Adobo
Contributor
Because I use the Apeks regulator and the hose protectors that come with it are very streamline and really look part of hose, I suspect my Essentials class never saw that I was using hose protectors. :shocked2:
But you know what Rainer, he did notice I was out of Trim and using my fins on the sand to stabalize.
But, having said that, hose protectors as I mentioned are being tossed away.
In comparison to the other topics covered in Essentials, hose protectors are in the minutia.
Some of your gear has very direct impact to the team, others do not. Hose protectors do not really affect the team in the same sense that other items might(like analyzing gas for example). Depending on what is going on at the time, it is not at all surprising that Essentials (or even Fundies) does not dig into this level of detail.
You'll find that most in the "community" do not use hose protectors as they tend to hide corrosion and hose damage.
Edit: I found some comments from another diver from 2002 and thought they might be entertaining to read as part of this thread:
Audience: What's your thinking on hose protectors? Do you use them?
George: That's one of those tough ones because a hose protector is supposed to be a strain relief for the swages and in that sense it's a good idea. But the problem is then you don't see the swages and you don't know whether things are going bad or not. Usually where the hose will go bad is at the interface between the swages and the hose. You'll see it start to get ratty there if you are taking them and moving them each time. Bill Mee always had strain reliefs but he'd pull them down an inch or so after the dive and wash them off. I've stopped putting them on myself because I wasn't doing that. Then I'd pull one down and it would be horrifying. It would be green — you could see the threads on the hose and stuff, it was like all bulging out. But I was real paranoid, I used to change my hoses all the time.
