Do you use long hose set-up with Air2?

[Bob DBF]

To turn a phrase fron Taj Mahal "Ain't nobody's business but your own"

Use any configuration you have or want to try, just be come proficient in it's use and it will work.

My buddy uses a short hose primary, AirII, and console on a BP/W, I am now using a 40" bungied primary, 24" octo, pressure gauge, and wrist mounted computer on a BP/W, another buddy has a short primary, AirII, pressure gauge with Orca Edge computer attached to the hose on a Jacket BC, it takes all kinds. If your buddy is experienced a long hose air share is fine, but if they tend towards panic the intimancy of a 24" hose gives eye contact and you can have control of their rig; I learned that when everyone had short hoses and no octo.



Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[skankpile]

Everybody is just trying to be nice.

If you want to breathe and control your BC with a donated reg get a 22-24" hose and stick a real regulator on it; Hang if from your neck.

Put a clip on the long hose and clip it off so it will not drag the ground when you walk around.

 

[TSandM]

No -- I'm not trying to be nice. An Air2 is a perfectly functional backup reg -- I don't personally like them, because I don't like how short they are for ME to breathe in an emergency, and I don't like controlling my buoyancy with something I'm breathing, and I REALLY don't like how long the corrugated hose has to be to use them at all. But they work, and if someone is willing to put in the effort to get good with using one as a backup reg, and they want to do it, fine. The important thing is to donate the primary, and have a backup reg that is in a position certain, and that hasn't been dragging through the sand or silt.

Yes, I prefer another configuration. But if the OP has this gear already, and is willing to switch to a longer hose and practice with his setup, it's a great first step. I am not being "nice", because I recognize that there are more ways to dive than the way I do it. I may see drawbacks to this setup that keep ME from using it, but they may not be drawbacks that loom large to the OP. He asked for advice on how to use the setup he has; I gave it to him.

I wish more people would cut folks who are trying to think and work out usable solutions a bit of slack. Not everyone in the water has to dive GUE-compatible equipment.

 

[DaleC]

No one has ever accused me of being nice before. Thank you

I tried sticking a real reg (see avatar) on a 22" hose but it wouldn't work. Can you tell me where the second stage port would be?

 

[rlynch]

Question: why? using a long hose on a jacket BC with nothing to capture the long hose on your right just general sucks. the hose floats free and is generally annoying. I've tried it a could of times. its a pretty bad compromise. Of your using a jacket BC i'd just keep to the standard configuration (26" primary, 40" octo) and work on rocking that setup. Once you switch to a BP/W setup i'd use the long hose (7' long hose). When required, I dive a jacket BC with the standard hose setup (above) instead of doing a truly compromised setup, I hate it but if the shop requires it, i'll dive it and need to be able to rock it as well. . I ditched the AIR2 (if anyone wants to buy it let me know) b/c I don't think they are safe (most people forget what they are and they normally - Never- get serviced, just like most BC's) plus they suck for actually breathing off of. Not trying to instigate anything here....but either start a complete move to a HOG/DIR setup or don't, and I would get proper training as well (GUE is the primary here with the others moving away from the principles). Just my 2 cents..

 

[rhwestfall]

OOwabbit:

Regrettably, a vocal minority on SB will always talk down anything but the LH/BO, and unless its a BP/W, well, in their mind, you are going to....

I am sure there are many who dive the configuration you are proposing (I know a few), but with how people are around here, it isn't worth the crap to discuss it.

Learn it, understand it, dive it and ENJOY IT.

 

[00wabbit]

Yep. I get the arguments against air2 but that wasn't my question. I have it and I like it. I,m a big guy with a broad torso so the long corrugated hose doesn't bother me. It rests in a pretty normal position for me. I am not one to forget its there and not service it.


Thatnks for the answers pertinent to my question. I may look into putting a slightly longer hose on it just to give a few inches more reach for now.

