As a temporary solution, i've resorted to clipping a double ender from the loop bungee to my shoulder D ring during kitting up, and unclipping it when adding the cylinders.... it works, but there must be a better way surely?
this is exactly what i did. i had the same issue. couldn't find/reach the loops when in full cold water gear. problem i found was if i left the bungee in the bolt snap it pulled the dring too tight to my chest and made the dring almost unusable. i did not want to add another dring to my shoulder straps so i just use the double snap to hold the bungee in place to find easy. then remove it once the bungee is on the valve. i will keep the snaps clipped off on my tail ring or elsewhere. that way if i break a bungee loop, i can use the double snap to clip the loop around the neck of the tank to a dring to complete the dive.