5ft or 7ft hose for DIR setup

[TSandM]

jenth, I'm 5'4", and I haven't had the issues you describe. I do have a little extra hose with a single tank setup, but I just push the extra BEHIND me, instead of allowing it to make a look around my neck, and everything works fine.

I haven't dived the Miflex hoses, but I have done air-sharing drills with a buddy who has one, and I didn't like it one bit. Despite the fact that they describe these hoses as more flexible, I found it stiff and uncooperative, and much more difficult to use as a recipient then a standard hose. I am considering Miflex for my backup reg and wing inflator hoses, because of routing, but I wouldn't switch to Miflex for the 7' hose, myself.

 

[HenrikBP]

Despite the fact that they describe these hoses as more flexible, I found it stiff and uncooperative, and much more difficult to use as a recipient then a standard hose.

I checked rubber vs. Miflex hoses, and the Miflex hoses are much more flexible as far as bending/coiling up. However torsionally, as in when twisting the hose along the long axis of the hose, Miflex hoses are much stiffer than rubber. That may be the reason for the uncooperative feeling.

Henrik

 

[jenth]

jenth, I'm 5'4", and I haven't had the issues you describe. I do have a little extra hose with a single tank setup, but I just push the extra BEHIND me, instead of allowing it to make a look around my neck, and everything works fine.

I assume "behind" means back behind the can light. Now that I think of it, I do have a different can light than most (Sartek 10W...has a smaller canister), so maybe it just doesn't hold the hose down as well. Could be what makes all the hose looser on me. Yeah, I think that's it. Thanks, Lynne, for helping me come to that realization.

 

[Guy Alcala]

I use a 5' for single tank, non-penetration dives. I'm 6'0"/180 lb. I see no reason to have the extra 2' to trip over on the boat or get tangled with other gear. I can easily do a side-by-side swim-along air share with a 5' hose. That being said, for me the 5' is just a little short, being fairly tight under my right arm and making it a take a bit of effort to keep the 2nd stage from pulling to the side. With doubles it would probably be fine. A 6' would be a bit long for singles for me, but AFAIK no one makes a 5.5' hose. Depending on your height and girth, a 5' may be fine.

I'm just about to take Fundies in doubles with can light, so I will buy myself a 7' hose for that. But only because it's required if trying for a tech pass, as you have to demonstrate tandem air shares. Will I ever need to do that locally? No. But I will when I start to do wreck penetration dives, or cave dives. On the single occasion to date that I used a 7' hose (with doubles) I didn't find it to be a problem in the water, just hooking it under my shears sheath in front. Instead of doing that, my buddy chose to stuff the excess inside his waistbelt. Neither of us had any problems, but we were in a pool with no obstructions.

So, consider what kind of diving you think you might do in the future. If you're going to stick with recreational, non-overhead diving you'll be fine with a 5' hose, but you can use a longer one if you wish, with a slightly higher level of hassle on shore/boat. Only if you plan to do overhead dives, i.e. wreck/cave, do you NEED a 7' hose. But it won't hurt to use one all the time, other than the minor hassle factor and slightly higher cost.

Guy

 

[Sas]

Guy you can get custom made hoses. Don't know any places local to your area but I am sure if you ask around you'll find a place if you want to get a 5.5 hose

 

[Tortuga68]

You were misinformed, it is DIR to route a long hose under the pocket or knife on the harness (right hip area) if you're not using a can light.

Well I stand corrected; however while it might be 'acceptable' in DIR, I think philosophically the preferred setup would be to have a can light and primary knife in the middle, and for all divers on a team to be equipped identically

Few of my friends who used it have switched back to the regular one as it's behavior is more predictable.

Me too. I still use 5' miflex on my single wing & like it, but I found the 7' miflex too unruly

 

[TSandM]

You are entirely right; the standard setup is with a canister light. But if you go to the GUE website and look at some of the photographs from Cayman Quest (a setting where can lights can be less than useful) you'll see a fair number of people diving without them. If it isn't useful, we don't have to carry it.

 

[Gombessa]

https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1335

It's kinda funny, but before I had a can light, I really wanted something like this.

 

[Sas]

https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=1335

It's kinda funny, but before I had a can light, I really wanted something like this.

There's no way I would buy a fake canister to route a hose properly. I'd work with actually useful equipment (if I needed 7') or I'd use a different hose length (which I do on my singles rig).

 

[kathydee]

To the OP: I'm 5'-5" and dive a singles setup with a 7' hose. I have to admit, on about a third of my dives, it's annoying long. I haven't pinpointed the reason I only notice it on some my dives and I really should figure it out.

If the hose is too long, it can become a nuisance – sometimes when I try to turn my head to the left, something tugs back and keeps me from my typical range of motion. I realized that the hose creates a huge loop behind my head and catches the valve on my cylinder (I always have it tucked under my can light). I end up having to take the reg out of my mouth and re-situate the hose...annoying. I've tried tucking the hose into my waist...or even tucking it under my knife (in addition to my can light). While that usually works, I hate having to do that (extra effort to pull + deploy long hose and more likely to forget to tuck my light cord under my long hose). I haven't yet tried a 5' hose...and am not sure that I will, but thought I'd share my experience with a 7' hose.

As others have suggested, I do think you should talk to your instructor about your situation. If I were in your shoes, I probably would try a 7' hose first and then see how that works for you. No reason to deviate from the "norm" until you know that the "norm" doesn't work for you.

Jenth,

I'm not sure your light can is the problem. I'm 5'4" & have a Salvo 21W and you described exactly the battle I face with my 7' hose. Occasionally the extra slack still loops back over the valves and restricts the primary or falls off the bottom of the light can.

I've tried 5', 6' & 7' hoses & own them all. 5' worked ok in the tropics before I was diving a light can, 6' hose routes well under my light can, but is just a little too short (especially with doubles).

7' allows the most versatility in emergency situations, but like you, I find routing the hose under the light can then another tuck is not efficient. I prefer the extra hose, so I just deal with the slack. But you can bet I'll take notes from Lynne when she's here next week .