I see tech in my distant future. Maybe after a couple of years. Eventually I will start shifting my gear that way. For now I am just looking to adopt the principles that seem like they will work for me at the moment.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Bob hit on the key factor with whatever set up you choose. Learn it. That is possibly one of the biggest reasons some set ups get criticized and looked down on. A newer diver has been sold something they did not train with, told it's the greatest thing since sliced bread, and given no instruction on it's use. So they have to learn it on their own. Or not. Since they were given no instruction they have no starting point. As a result they make mistakes when they try to.practice and often get discouraged or they don't even bother to practice and when it hits the fan things go.wrong. And they and the gear get a bad rap. I normally do not allow air 2 type set ups in my aow class. Unless the diver can prove to me beforehand that they are indeed proficient with every aspect of it's use and perform all the skills I require. They also have to use the proper length hose on their primary that allows them to do the skills as well. A standard length hose or really any hose less than 40 inches on the primary will prevent them from doing some of the required skills in the manner my standards require. It is one of the reasons a detailed.discussion of equipment configurations is done before we even get in the water. Like a tech class there are some things that are kinda ok, some a bit shaky, and others like suicide clips just flat out no way. But we learn why and then they are shown alternatives and those are explained. Telling someone this is bad means nothing if you can't say why and then offer an alternative with a good reason for it.

If your set up works for you AND your buddies, remember it may be their butt on the line as well over your choices, go for it. But make sure you practice the what if's on a regular basis.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Slmason.72]

I use an air source with my aqualung bc that's equipped with their i3 inflator. I was using a 40" primary with a 90 degree elbow on the second stage, but have switched to a 60" hose as the 40 would hang up under my arm and not allow me to pivot my head to the left easily. Now I just stuff the little bit of extra hose into a loop ner my waist. Having dove a standard set up for a short time, I really like the under arm routing with the elbow. Significantly more freedom of movement, less tugging and the longer hose is easier to find when doing drills.

I can control bouyancy with the air source when donating air, but it's not as easy as using the i3 controls at my left waist or using the extra dump on my right shoulder. I can also grip the air source about half way up and activate the pull to dump feature. Using any two of these three methods, practiced differently and deliberately in case any one of the three fails, control is easy. How that will work out in an actual emergency with the adrenalin flowing is yet to be tested.

The biggest argument against this set up are all of the extra failure points that it introduces. (and the extra inspections and care required). I am by no means an expert, really just learning like the OP, but thought I'd throw my 2 cents worth in to say that if you are looking at an air source, also look at what other options you have for bouyancy control.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

As a cave diver I am a pretty solid fan of the long hose/bungee back up arrangement and I've even retained that in side mount.

However, when I go on a single tank, warm water, shallow water, pretty fish dive my preferred rig is a BP/wing with a 30 pound wing, a MK 17 G250V on a long hose and...drum roll please...an Air 2. The reasons are simply that the Air 2 will get the job done when that job is simply ascending to the surface with your team mate using your long hose.

I have not found controlling the ascent to be problematic as my ascents are normally horizontal using the rear dump and still will be when gas sharing. Staying horizontal allows me much more maneuverability and allows me to keep track of the OOA diver and allows me a greater degree of control if it comes to that. If I do need to be vertical during the ascent, dumping gas through the Air 2 is still not difficult.

To add to the heresy, the Air 2 is also a situation where a pull dump on the inflator elbow is not a bad idea. In that configuration, all you have to do to dump with the Air 2 in your mouth is push the corrugated hose outward slightly anywhere along its length to activate the pull dump. It is still a potential failure point, but in warm water single tank diving, if you are properly weighted, your rig will be balanced and swimming it up even with a total wing failure is a non-problem.

The advantages of the Air 2 in this configuration are that I can route the second stage hose, the inflator/Air 2 hose and the SPG hose straight down as all the ports are on the same side of the reg. That combined with a long hose, BP and small wing, creates an incredibly streamlined package. If I add a fourth hose for a traditional second stage, the hoses have to go to the sides and the configuration is much less streamlined. The other advantage of using the Air 2 is that with a shorty and no hood, a bungee around the back of my neck tends to rub it pretty raw after a week of 3-5 dives per day on a live-aboard, even if I cover the bungee with latex tubing.

It is not, and never will be DIR/GUE/UTD compliant as it's not a configuration that lends itself well to much other than what I've described above, but if that is the kind of diving you do, than that type of configuration could be nearly ideal for you.

As noted above, hose length is important as a 5' hose may work better for a recreational diver using a BC that offers no place to tuck in the extra hose that is involved with a 7' hose (although most back inflates have a waist band that works well for this purpose). And divers with broader shoulders or wider torsos, may find a 6' hose works better.