24" SPG Hose

[lv2dive]

I don't think I'd have any trouble bringing forward my SPG on a 24" hose diving a single tank.

I am your height and I also have to strain sometimes to read gauges on my forearm, at least when wearing a 400g Thinsulate undergarment underneath my drysuit. That said, if someone 6'+ tall and diving a drysuit can read their SPG on a 24" hose then I must be doing something wrong.

I'm wondering if it might have to do with hose routing?

Actually I think it might be worse with singles - just guessing - bc the hose would have to wrap around your body somewhat (a couple of inches) vs. the left tank of the doubles is already offset.

FWIW, I was referring to doubles when referencing myself.

Someone mentioned checking inflater hose vs. SPG hose placement - I'd second that. Also - primary suggestion - have another diver who is familiar with this setup, watch you checking your gauge UW a few times. Could probably ascertain the issue and help clear things up a lot quicker than our guesses on the interwebs

 

[HenrikBP]

I've had my SPG hose trapped behind the wing a few times - less than perfect gear set-up on my part. And the "symptom" was exactly as you describe.

I've learned my lesson, and always make sure the wing is positioned correctly for better hose routing

 

[mahjong]

Thanks all! I'll pay extra close attention to hose routing during setup next time out. And have my buddy observe if I'm still having trouble. The hose could be getting pinched behind the wing. Or behind the argon hose. Or behind my backup Drysuit inflator hose, which i'm not real certain how properly to route and store (now I pass it thru my harness and tuck it in my waist belt). I was instructed to have the backup Drysuit inflator hose...do you guys follow this practice? If so, how long is your hose and where do you keep it during the dive?

Nice pic, Gombessa. Makes viz look better than it actually was, I think. Though out at the Barge it wasn't too bad at all. Saw some nice lings off the Barge in the sand. A small wolf eel. And the usual congregation of large loitering rock fish. If your shot was of the other side of me we might have had the resolution to my problem.

 

[PfcAJ]

The proper way to route the backup drysuit hose if you're using argon is to leave it at home or on the boat.

That said, if you don't need the argon, don't take it. DIR is about minimalism, not taking extra stuff just 'cuz you can.

 

[mahjong]

You bring up an interesting point. I didn't need the argon on that dive. But I am prepping for an Advanced Nitrox course, en route to decompression diving, when I will need the argon. So my thinking is that I need to get used to carrying the bottle, for ballast purposes and also to get all the possible kinks out, such as hose routing problems, etc.

That dive was equal parts fun dive and 'work on skills' dive. Just like nearly all my dives, come to think of it.

QUOTE=PfcAJ;6476479]The proper way to route the backup drysuit hose if you're using argon is to leave it at home or on the boat.

That said, if you don't need the argon, don't take it. DIR is about minimalism, not taking extra stuff just 'cuz you can.[/QUOTE]

 

[PfcAJ]

That's a decent reason to bring it along. Sometimes that little bottle gets in the way of the d-ring a bit, better to sort it out now rather than later on the course.

On real dives where you need the argon, leave the extra hose at home. You wouldn't fill your drysuit with a helium based gas anyways, so having the hose on there serves no purpose. Argon is one of the few things that we do not have a redundant system for, so it pays to go the extra mile to make sure your reg and hose is in good shape and that the bottle is full. I have shared argon with my buddy at depth a few times, and while doable, its not great. Beats adding helium to the suit and shivering for the ext few hours, however.

 

[TSandM]

How are you bringing the gauge up to look at it? If you are bringing it up along your body, under your arm, you may find it difficult to get it up far enough to see it -- but that method of bringing it up doesn't work very well when you are carrying a stage or deco bottle. The motion that brings the gauge up easily is hard for me to describe, but you unclip the gauge and bring it out away from you a little, and then swing it up so that the hose comes up OUTSIDE your arm, rather than between your arm and your body. Even very short hoses will work with this technique.

 

[mahjong]

With the std hose I used to bring the spg forward with the hose outside my arm, kind of above my elbow. I haven't yet really been able to get my spg forward with the 24" hose. The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that the hose must be getting pinched or trapped back there. I now recall following my hand back along the hose to try to figure out what was going on. What I recall is encountering the wing. I said to myself something to the effect that the hose wasn't long enough to make it around the wing. But perhaps the problem is that it's pinched between the wing and tanks. I believe I've done two long dives using the shorter hose, and I had trouble bringing the spg forward on both of them.

 

[rlynch]

the thing that caught my eye was the argon bottle attached to the back plate. why not move it completly out of the way and attach to the tanks as per This picture from the GUE website? <edit this works for larger bottles but the 6cf one would be too small for these straps>

 

[eelnoraa]

I think TSandM has a good point. If you can't bring up the SPG under your arm up to the front, you can try bring it up over your shoulder. It is extra motion from the arm, but you should be able to bring it to the front with no issues. I do this when I want to show someone my pressure, not often, usually when I dive with someone who don't take one-hand signals.

---------- Post Merged at 01:43 PM ---------- Previous Post was at 01:43 PM ----------

one more question, do you route your drysuit hose under the harness?