Question Hydros Pro - Floatation Position on the Surface?

[Pressurehead]

I know there is a cable inside the the hose, is it just me? I just don't like yanking on hoses.

 

[fred32176]

This makes no sense. What is taught in OW when using a conventional jacket style BCD has no bearing on best practice when using a Hydros Pro. The issue is, whether the pull dump method is in any way better or worse than using the conventional deflator. Presumably Scubapro had something in mind when they included it.

I did my OW with a ScubaPro Hydros Pro, I believe if you yank the corrugated hose OR use the left shoulder lever you open a one-way valve and air can come out but water won't go in. If you use the deflate button on the corrugated hose, you can let water in your BCD. I believe in theory all the dump values except the left shoulder pull on corrugated hose/lever theoretically can let water in, however I never have much water in my BCD no matter which valve I used.

 

[inquis]

use the left shoulder lever you open a one-way valve and air can come out but water won't go in

In my experience, even the pull dumps let water in if not enough air is coming out (e.g., trying to vent when the BC is already empty).

 

[rsingler]

I'm suprised no one has brought it up yet...

Wholly apart from preferred technique, if your habit has been yanking on the hose (really the cable inside) for five years, then I need to find the picture of that upper assembly which had torn free of its seal to the fabric.

If you do that every dive in preparation for descent, and you are 6# heavy with full tanks (even if you're not overweighted), then when it tears, your bcd immediately dumps ALL its air, and you will have to fin hard to stay afloat unless you want to sacrifice your weight pockets. If overweighted, you may be heading for the bottom (assuming there is a reasonable depth bottom).

My honest advice? Have the shop remove the internal cable. If you want to use the left shoulder dump, finger the lever up at the top.

The cable is a legacy convenience that carries real danger in an older bcd.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I'm suprised no one has brought it up yet...

Wholly apart from preferred technique, if your habit has been yanking on the hose (really the cable inside) for five years, then I need to find the picture of that upper assembly which had torn free of its seal to the fabric.

If you do that every dive in preparation for descent, and you are 6# heavy with full tanks (even if you're not overweighted), then when it tears, your bcd immediately dumps ALL its air, and you will have to fin hard to stay afloat unless you want to sacrifice your weight pockets. If overweighted, you may be heading for the bottom (assuming there is a reasonable depth bottom).

My honest advice? Have the shop remove the internal cable. If you want to use the left shoulder dump, finger the lever up at the top.

The cable is a legacy convenience that carries real danger in an older bcd.

The overweighting part is the real killer.
Having a BC top LP fitting tear off or crack could be a bad situation, but the bigger problem making a broken fitting a huge problem is overweighting.
I can’t stress this enough!
Nobody should be so overweighted that they must fully depend on their BC to support them on the surface. Since BC’s have steadily improved over the years, more and more dependency has been placed upon them.
This is gear abuse, elevator diving, plain and simple.

 

[johndiver999]

I'm suprised no one has brought it up yet...

Wholly apart from preferred technique, if your habit has been yanking on the hose (really the cable inside) for five years, then I need to find the picture of that upper assembly which had torn free of its seal to the fabric.

If you do that every dive in preparation for descent, and you are 6# heavy with full tanks (even if you're not overweighted), then when it tears, your bcd immediately dumps ALL its air, and you will have to fin hard to stay afloat unless you want to sacrifice your weight pockets. If overweighted, you may be heading for the bottom (assuming there is a reasonable depth bottom).

My honest advice? Have the shop remove the internal cable. If you want to use the left shoulder dump, finger the lever up at the top.

The cable is a legacy convenience that carries real danger in an older bcd.

Have you thought about what happens when the hose is pulled and there is no internal cable? What if a rescuer is helping with an ascent and uses that feature?

I’m not sure I agree with that advice. If the owner does not wish to use the pull dump feature then they can avoid doing so, but the proposed alteration is not without some potential consequences.

 

[rsingler]

Have you thought about what happens when the hose is pulled and there is no internal cable? What if a rescuer is helping with an ascent and uses that feature?

That's a fair criticism, but that sure wouldn't be my rescue technique. If you want to prevent a runaway ascent during rescue, I was taught just leaving the corrugated hose in its normal position, and as you grasp the victim's strap with your right hand (keeping your own left hand free for joint buoyancy control, just depress the inflator exhaust (dump) button. As the victim's bcd gas expands, it will naturally bubble down and out of the open inflator valve, while the hose's low position keeps most of the gas still in the bcd (assuming your ascent is vertical or horizontal). And if you are using your right hand to keep a reg in the victim's mouth from behind, you won't be reaching for a pull dump anyway.

How many bcd's have cable dumps? Maybe 60%? Do you have a different technique for victims with one and without? How do you know which is which? I don't use a potential cable dump as a means of expanding gas control. Too coarse a mechanism in the flurry of a rescue. Too easy to dump too much and suddenly have a negative victim.

But I'll concede your point.

 

[johndiver999]

That's a fair criticism, but that sure wouldn't be my rescue technique. If you want to prevent a runaway ascent during rescue, I was taught just leaving the corrugated hose in its normal position, and as you grasp the victim's strap with your right hand (keeping your own left hand free for joint buoyancy control, just depress the inflator exhaust (dump) button. As the victim's bcd gas expands, it will naturally bubble down and out of the open inflator valve, while the hose's low position keeps most of the gas still in the bcd.

How many bcd's have cable dumps? Maybe 60%? Do you have a different technique for victims with one and without? How do you know which is which? I don't use a potential cable dump as a means of expanding gas control. Too coarse a mechanism in the flurry of a rescue. Too easy to dump too much and suddenly have a negative victim.

But I'll concede your point.

I personally love having a pull dump, but the bc I’m using right now doesn’t have it. As long as the cable doesn’t break I am not worried about pulling down, especially on a well made scuba pro bc. I’ve never had a failure from that feature in a lot of dives, but I understand that people may want to avoid the problem.

I’m not sure how I was taught to dump air when bringing up a victim when operating their bc, but I think I might give it a tug if I knew it was the type with a pull dump, without much thought and others may do the same. It sure would be a shame to rip it off when you are amped up in a rescue situation and then have the victim get way too heavy. I really have not thought through the fine details of dumping in an emergency, to be honest. Disconnecting the internal pull dump just doesn’t seem like a good risk/reward decision in my mind.

 

[Pressurehead]

it is a great BC, leave the cable in place and just not use it , I never pull on the hose [cable].
Back to the topic, "floatation position on the surface".
If you are weighted properly [and a lot of divers I see are not] it is not a problem, like any back inflate BC that is not a jacket, a bag you put gas in on your back, it is a wing by any other name, just lean back a little , you will not need much gas , very little is needed.
Easy.

In Armed Bali our small local outrigger boat left us on the surface for a long time as he went the other way during a drift dive, he was a speck on the surface a long way off, we had our SMBs up for the last part of the dive, still missed us, only 2 of us diving on the boat.
Anyway, the guide and I had no problem waiting a long time on the surface to be picked up, he had a B/Wing and I had my Hydros Pro Bag of gas wing [simple harness only, no weight pockets].
Took 2 of us blowing whistles to catch the boat drivers eyes and ears as we drifted away waving our SMBs. Such fun.

​

 

[rsingler]

it is a great BC, leave the cable in place and just not use it , I never pull on the hose [cable].

Yeah. Sorry for the