An o-ring works on my long hose.
Mike D
Mike D
Breakaway connection for longhose
- Thread starter Bison Ravi
- Start date
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I still have the Razor version on my long hose, but since I'm only diving sidemount in caves with another sidemount diver, I don't use the long hose anymore.
victorzamora
Contributor
Yeah, THAT would be a good idea....too bad reality gets in the way of a good solution.
My experience with O-ring break-away is that it's actually pretty hard to break, usually the cable-tie is the one that breaks for me so I made a simple solution:
A small bungee loop on a clip, loop the loop around the mouthpiece.
Never fallen off and easy to deploy and nothing to replace so you can do drills without having to fix the gear after.
I would like the breakaways gosidemount sells but haven't found them in Europe and shipping from Mexico was $65..
A small bungee loop on a clip, loop the loop around the mouthpiece.
Never fallen off and easy to deploy and nothing to replace so you can do drills without having to fix the gear after.
I would like the breakaways gosidemount sells but haven't found them in Europe and shipping from Mexico was $65..
Michael Guerrero
Contributor
I just haven't found a picture of the 'tried and tested' method, maybe you could help with that?
Okay, not much activity here, but since I'm working on my sidemount specialty, I've had a couple sessions with my instructor, and I've played with a couple ideas related to the long hose breakaway connection...
1) cave knot & snap bolt - NO GO, my instructor flat out told me that he wouldn't dive with me if I used it, he said in a rush, or a panic (more on me than him or another diver), for me to either A) unclip the hose, or B) pull my knife and cut it away (with someone else yanking to get a pull of air off it), that there would be a fight, one I might lose... he immediately went to the o-ring suggestion (which is what he uses)
2) o-ring & snap bolt - once he showed me how to set up the o-ring, it seemed to be okay, but again, when you really pull hard enough to 'breakaway', we are talking about some force here... I live in China, those low-quality o-rings you might think they produce, are actually pretty tough... now, after a couple times of this above and below the water, I suggested we "nick" the o-ring with a pair of nail clippers... that produced another slap to the back of the head... because sure enough, it reduced the breakaway force, but it also make it so that sliding thru any potential restriction would break it free... not a NO GO, it works, and might require looking for a slightly thinner 0-ring, but I have more ideas to test...
3) DIR bungee keeper - okay, mine isn' t the original, but I ordered bungee, and I got a squeeze on end, and then installed it the same way, again, you can pop and release this pretty easily, but that also meant it could be accidentally released as I swapped air supplies... NO GO
4) Magnetic keeper - I've used a magnetic keeper for my back mounted alternate air regulator since dive 15, in 77 dives, it's broken lose on one water entry, and snagged in a small swim thru and pulled apart leaving my reg hanging and dragging... but amazingly, this little gem works fabulous with the one end clipped to the shoulder d-ring, and the other mounted on the hose (at just the right distance, and it won't slip)... the magnetic keep provided good resistance to a accidental pull, did still have a brush away problem in a simulated restriction, but was absolutely the best way to easily hand off the long hose quickly and smoothly... also, when trading between air supplies, it easily found it's mate and clipped on without thinking...
My instructor isn't fully sold, but he's willing to see how well it works in real practice... the only thing he added is to still connect a bolt snap with the cave knot, for more secure connection in a restriction.. then you can unclip it after...
So, the tried and true o-ring seems to meet the most simple solution, but the magnetic keeper has an edge for simplicity in both air supply swapping, and breakaway ease, but with good retention.
That's my findings (can't wait until DevonDiver gets a hold of me and slaps me up the back of the head too - I'm a glutton for punishment)
1) cave knot & snap bolt - NO GO, my instructor flat out told me that he wouldn't dive with me if I used it, he said in a rush, or a panic (more on me than him or another diver), for me to either A) unclip the hose, or B) pull my knife and cut it away (with someone else yanking to get a pull of air off it), that there would be a fight, one I might lose... he immediately went to the o-ring suggestion (which is what he uses)
2) o-ring & snap bolt - once he showed me how to set up the o-ring, it seemed to be okay, but again, when you really pull hard enough to 'breakaway', we are talking about some force here... I live in China, those low-quality o-rings you might think they produce, are actually pretty tough... now, after a couple times of this above and below the water, I suggested we "nick" the o-ring with a pair of nail clippers... that produced another slap to the back of the head... because sure enough, it reduced the breakaway force, but it also make it so that sliding thru any potential restriction would break it free... not a NO GO, it works, and might require looking for a slightly thinner 0-ring, but I have more ideas to test...
3) DIR bungee keeper - okay, mine isn' t the original, but I ordered bungee, and I got a squeeze on end, and then installed it the same way, again, you can pop and release this pretty easily, but that also meant it could be accidentally released as I swapped air supplies... NO GO
4) Magnetic keeper - I've used a magnetic keeper for my back mounted alternate air regulator since dive 15, in 77 dives, it's broken lose on one water entry, and snagged in a small swim thru and pulled apart leaving my reg hanging and dragging... but amazingly, this little gem works fabulous with the one end clipped to the shoulder d-ring, and the other mounted on the hose (at just the right distance, and it won't slip)... the magnetic keep provided good resistance to a accidental pull, did still have a brush away problem in a simulated restriction, but was absolutely the best way to easily hand off the long hose quickly and smoothly... also, when trading between air supplies, it easily found it's mate and clipped on without thinking...
My instructor isn't fully sold, but he's willing to see how well it works in real practice... the only thing he added is to still connect a bolt snap with the cave knot, for more secure connection in a restriction.. then you can unclip it after...
So, the tried and true o-ring seems to meet the most simple solution, but the magnetic keeper has an edge for simplicity in both air supply swapping, and breakaway ease, but with good retention.
That's my findings (can't wait until DevonDiver gets a hold of me and slaps me up the back of the head too - I'm a glutton for punishment)
Why would sidemount divers need a long hose?
AND screw up use of a wrist mount compass. The magnetic catches are effective, and I use one on my pony to keep the 2nd stage from dangling (along with a elastic around the tank) and it works very well there. When I decided to put one on my long hose I ran into the compass problem. A compass on a retractor (yuck) or mounted to my camera tray (which is where I moved my compass to for that dive) is far enough away to work. Of course the clip I was using was magnet on both sides. If the shoulder clip was the only actual magnet in the system if might work better. FWIW I'm going back to a thin o-ring and thin cable tie system. A quick jerk is enough for my small muscles to break.
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