support, and several of them used the tactical approach favored by a couple of their leaders--exaggerating the benefits of whatever they favored and exaggerating the deficits of whatever they opposed. Those who can remember that era may recall the "You're gonna die!" cliché.

One person in particular wrote in several threads that all alternates in the familiar golden triangle position come loose, drag in the silt, and become so damaged that they cannot function, and are thus unusable in an OOA emergency. There were other posts along those lines. Well, that was obviously absurd, so absurd, in fact, that I perversely refused to make the change for quite a while because I did not want to be associated with people making such cockamamie claims.

Years later I argued with one of the people who had been one of the leaders in making those kinds of arguments. I told him that I believed those exaggerations were counterproductive. He disagreed. He felt they were effective, and he continued to make gross exaggerations a part of his rhetorical strategy. I maintain that we still have a faint holdover from those days, a holdover that hinders the logical decision to go to the primary donate/bungeed alternate approach.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I would like to relate an irony about this topic regarding my own switch. I have been on ScubaBoard for 21 years, and when I started I was a typical OW diver with not much more than 100 dives. I was diving a typical regulator setup. It was about that time that I first encountered the whole BP/W and long hose debates, with a certain group of participants leading the pro-long hose charge.

Those adherents were zealous in their support, and several of them used the tactical approach favored by a couple of their leaders--exaggerating the benefits of whatever they favored and exaggerating the deficits of whatever they opposed. Those who can remember that era may recall the "You're gonna die!" cliché.

One person in particular wrote in several threads that all alternates in the familiar golden triangle position come loose, drag in the silt, and become so damaged that they cannot function, and are thus unusable in an OOA emergency. There were other posts along those lines. Well, that was obviously absurd, so absurd, in fact, that I perversely refused to make the change for quite a while because I did not want to be associated with people making such cockamamie claims.

Years later I argued with one of the people who had been one of the leaders in making those kinds of arguments. I told him that I believed those exaggerations were counterproductive. He disagreed. He felt they were effective, and he continued to make gross exaggerations a part of his rhetorical strategy. I maintain that we still have a faint holdover from those days, a holdover that hinders the logical decision to go to the primary donate/bungeed alternate approach.

I was around for the DIR wars too, I read it all. My beef with them wasn't so much about the gear configuration as much as it was about the abrasive personalities. But that's ancient history now and no reason to tear that scab off.
I run a 40 inch hose under my arm and have a 70° swivel on my primary, and my secondary is a necklace second stage on a 22 inch hose. I show this to new divers who have never heard of DIR or know anything about Hogarthian principles, and I explain to them how it works and they immediately see the benefits of this configuration.
It just makes sense.
The swivel really helps position the hose so that the donatee doesn't have a kink where it attaches to the donated second stage.
I also point the turret of my first stage downward and the hose comes off the end and it points under my right arm so the hose routing is very natural. If and when I need to share air, I would get the hose up over my shoulder which would give more reach to the out of air diver.
I'm not a fan of wrap around hoses, not for where I dive anyway. We don't need to go single file out of caves or wrecks here.