BC under the plate questions

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DaleC

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I have read before that some SM divers mount their wings under the plate to eliminate the taco effect (probably not so much now that the Armadillo's and Nomad's have come out) and that they swap the lower dump and upper inflator hose positions.

My questions would be:

1. Doesn't mounting the wing under the plate act in the same way as bungiies on the wing in that the wing would not hold air if holed?

2. Doesn't putting the wing inflator down low eliminate the ability to manually inflate the wing?

I'm not thinking of doing this myself (I use a horsecollar) but I have always wondered about those two perceived failure points in that sort of rig. Has anyone done this and what were/are your thoughts.

Thanks,
Dale.
 
I bought a cave country Nomad rig that had the inflate hose on the lower dump valve position, and had a very streamlined toggle on the (now previously upper inflator) hose position. I noticed no real restriction on manual inflate, and the course I took stressed this kind of thing. :)

However, in cold water with dry gloves, the streamlined toggle was very hard to find, it migrated up under the harness straps on numerous occasions, tough to find in dry gloves, so I switched it for a larger toggle and eventually returned the inflator hose to the top position, then no problem. Partly it was habit, I admit.

Nomads don't have steel or aluminum plates, just the backpack...in cave country, a backplate on a sidemount rig is not a good thing, (think plate getting stuck in a small cave profile, or "keyholing" a diver in the cave) so I can't comment on the taco effect.
 
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For any sidemount rig that you plan on using in sidemount cave, you shouldn't use a plate anyway as you might ratchet yourself in somewhere tight.


2. No. I can still manually inflate my wing.
 
I think maybe I should have been more specific (perhaps?). How do you manually inflate (orally) the wing if the inflator is on the bottom? I can't picture it.
 
??? Its on a corragated hose, it reaches your mouth :) Unless you swap it out for something too short to do so.

Mine reaches, I actually keep it attached to my chest so it can be used by either hand. If I need to reach it to my mouth, it'd stretch, I've tried :D
 
I think maybe I should have been more specific (perhaps?). How do you manually inflate (orally) the wing if the inflator is on the bottom? I can't picture it.

Not the best photo, and I've made some changes since then, but it should give you an idea:

nomad%20rig%20002.jpg


The inflator is located on the chest and easily pulled up to the mouth from that position.
 

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