Apeks reversible reg hose config - what's the frikkin' point?

[Storker]

A couple of weeks ago I got a pretty decent deal on a used Apeks XTX100 reg set. Great shape, hardly any signs of previous use and serviced less than a year ago. Yay! Tonight I decided to sit down and move my longhose and my Cobra HP hose from my old Sherwoods to the Apekses. This was supposed to be ever so slightly ritualistic, prepping my nice new - at least for me - gear and thinking of how sweet it would be to try it out. "H" wing hose, off the Sherwood, long BCD hose off Apeks, "H" wing hose on Apeks, check! DS hose off Sherwood, on Apeks, check! 2nd stage hoses off Apeks, check! 2nd stages off hoses, check! 2nd stage hoses off Sherwood, check! Long hose on Apeks, primary 2nd on long hose, check! Now it's only the backup 2nd and the HP hose left. Short hose on Apeks, backup on short hose... WTF??? It's upside down! I look closer. The hose screws on from the left. Checking the manual, I find out that Apeks has this "feature" they call 'reversible hose configuration' "This is an extremely useful feature offering much greater flexibility for personal kit configuration". Yeah, right. I check the service manual and decide that that job is something I don't want to try by myelf. Dejectedly, I put all the original hoses back on the Apekses to take the set to my LDS for change. And I feel like a boy who's just been told he can't have that big bag of candy he'd just bought, 'cause the reg won't be ready for the weekend when I was planning to check out my new toy.


So what the $#@&!!! is the point of routing the frikkin' octo hose from the left???

 

[tbone1004]

you can flip the reg over yourself, it takes 5 minutes and doesn't require any tools other than the spanner to loosen the nut. Pop the barrel out, flip the parts over to the other side, and reassemble. If you send me a PM with your email I can send you some pictures, there might be a youtube video on it as well

They are nice for sidemount diving, and are actually really nice for stage/deco regs where you don't have to have them crossing over the back of your neck, or if you do prefer to cross them over your neck, if you have bottles on your right side you can run the reg behind your neck and down on the left, identical to the way the bottles on the left come over. Symmetry my dear boy, symmetry.

 

[Storker]

you can flip the reg over yourself, it takes 5 minutes and doesn't require any tools other than the spanner to loosen the nut. Pop the barrel out, flip the parts over to the other side, and reassemble.

Hm, okay...

I downloaded the service manual, and it claimed that you had to remove the cover and the membrane to do it. That would be more than I'd like to try my hand at, and besides I don't have that cover removal tool.

If there's a simpler way to do it, I'd love some pictures.


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Typos are a feature, not a bug

 

[victorzamora]

So what the $#@&!!! is the point of routing the frikkin' octo hose from the left???

Another option, other than the symmetry tbone mentioned, is for donating. If you think about it, why does the octo need to face you? In a long-hose/bungee-backup situation it's different, but I'm talking about typical rec-only short hose configuration. The octo should go under your right arm and clip to somewhere in the "triangle" formed by your chin and the bottom of your ribs (like they teach you in OW). If the reg is "backwards" from normal, it means the mouthpiece is facing away from you, appropriate for donating. With a standard setup, donating means an s-bent hose.

---------- Post added September 25th, 2014 at 02:06 PM ----------

Hm, okay...

I downloaded the service manual, and it claimed that you had to remove the cover and the membrane to do it. That would be more than I'd like to try my hand at, and besides I don't have that cover removal tool.

If there's a simpler way to do it, I'd love some pictures.


--
Sent from my Android phone
Typos are a feature, not a bug

There is no special cover removal tool, just use your hand. As for it being more than you'd like to do, you can always take it to a shop....it shouldn't take them long.

Having said that, I've done nearly all the work required to switch that reg around underwater. I pulled the cover off, membrane off, cleaned out the stem, etc. Short of a spanner on the nut (which would've been bad underwater) I did everything I could do.

 

[Hickdive]

It isn't really intended as a feature for an octopus although clearly the previous owner has decided that it was.

The idea is primarily for people who want to dive independent twins (doubles) and route all left from the left hand cylinder and vice versa.

 

[Ste Wart]

and besides I don't have that cover removal tool.

Sorry to hear that. How did you lose your hands?

 

[Hickdive]

To be fair, the XTX covers can be tight.

If your bare hands won't do then try again whilst wearing a rubber glove on the hand you're using on the cover.

If that still won't do it then a couple of small parallel punches arranged in a vice to line up with and slot into the holes in the cover will definitely shift it.

 

[fire_diver]

Sorry to hear that. How did you lose your hands?

Dang it! You just made me spit water all over my computer!

 

[decompression]

Sorry to hear that. How did you lose your hands?

That's the funniest thing I've read on SB in years......


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[tbone1004]

[video=youtube;NVIFNaBqjdY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVIFNaBqjdY&feature=youtu.be[/video]

For the OP. My apologies it isn't on an XTX, but as I don't have one anymore the closest I could do is an AT20. The procedure for the scary bit of removal is identical, you just have the couple more parts to swap that I sent to you via email in picture form. Biggest thing is making sure you turn the front cover counter clockwise until it clicks so you don't cross thread it.

This reg hasn't been taken apart or used in years, so it actually needs to be taken apart and lubed which is why the plastic parts clicked out, on a new XTX they should slide right out with little effort. The discoloration is because that reg has seen over a thousand hours in chlorinated pools and that's about the only diving environment it has ever been in.

and yes, that is my cell phone sitting on top of a coffee mug sitting on top of a piece of glass to get it high enough off of my desk.