First OW class, lots of gear questions!

[MichaelMc]

I learned today that it's illegal to dive w/o a snorkel in California!

I do not think California regulates snorkel use. Scuba is mostly 'regulated' by the training agency standards that apply during training. Others, like dive boats and insurance companies, take them as very strong suggestions outside of training. Not by states. (Edit: States might regulate how you dive in their parks though.)

On hoses, you might swap your hoses. Use the shorter to your necklace and the longer as your primary routed under your arm. Typical length for a necklace regulator hose is 22", which are around $20 on line. That could clean things up a bit for you. (And tbone knows far more that me)

You're approaching your configuration in a analytical manner which is good.

 

[sigxbill]

I learned today that it's illegal to dive w/o a snorkel in California!

not exactly true. what is true is that some cities require divers to carry a snorkel - like Laguna Beach. the key is that it doesn't have to be attached to your mask. this is a good snorkel for that:
UTD Foldup Snorkel · UTD Scuba Diving

regarding the rest of your gear questions - my question is why are you taking your class from a shop or instructor who's instruction you don't trust enough to ask them these questions? If you find yourself in a situation where you don't trust their advice - then I think you should be taking your training from someone else ...

 

[Aloha Joe]

Ha! After I made my last post I started thinking about fins from an engineering perspective (which for me always starts with a look at nature, so I watched some videos of fish and people swimming) - and I realized most fins are completely not ideal for a basic human flutter kick. I also looked at different kicking styles and realized I need to learn and practice how to kick before I buy anything.

But thinking that our biggest and strongest muscles are involved in a straight kicking motion, it makes sense why humans seem to naturally prefer a flutter kick without any other training. I spent an hour designing what I would consider an ideal fin for flutter kicking, and basically designed the Scubapro Seawing Nova - so I guess I'll need to try one, some day! Only my design has something a little extra that I think would help with thrust in all situations


I don't know what I said to make anyone think I don't trust my instructor or ask her questions? I definitely do - although I probably prioritize questions about skills or general gear questions over how to tweak my custom rig. I feel pretty confident in the skills I've learned so far and think she's done a fantastic job of turning a class of never-evers into a group of safe and fun divers.


I don't see any codes regarding snorkels while on SCUBA in California - maybe it's a municipality thing as suggested above.

Thanks for the suggestions about hose lengths/setup - I'll re-read them tomorrow and maybe make 1 or 2 small changes before next week - I don't want to change too much since it'll be the first ocean dive, but if I can clean up a hose or two I think it will help.

 

[Aloha Joe]

Primary hose: 24"
Secondary/Octo hose: 36"
Inflator hose: 24"
HP/SPG hose: 36"

The hoses (except the inflator hose) are the super flexible, light weight hoses as I got my rig used.

The inflator is a 'Sub-Gravity' and it looks identical to the Halcyon 30lb wing (it's Made in Italy fwiw - I know both companies don't design or manufacture all their gear).

I think my original reg had a 'Scubapro' fitting for the BC, as the 'Standard' fitting on my new IP gauge fits my BC just fine.

 

[MichaelMc]

That 24" primary seems short enough to use in place of a 22" on the necklace, for now. Your octo hose seems maybe short for best use for the primary donate hose, but it is more useful that way than as secondary.

I do not know about the inflator lengths.

 

[npole]

If your primary goes under your arm configuration, the use of a 90° would be convenient... but there's a straight solution: the Mares Loop regulator, it's the only regulator (in reality there was some other experiments in the past) that has the hose coming from the bottom and then two air valves on both sides (convenient for the photographers). It changed my life: not only I have the hose going straight down with no resistence, but I can turn the head left and right symmetrical because there's no hose pushing on a side only. It's also very convenient in a side mount configuration.

 

[tbone1004]

@Aloha Joe

ok, so there's some of your problems. Take an adjustable wrench and swap your primary and secondary hoses, and don't run the 36" hose under your arm pit until you have a swivel of some sort. We teach with that configuration at the pool and GUE used to teach with that hose routing for single tank years ago *now dropped in favor of 5-7' hoses*

The loop that @npole is spiffy, but it is not with some some very consequential flaws as compared to a sided regulator, especially in sidemount. It is not something I would ever take into a true sidemount restriction.

I'm unaware of a subgravity inflator nipple that is non-standard *Halcyon does design and manufacture their own wings fwiw*. That said I think we're confusing some terminology here and if you could post some pictures that would be ideal. The subgravity wing should be using a standard BC inflator nipple. You say the IP gauge fits your BC, but it should only be going on the inflator hose. Three bits, the BC is the wing/jacket itself, the inflator is the bit that you inflate from, and the inflator hose is self explanatory.
Some inflator nipples are more universal, and your IP gauge should be one of them. It is possible that you have something like an AirII inflator hose

 

[sigxbill]

this thread makes absolutely no sense! the op is in a scuba class now! if the op wanted to learn to dive dir, then why isn't he taking his class from a dir instructor / shop / agency? the op should either fire his current instructor for not providing the diving / gear instruction he needs, or dive the way his instructor dives...

 

[Aloha Joe]

Thanks Tbone. You're saying to use the 36" for the primary/donate, correct? Then route the 24" as the alternate, over my arm and to my necklace?

And you're correct - I was talking about the inflator. The quick disconnect that came on my reg didn't lock onto the fitting on the inflator. The quick disconnect on the rental regs didn't lock on, either. But the SPG I got from Pirhana (universal) did. Here's a link to the product webpage. I can post a photo later today if still needed:

Inflator with plastic buttons - Subgravity

Edit: it looks like the same inflator sold by DIR Zone (there are 2, one has metal buttons). They state: "DIN Int'l Quick Disconnect". I don't know if the Int'l and standard share the same mating threads (I doubt it) so I'm probably stuck with that fitting if I use this inflator.

I mistakenly said the wing looked 'identical' to the Halcyon - that was a mistake. It's a similar configuration, but not identical. I'm usually good about using that word! I compared them a few days ago but a lot's been on my mind since then.

I appreciate the thought about the Mares (bottom hose mount) reg, but I like my Scubapros and don't really plan on changing (except maybe getting a new G260 primary and moving my 250 to alternate, when I can't figure out what else to spend money on )

 

[Aloha Joe]

this thread makes absolutely no sense! the op is in a scuba class now! if the op wanted to learn to dive dir, then why isn't he taking his class from a dir instructor / shop / agency? the op should either fire his current instructor for not providing the diving / gear instruction he needs, or dive the way his instructor dives...

Ha! I agree to some extent. I signed up for SCUBA knowing absolutely nothing about it, other than I wanted to spend more time and go deeper underwater. So I signed up at the shop down the street which had tons of great reviews on Yelp. Then I started looking at gear and immediately knew I had no interest in diving in a jacket. So I Googled "minimalist scuba gear" which brought me to BP/W rigs and this forum, and I've been learning ever since. The shops around here make you sign a contract - once you register for class (by paying), you can only get store credit with cancellation. This "shop" is a surf shop with a small diving department in the back, so I don't want gear from them. I don't love the shop, but I do think the instructor is giving me my money's worth in terms of skills and fun. I've already found another shop to do my advanced course, and they have tech instructors (not GUE though).

Regardless, I bought a used regulator that's setup for 'typical rec diving', and I'm figuring out the best way to use it while I learn about and plan the rig I want in the long run.

If I had the right hoses, my instructor would be fine with letting me run primary/donate - recall that she actually is the one that recommended it based on my rig, but then we both realized the primary hose was a touch too short to make it comfortable in the ocean for the rest of the class.