What are YOUR hose lengths and why?

[billgraham]

So, I'm reading your posts on this thread and can't help but wonder what all the talk about long hoses and deployment are about.
The long hose was utilized to solve the specific issue of traveling through areas too small for buddies to share gas from a single source.
For BM this was the perfect cure for this situation. SM has the advantage of being able to pass the whole thing off to your buddy.
So your buddy is OOA, you allow him/her either reg for the oh sheet moment. Once that is over with, unclip a bottle and pass it to them.
If they are SM you just need to swap bottles. There is no dire need what so ever for a long hose while diving SM.
This is one of the great advantages if diving SM independent doubles. So, if someone chooses to dive 2 short or long hoses, as long as everyone on thier team is aware of it, there should not be a safety issue. If anything, passing the bottle off is likely to be safer that being tethered by a single gas source.

This is not anywhere as easy as it sounds in a small, silty area. I tested this theory years ago and went to the long hose.

You are right. There are so many people who I read that will sidemount off a boat and have the cylinders over the side,and donn their tanks in the water-will be a potential for a lot of dropped cylinders or a traffic jam of divers all trying to get their cylinders.

I’ve never geared up in the water off a dive boat, or taken off a sidemount cylinder to climb the ladder, but I do use a drop line on occasion for deco bottles. You have an extra bolt snap on the neck of the bottle, undo it first, snap it to the drop line, then undo the bottom clip. With a sidemount cylinder, undo the bungee, put the top clip to the dropline, THEN undo the clip to the door handle. This is sort of an essential technical wreck diving skill in any configuration.

Lastly, I’m a big believer in unidirectional regulators for sidemounting. Yes, the Poseidons are a pain to get serviced and finicky and there are tons of things that probably breathe a bit better, but they are super for sidemounting. Route them from the valve straight up into your mouth, nothing behind your head. This eliminates the need for right angle fittings, swivels and the like. That being said, I have borrowed Edd’s entire pile of gear and dove it, and was very comfortable with the long hose behind the head and the right angle fitting on the reg.

 

[beanojones]

I don't like 90 on the wrapped hose, and I wonder whether it is my big head, or not. The not quite 90 degree hose is fine, as is the 45.

I always use 90 swivels on my Underarm hose for my rec gear, and I wish I could just use them directly for the sidemount, but the 90 swivel pisses me off.

 

[watercooled81]

I have exactly the same set up on each side! 6" spg, inflator hose, 7' hose. The extra hose is looped back along the tanks, left hose comes up in front of my shoulder round the back of my head and is on a bungee. right comes up across the front of my body and round over the the left shoulder and round the head.

My view is, I have same set up, means I can swap tanks around if needed and both have the perfect setup for sharing. So if one fails, I still have a 7' hose to share if needed.