Ditch the snorkel?

[BILLB]

I see on many posts a thread running through the board and it is mostly confined to early experience OW divers. The alternate air source (octopus, backup, etc.) is not primarily for the diver attached to it. The alternate air source (when buddy diving) is for your buddy and anyone else needing assistance in an OOA situation.

This leads to the intergrated BC second air source. In this arrangement you will donate your primary regulator and in turn have to use the BC reg. The down side to this is you, the rescue diver will have very limited range of head motion and additional difficulty operating the BC power inflator/deflator. In addition, I have not seen any definitive specifications on how well these intergrated air sources perform. If you are going to pay extra for the intergrated BC air source consider instead of using that extra money to upgrade the standard "octopus" with a primary grade regulator (higher performance).

Unless a diver is using a cannister light with the battery cannistor mounted under the right arm, a 7 foot hose is probably more trouble than it is worth. I use a 5 foot hose for all recreational diving with my single tank. The hose wraps under my arm and around the head neatly with no excess.

Snorkels have a place in scuba. Yes, they serve no useful purpose underwater. But, if you find yourself as a resuce diver and you are sharing air, the possibility of arriving at the surface with no air in the tank could happen. Swimming on your back to the boat with suface currents can get frustrating. Snorkeling to the boat will allow you to look up often so as to stay on course and effect a shorter return. Many divers store a snokel either in a BC pocket or buy one that is designed to fold up for storage. Dry suit user usually have a pocket attached for this purpose.

 

[MASS-Diver]

Thanks for all the excellent advice. I think I'm going to take a break from the snorkel, except maybe in extreme weather condtions (if you only dive in perfect condtions, you won't be loggin much bottom time here in New England). Although the snokel might find a place in one of my pockets.

Uncle Pug, even in a controlled OOA drill my hose fouled on my snorkle a few times, I could easily see how in a "real life" OOA situation one could have his mask ripped right off.


Although I have a single tank (w/pony), I choose a 7' hose instead of 5' hose because I was told a 5' would too short for someone (OOA) to follow me "nose to fins" out of a wreck. I don't know if this info is correct, but, the 7' seems managable so far.

Thanks again for the advice.

 

[BILLB]

My post on this matter considers only OW recreational diving. Wreck penetration diving is another displine. In addition to the seven foot hose you probably should be using some type of long burn light system. This usually means a battery cannister. I am not DIR but I have heard that cannister mounting on the back or butt is not recommended. For stream lining, it is under the right arm. Then the seven foot hose excess will not have to be packed into the waist.

In wrecks and caves, the seven foot hose works very well.

 

[MASS-Diver]

I just read a bunch of older threads about intergerated air sources, some very good points were made.


One more questions, a pretty minor one:

When I bought my 7' hose, one of the guys at the LDS (who despises all that is "wrekcie-techie") remarked, "you know that the longer hose is going to make it harder to draw air and lower your reg performance due to the increased resistnce of the longer hose"....any merit to this (just curious)?

 

[Rick Murchison]

Originally posted by Uncle Pug
The original poster indicated that he was moving toward DIR... and using the long hose....

The answer has to be *ditch the snorkel*... do not have a snorkel attached to your mask while using the long hose....

This is not because of the problems you will have in OOA drills....
It is because you will strip your mask off in a real OOA....

Now if you are not moving to DIR and are not using the long hose....
If you like snorkeling and don't mind having one dangling there unused for the majority of the dive then by all means have at it.

However I think that it is a unwarranted risk of entanglement for any scuba diver to wear a snorkel attached to the mask... better to keep it in your pocket and shove it up under the mask strap when snorkeling.

BTW... if you are moving toward DIR you should be carrying a spare mask in your pocket and not a snorkel.

Could it be possible that DIR isn't the end-all and be-all for all kinds of diving? If I'm wearing a seven foot hose, then a snorkel is out... if I'm making a long surface swim in choppy water without using my back gas then I need to use a snorkel... and I don't really have any place to stow the snorkel on my minimilist tropical BC... oh! I should be lugging a backplate and harness and STA instead, right?
Sigh...
If I'm flying above 55,000' then I wear a full pressure suit to prevent instant death in the event of explosive decompression. I could argue that the same rig should be worn to fly a Cessna 150 - after all, it provides better fire protection... but as for me, I'll stick with regular street clothes.
I own a seven foot hose.
I own an extra mask.
I own doubles.
I own a cannister light.
I own a backplate & harness.
And I use 'em, too. When the dive calls for it.
And I use a snorkel when the dive calls for it.
Rick

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by Rick Murchison

Could it be possible that DIR isn't the end-all and be-all for all kinds of diving? If I'm wearing a seven foot hose, then a snorkel is out...

if I'm making a long surface swim in choppy water without using my back gas then I need to use a snorkel...

And I use a snorkel when the dive calls for it.
Rick

That is all good Rick...
But your answering a question that wasn't asked...
And methinks you doth protest too much

BTW... some of us don't need a snorkel for that long swim in choppy water without using our back gas...

 

[BILLB]

The air pressure is the same at both ends of the hose. Nothing is lost with the longer hose. You may waste a little bit more air when disassembling the rig but at this time your dive is over.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by MASS-Diver
"you know that the longer hose is going to make it harder to draw air and lower your reg performance due to the increased resistnce of the longer hose"....any merit to this (just curious)?

The guy is a knuckle head....

If you are going to try to scare someone into not using a long hose then use something that could really happen like:

"Don't you know that a panicked OOA will sneak up behind you and strangle you with your primary?!?!"

Oh... you're right... that can't happen either...

To answer your question... no the long hose will not decrease the performance of your 2nd stage... the IP can supply more gas than you can breath and at anything >100 you are going to be using a helium mix if you are really DIR so the viscosity of the gas will still not be an issue.

 

[JamesK]

If the performance of your regulators was that greatly effected by a couple additional feet of hose, you should strap your tank to your belly and breath off of the valve. Intermidiate Pressure remains the same from one end to the other. It does not all of a sudden drop down to a lower pressure the farther it goes.

 

[MASS-Diver]

Thanks guys, I figured the guy was wrong (as I purchased the hose anyways).