Apeks XTX Regs.....reroute hose for doubles?

[dandrian]

With the ability of the new Apeks XTX second stage regulators having left/right reversibility of the hose, what would be the postives and negatives of changing the second (left hand valve) to have the hose come over your left shoulder?

I am attaching a pic that I got from another thread when I searched on this. (Sorry I can't remember who to credit for the pic) What I am asking is to have Hose #2 come over the left shoulder. This is assuming that the reg will be on a cord around your neck. My thoughts are that you could use a shorter hose, there is less cross over of hoses and since the 2nd reg is for my use only, just as long as I am comfortable and familar with the step up why should it matter.

I believe other regulators have been reversible in the past but I haven't seen any discussions on the pros and cons. Any input would be welcome.

(As a side note, I have a double bladder wing and a separate dry suit bottle. I have a wing inflator hose on each side so by making the reg change I would have no cross over of hoses at all.)

 

[Tamas]

Shouldn't be a problem....after all, it's your rig and you can dive it the way you want it to!

Just make sure that others around you and you are aware of the change, and practice and get used to the configuration.

 

[loosebits]

A lot of people think that you should have as many hoses running behind your head as possible so if any leaks were to form in those sections, you could hear it.

Other than that, I can't think of any reason why you wouldn't want your secondary coming over your left shoulder other than it would just look funny (bunch of guys sitting looking at you knowing something isn't right but not being able to put their fingers on it). If you ran it over your inflator, make sure raising your inflator doesn't interfere with it. Also, make sure it doesn't interfere with you reaching your valves, can't see why it would.

I have my hoses routed as in the photo so my wing inflator and my secondary go behind my head. I run the secondary under the wing inflator hose to keep it close to the tanks.