VTernovski
Contributor
Ah, I wish I read your posts earlier so that I could have shown you some of the reasons behind certain things today.
I assume you dive a canister light? in that case, its actually makes a lot more sense to remove the right hip D-Ring altogether, since its only going to be in the way. Slide the canister all the way back so it's almost next to the backplate, and then secure it with a cheap plastic weight belt buckle so that it doesn't slide out or gets dropped when taking the whole harness off. Mount a bolt-snap to the light head, and that gets clipped to the right chest D-ring. This way you won't bang it on anything, and it's very easy to clip it on/off and you're not crossing the hose with anything else.
ok, the backup light is also on a small bolt snap, and clipped on a chest D-ring (either left or right, doesn't matter, some people have two); the light doesn't flap around, it goes down the harness webbing and is secured with bicycle tubing. This way it's out of the way completely and there is no conflict with whatever else is clipped to your D-rings. It's not an issue.
However, I assume you had this OMS remote isolator on your other set of doubles? ok, don't mean to be harsh here, but you need to get rid of this thing. It's totally unnecessary, adds a failure point and convolution to your whole rig - you don't need an extra "hose" like that hanging around. As far as not being able to reach the valves, dont worry about it, it sounds hard on the surface, but once you're in the water and horizontal, it's not a problem at all.
9' hose is too much indeed. 7' hose, however, is an optimal configuration. First of all, you'll be surprised how much more streamlined you are... no hose loops sticking out from your sides anymore. It feels more comfortable too. During an OOA situation, it is not always possible to swim side by side using a traditional-length hose. With 7' hose it's not a problem, distancing yourself from the OOA diver is not a bad thing, as a matter of fact, from my personal experience, it is much worse to be "forced" to be face to face during this situation, and during those times, I wished I had a 7' hose. Some people use 5 or 6 hoses, but form my personal experience 7s is the best possible configuration. You only need one SPG, which goes on a left post. Since you would always dive with your isolator open, you only one gauge. In an event that you would be forced to shut the isolator closed, you would be aborting your dive anyway, so that's not an issue. Again, no need to add additional points of failure, task loading, and convolutions to your gear.
Sounds good on paper, but underwater it works the other way. Anything that's on a front D-ring will be in the way. You will hit it with your legs, and it will cause drag. There is absolutely no problem reaching anything from your butt D-ring, and it's also stays out of the water flow, so there is no drag. The only time I use front D-ring is when I am "done" with my camera and at the end of the dive, when I do a horizontal ascent, I clip it to the front scooter D-ring. This way, I know it's not going to get hit by anything.
Ill be happy to show you more when I see you again. Also, Bob Sherwood is having a lecture at our clubs meeting next Wednesday on application of DIR system for a recreational divers. There you can bombard him with questions and not be accused of asking stupid questions. Basically, thats will be a perfect opportunity for you to get real answers from a real DIR person. Remember that some DIR-wannabes on this and other forums are just that wannabes and have obvious attitude/ego problems. They give DIR a bad name, and Ive learned to stay away from those people. I have yet to see a genuine DIR person that exhibits similar egoistic I am better than you or if you dont do it like me, youre going to die attitude. The lecture is free. Here is a link.
1054EDP:
I assume you dive a canister light? in that case, its actually makes a lot more sense to remove the right hip D-Ring altogether, since its only going to be in the way. Slide the canister all the way back so it's almost next to the backplate, and then secure it with a cheap plastic weight belt buckle so that it doesn't slide out or gets dropped when taking the whole harness off. Mount a bolt-snap to the light head, and that gets clipped to the right chest D-ring. This way you won't bang it on anything, and it's very easy to clip it on/off and you're not crossing the hose with anything else.
1054EDP:
ok, the backup light is also on a small bolt snap, and clipped on a chest D-ring (either left or right, doesn't matter, some people have two); the light doesn't flap around, it goes down the harness webbing and is secured with bicycle tubing. This way it's out of the way completely and there is no conflict with whatever else is clipped to your D-rings. It's not an issue.
However, I assume you had this OMS remote isolator on your other set of doubles? ok, don't mean to be harsh here, but you need to get rid of this thing. It's totally unnecessary, adds a failure point and convolution to your whole rig - you don't need an extra "hose" like that hanging around. As far as not being able to reach the valves, dont worry about it, it sounds hard on the surface, but once you're in the water and horizontal, it's not a problem at all.
1054EDP:
9' hose is too much indeed. 7' hose, however, is an optimal configuration. First of all, you'll be surprised how much more streamlined you are... no hose loops sticking out from your sides anymore. It feels more comfortable too. During an OOA situation, it is not always possible to swim side by side using a traditional-length hose. With 7' hose it's not a problem, distancing yourself from the OOA diver is not a bad thing, as a matter of fact, from my personal experience, it is much worse to be "forced" to be face to face during this situation, and during those times, I wished I had a 7' hose. Some people use 5 or 6 hoses, but form my personal experience 7s is the best possible configuration. You only need one SPG, which goes on a left post. Since you would always dive with your isolator open, you only one gauge. In an event that you would be forced to shut the isolator closed, you would be aborting your dive anyway, so that's not an issue. Again, no need to add additional points of failure, task loading, and convolutions to your gear.
1054EDP:
Sounds good on paper, but underwater it works the other way. Anything that's on a front D-ring will be in the way. You will hit it with your legs, and it will cause drag. There is absolutely no problem reaching anything from your butt D-ring, and it's also stays out of the water flow, so there is no drag. The only time I use front D-ring is when I am "done" with my camera and at the end of the dive, when I do a horizontal ascent, I clip it to the front scooter D-ring. This way, I know it's not going to get hit by anything.
Ill be happy to show you more when I see you again. Also, Bob Sherwood is having a lecture at our clubs meeting next Wednesday on application of DIR system for a recreational divers. There you can bombard him with questions and not be accused of asking stupid questions. Basically, thats will be a perfect opportunity for you to get real answers from a real DIR person. Remember that some DIR-wannabes on this and other forums are just that wannabes and have obvious attitude/ego problems. They give DIR a bad name, and Ive learned to stay away from those people. I have yet to see a genuine DIR person that exhibits similar egoistic I am better than you or if you dont do it like me, youre going to die attitude. The lecture is free. Here is a link.
