Double tank orientation

[Rainsey]

Hey all,

Started some DSAT tec training the other weekend and all went well with the big exception of the skill whereby I had to turn off my right valve, turn it on, turn off my isolator, back on and then turn off my left valve and turn it back on... why did I have trouble... cause firstly, I am not as flexible as I was 30 years ago and secondly my trilaminate does not stretch where you need it.

So here I am looking at this months divelog magazine and open it to an add for Drager compressors and the picture has a tec diver with his tanks upside down. Now I know that this goes against the grain of having a standard rig setup, but having the valves at my butt make it dead easy to do the aformentioned skill.

No doubt this would be shunned by my instructor but would be curious as to the general concensus out there in user land.

Cheers

Rainsey

 

[DA Aquamaster]

The lack of flexibility in a diver can be addressed with a little effort and some stretching over a period of a few weeks.

The lack of flexibility in a dry suit can sometimes also be addressed. When putting it on, ensure you have full mobility in the shoulders in the under garment(s) before you put on the next layer. Pull any slack where you need it and stretch your arms to the required position. Do the same with the dry suit on before you don any other gear. Then, once in the water, ensure you have enough gas in the suit to avoid most of the shrink wrap effect.

Unless the suit is genuinely too small, after doing the above you should have enough range of motion in the suit to reach the valves.

Adjusting the harness slightly or adjusting the tank position in the plate or the tank position in the bands can also move the tanks an inch or so in the right direction to allow better access to the valves. (Just be aware of the potential impact on your trim.)

As a last resort, you can loosen the waist strap to allow the tanks and plate to ride up a bit higher when you need to access your valves.

Inverting the tanks causes problems with hose routing as you end up with much longer hoses and much more complex hose routing - to a greater degree than with a rebreather. Also, gearing up on a pitching dive boat, for example, is more complicated as the tanks end up sitting on top of the valves, regs, etc. That results in the need to add a frame or cage over them to protect them which adds more weight, more complexity, reduces streamlining, etc.

It makes a lot more sense to just solve the flexibility issues rather than try to work around it by inverting the tanks.

 

[rjack321]

Now I know that this goes against the grain of having a standard rig setup, but having the valves at my butt make it dead easy to do the aformentioned skill.

The valve would be easy to reach but the resulting hose routing is downright dreadful!

Inverted has fallen out of favor for many reasons (including smashing the regs when you set it down, the hose routing etc). Stretching and learning how to reach your valves is quite do-able and avoids all of these negatives.

 

[JeffG]

you just need a slob winder.

 

[Blackwood]

you just need a slob winder.

.....

 

[Gombessa]

I am not as flexible as I was 30 years ago and secondly my trilaminate does not stretch where you need it.

Sometimes it's not the shell suit, but the undergarments that restrict you. One of the tricks I learned was to fully inflate the suit on the surface, lie face down and then really stretch out your arms in front on you to un-bunch the undergarment fabric. Once you done that, open the drysuit valve to whatever you're used to and go dive. That's helped me a lot with my perceived inflexibility in a drysuit.

 

[Anti-Hero]

The drysuit stretch is mandatory for me to reach my valves using a 300g undersuit.

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

The technique of losening the waist strap seems to work with the people I know and even for the guy with compromised range of motion due to shoulder surgeries.

 

[sea2summit]

Might try a skill from your open water class, reach down with the non-valve turning hand grab the bottom of those tanks and nudge them up within reach. Also adopt a slightly head down orentation.

Another option that you can try is adjusting the tank bands a little so the valves are higher up over your shoulders. Just watch your trim.

 

[ae3753]

A lot of good recommendations.

Glad someone mentioned horizontal trim, because the PADI DSAT video has the divers on their knees while doing valve shutoffs.

Not only does this make manipulating the valves more difficult, but it's not useful for real world situations.