Halcyon Eclipse Exhaust Hose

[CALI68]

Most BC's have epualets (I hope I spelled that right) to secure (and remove) the BC Exhaust hose. My new Eclipse has a little piece of bungee. With proper placement of the left D-ring (in conjunction with the pice of bungee) This leaves me almost no room to raise the inflator to vent. Do I need a longer exhaust hose or is this the way it's supposed to be?

Thanks!

 

[Robert Phillips]

The bungee should be loose enough to allow you to lift the hose high enough to dump when you descend. You should use the rear dump valve while you are underwater, as using the inflator hose messes up your trim. If you are not practiced with the rear dump, you should try it as much as you can on each dive. If you have to use the inflator during your dive, try rolling slightly to the right and raise your shoulder and you should be able to dump a little, but work on using only the rear dump. One thing I did with my pioneer is tie a few more knots in the end of the string, as the one knot it came with made it extremely hard to grab w/thick gloves on. Now it is one bigger knot instead of one tiny knot.

 

[CALI68]

The bungee should be loose enough to allow you to lift the hose high enough to dump when you descend. You should use the rear dump valve while you are underwater, as using the inflator hose messes up your trim. If you are not practiced with the rear dump, you should try it as much as you can on each dive. If you have to use the inflator during your dive, try rolling slightly to the right and raise your shoulder and you should be able to dump a little, but work on using only the rear dump. One thing I did with my pioneer is tie a few more knots in the end of the string, as the one knot it came with made it extremely hard to grab w/thick gloves on. Now it is one bigger knot instead of one tiny knot.

Thanks for the info! I always thought the rear dump was only for when you were upside down or horizontal. I was mainly thinking about how the initial descent would be made...I can't use the rear for that right?

 

[Robert Phillips]

No, you can't use it at first, but once you dump the majority of the air and you drop down to about 3-4 feet, you shift to a horizontal attitude and you can dump any remaining gas then. Just imagine dropping under verticle and then dropping your upper body into the horizontal position. You drop and your feet move out until you are in a perfect horizontal hover. Kind of hard to explain w/words. It's much easier to see it done.
Regardless, you should be able to dump all the air out that you need to by holding the hose up at ear level, as it is higher than the wing. The air will dump, trust me!
Dive safe,
dive often.
Robert

 

[ocpaul]

I also initially thought the hose was rather short, but found with practice that the vent only needs to be slightly above the bladder to vent. Practice a bit and I think you will agree.

I also agree about learning to use the rear dump. Once I started to use the rear dump when horizontal I found that small adjustments were much easier than when using the hose dump.

One final note - there is not a pull cord in the hose dump, simply a valve at the end.

Good luck!

 

[CALI68]

Thanks for the info. I have another question that is still on the topic of the Eclipse. Do you experienced BP+W Users think this weighting sounds right:

I use 28 lbs for Dry Suit Diving this is how it will be dispursed:

6lb BP
2 lb STA (I am having one Custom made to fit my PS E7-80's and it just so happens to weigh in at about 2 lbs)
10 lbs per side in The Halcyon ACB system

Thanks!

 

[ianr33]

When I first got a BP and wings I was pretty shocked at how short the inflator hose seemed,you get used to it after a few dives and then you begin tom realise the BIG advantage of a short hose,you always know EXACTLY where it is,even with your eyes closed,its exactly where you left it, by your left D ring,not waving around in the breeze somewhere.

 

[CALI68]

When I first got a BP and wings I was pretty shocked at how short the inflator hose seemed,you get used to it after a few dives and then you begin tom realise the BIG advantage of a short hose,you always know EXACTLY where it is,even with your eyes closed,its exactly where you left it, by your left D ring,not waving around in the breeze somewhere.

Good Point