2nd Stage finger tight

[Remy B.]

My Instructor recommends that the hose attached to your 2nd stage to be finger tight, so in the event of a 2nd stage going south on you, you don't loose the gas in that tank and you can change exchange the 2nd stage on it, he actually had an insident while cave diving were one of his 2nd stages had a problem and he replaced/ exchanged that regulator.

I do follow his recomendation, but I see that the connector gets loose very often, do you guys carry a tool on you or are you checking constantly if the hose still finger tight ?

 

[CptTightPants21]

While still taught by some people, finger tight 2nd stages has largely fallen out of favor for the reasons you are experiencing. For the "good" that it does it creates a whole mess of other issues and the "problems" it supposedly fixes have been remedied by other techniques. Very rarely does a 2nd stage go south on you, and it it more likely a first stage issue. If a 2nd stage does actually "go south" it is generally an issue with the exhaust valve or the lever being depressed neither of which are fixed by the reg being finger tight.

I have witnessed several instances of finger tight regs suddenly developing massive free flows on a dive. I had a deco reg start to freeflow (ended up feathering the valve). I have had two buddies suddenly develop large free flows and then actually have the 2nd stage disconnect from the hose. One buddy was on a single tank and it disconnected while still pressurized (big issue). The other buddy in SM had a free flow, but couldn't figure out what is was so he turned off the tank and ended the dive. The 2nd stage fell off on the swim back and had to be retrieved by another group. There is also the risk of damaging the o ring when you are re-tightening the reg

In terms of loosing gas from a tank.

1. If it is back gas, manifolded doubles allow you to breathe from both tanks
2. If it is a stage or deco bottle, you should have redundant/contingency gas already built into the dive plan..either in back gas or another stage, so losing a bottle isn't an emergency. Although you shouldn't have to based on gas contigencies, you could feather the valve to access the gas in the tank.

Bottle line. I don't recommend finger tight 2nd stages.

 

[PfcAJ]

Finger tight is dumb. Carry a spanner. Even then I don't think it's worth fiddling with second stages on ocean decos. Your chances of dropping and losing something are high.

 

[tbone1004]

what @PfcAJ said, too many risks, not enough rewards.

 

[KevinNM]

I got told that finger tight was a thing years ago, but modern thinking is wrench-tight, but not silly cranked down wrench-tight. And it's for all the reasons you describe.

 

[Michael Guerrero]

I don't use a wrench on mine, but they're usually tight enough that I need one to take them off--especially with wet hands. I also check them prior to dives to avoid the issues you've described. No issues in almost four years.

I also carry a star tool in my wet notes made of stainless in case I need to do something underwater--be that mess with my stuff or a buddy's.

 

[Jack Hammer]

I believed in finger tight until the 2nd time I saw a 2nd stage separate from the hose underwater.

 

[Remy B.]

So a wrench with a cord it is.

I don't remember what did happen to the 2nd stage of my Instructor, It had to be a broken diaphragm, a free flowing regulator is still manageable.

 

[Bennno]

So a wrench with a cord it is.

I don't remember what did happen to the 2nd stage of my Instructor, It had to be a broken diaphragm, a free flowing regulator is still manageable.

Unless you are doing long cave dives, no. As AJ already said, it's not worth it. You're never going to use it anyways.

 

[DevonDiver]

When preventing failures can CAUSE worse failures, you must surely recognise you're on the wrong track? ?