2nd boltsnap below light head

[MASS-Diver]

"Bolt-snaps belong where they are needed. And they are needed at the light
all the time and it does not make sense to get the double-ender from the
d-ring, clip it to the lighthead and then the light head to the d-ring. This
may sound acceptable to you if you are diving one scooter and one stage. If
you would use three, four or five scooters and several stages, you would
need to clip off the light head more often during a dive.
With the right bolt-snaps you can even clip off the light with one hand,
that means you do not have to let go the scooter. Using the not appropriate
double-ender is always a two-hand operation."

-Reinhard Buchaly, Quest, Primary Light Attachment, June 19th, 2004​

This was an interesting thread on Quest a while back. I belive that Reinhald makes a pretty strong argument for having bolt snaps, vice loops with a double ender, tied to the Goodman Handle and behind the ballast.

As for mounting the the rear boltsnap I use cave line and tie it on the cord at the base of the ballast with a zip tie around the cord just behind the knot to ensure it won't slip.

Jonathan

I've heard people say they can clip off/on the double eneder with one hand, although I sure can't do it myself - maybe if the loop was bigger, then again it pretty much takes me 2 hands to take off the light and stow it anyways as I tend to grab the head with my right hand and pull my left hand out the goodmand and then clip off.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Maybe if your loop was a nice stiff Ziptie... itself ziptied to the handle.

Seriously... read the quote from Reinhard posted above and ask yourself... will you be towing 3-4-5 scooters and several stages? Shoot... most of you posting here and obsessing about how to clip off your lighthead don't even have one scooter and don't use multiple stages or deco bottles.

Get real folks. you don't need to set yourself up to make a world record penetration dive just to splash around in the quarry or cruise the 25' atificial reef at ScubaDiversDeluxeFunPark~n~RVCamp!

 

[AndrewJD]

Maybe if your loop was a nice stiff Ziptie... itself ziptied to the handle.

Seriously... read the quote from Reinhard posted above and ask yourself... will you be towing 3-4-5 scooters and several stages? Shoot... most of you posting here and obsessing about how to clip off your lighthead don't even have one scooter and don't use multiple stages or deco bottles.

Get real folks. Don't set yourself up to make a world record penetration dive to splash around in the quarry or cruise the 25' atificial reef at ScubaDiversDeluxeFunPark~n~RVCamp!

Ok, then for the vast majority a single bolt snap tied the Goodman handle is all they will need. If you do need the ability to clip off the light without it blinding your buddy or yourself then the best solution is to tie a second bolt snap on the cord behind the ballast. Either way, a double ender is not the best solution.

Jonathan

 

[Uncle Pug]

the best solution is to tie a second bolt snap on the cord behind the ballast. Either way, a double ender is not the best solution.

Jonathan

For those who need the ability to clip the light off pointing down you advocate two bolt snaps... when one would do just fine if it were a double ender.

Personally I think eliminating the extra bolt snap is preferred since I only occassionally us the rear attachment point.

But... to each his own.

 

[Dryglove]

I must be one real confused individual as i have a bolt snap attached to the goodman handle and a loop of bungee on the rear gland nut for a double ender. About the only time i use the rear one is for night diving but then again i dont have a 21w HID that would fry my buddies eyes in the light of day.

 

[AndrewJD]

For those who need the ability to clip the light off pointing down you advocate two bolt snaps... when one would do just fine if it were a double ender.

Ok, let take a look at using a double ender with two loops.

No big issues here when the light is either stowed (light off, light head clipped via handle, cord tucked) or when the light is temproarily clipped off pointed down (light on, light head clipped by loop at cord). The issue is when the light is in use and we want to clip if off. While in use we can do three things with the double ender.

1. Leave the double ender attached to the loop on the goodmand handle.

2. Leave the double ender attached to the loop on the cord.

3. Remove the double ender from the both loops and clip it somewhere else.

Let's look at number 3 first. An argument for this option is that it streamlines the light head and removes the possiblity of the double ender being entangled. But where do we put it? Right chest D-ring? Still an entanglement hazard? Left chest D-Ring? Way to busy already. A pocket? Not very convienent when you want to clip your light off.

Now 1 and 2 would still require two hands to switch the double ender depending upon where it needs to be. In addition, the possibility exists to drop the double ender which would create a problem.

In summary we've increased the complexity of clipping off a light head by trying to solve a problem that doen't exist while introducing additional problems.

Now what's your argument for using the double ender.

Jonathan

 

[Uncle Pug]

1. Leave the double ender attached to the loop on the goodmand handle.
************
Now 1 and 2 would still require two hands to switch the double ender depending upon where it needs to be.
.

Leave the double ender attached to the goodman handle and you can clip it off with one hand... at least I can clip it off with one hand no problem and I suspect you could too if you gave it a try.

In addition, the possibility exists to drop the double ender which would create a problem.

That is a *possibility* with the spool double ender as well... in fact after the first time we had that happen I've always carried a spare double ender.

 

[Reinoud]

Maybe if your loop was a nice stiff Ziptie... itself ziptied to the handle.

Seriously... read the quote from Reinhard posted above and ask yourself... will you be towing 3-4-5 scooters and several stages? Shoot... most of you posting here and obsessing about how to clip off your lighthead don't even have one scooter and don't use multiple stages or deco bottles.

Get real folks. you don't need to set yourself up to make a world record penetration dive just to splash around in the quarry or cruise the 25' atificial reef at ScubaDiversDeluxeFunPark~n~RVCamp!

You mean that the normal "let's not learn things wrong because we will have to unlearn them later"-argument does not apply here? I thought this was the DIR forum...

 

[Uncle Pug]

No.... that argument doesn't help us here. We have different GUE instructors teaching different ways of clipping off the lighthead. That would indicate that there is more than one *DIR* way to do it.

Beyond that... common sense should help.

 

[Snowbear]

Well, I might as well add my pennies to the debate.
In DIRf, I was taught the single bolt snap on the goodman handle. I'm an OW diver and don't usually find a need to clip off my light while it's lit, so no big deal, right?

Then I went and took tech1. Now the instructor who busted all the zipties off my gear so I had to replace them with string showed me the new-and-improved 2 little bungie loops and a double ender. The double ender was supposed to be clipped off to the R chest D-ring while the light is in use. OK. Then I saw a pic of me with a (short) danglie from that D-ring :11: Ack! So what I do now:

Since most of the time the light only get clipped off when it's turned off, I keep the small bolt snap on the goodman handle. I also keep the bungie loop behind the ballast on the cord. If for some reason I need to clip off the light while it's turned off I can pull the spare double ender out of my left thigh pocket and use it to clip off the light.

Not that I'm any authority at all on what's the right way to DIR this month, but since I have a couple cards from GUE maybe I'm allowed to say?