just got a bp/w , best solution for octo?

[Yoyoguy]

Sorry guys, my point was to stay on topic, and replying to an ot repsonse leads to more ot discussion and then I get less information on what I wanted to know.. not being snippy or rude I'm actually here to make friends . I duly note that there are some differences in common practices with my wing combo. Everything has been helpful thus far, even with yoyo lacking a response to my question and reinforcing the practices of balance. . I'll be sure to post up if I ever find out I need more wing and what the limit was of my current config. And even how the balance calculator works out.

I did respond to your original question. See my second post. I think you going to a bungee necklace is wise. Whether you choose 40in, 5ft, or 7ft for your primary hose length will depend on you and what your future intentions might be. If simply sticking recreational open water, go with 40in. If going towards tech....go with 5ft or 7ft, if going towards cavern diving...it will be 7ft only. Anyways, about your lift. I was not saying you are wrong I am right...yadayadayada. I was stating you may not have gone deep enough ti get yourself in trouble with the wing and a 7mm wetsuit. Like I said, at 60ft, you really start to need to inflate your wing to compensate for suit compression. At 80ft, it becomes even more noticeable, Your wetsuit will lose all buoyancy between 100ft and 120ft and your wing will likely not work. If you are always diving shallower than 60ft, then you are good, but if you intend on going deeper...I strongly suggest you do more reading and speaking with some tech divers (not even all instructors are right about this BUT most tech divers have great advice). Just one more example and I will stop pushing you. Lets say you make a dive to 75ft on the top of a wreck but the bottom of the wreck is in 120ft of water. something happens and you start going below 100ft and now your suit lost all buoyancy and your wing is not strong enough. Now you sink to the 120ft mark. You either need to kick your way up to where your buoyancy of your suit kicks in OR you need to drop weight. Now if you drop your weights, and you go above 60ft...you will have an uncontrolled ascent to the surface unless you are constantly swimming down or have a line to hold onto. If I was you, I would start saving for the correct wing (30lbs lift would be ideal) and keep all dives less than 60ft. Just my last two cents.

 

[bryanmc57]

While we all understand your desire for an answer to your question, it would be negligent for people to see a potentially dangerous gear situation and not point it out. Whether you choose to address it or not is your choice.

 

[decompression]

40" is the standard hose length for an octo in the traditional recreational scuba rig (right?). I'm pretty sure it's what we had when I went through Open Water training. It seems adequately long, to me, for passing to a buddy to use. If I adhere to my training for an air sharing situation, I will have one hand holding my buddy's harness while we're sharing air. Thus, I don't see why, if you reconfigure so that the 40" hose is your primary and also (still) the one you would donate, it would suddenly be not long enough.

Thus, I use and like a 40" hose with a 70 degree angle adapter on my primary reg, which is also what I would donate. And then my secondary reg on a short hose to a bungee necklace.

If I were diving in an overhead environment, where my buddy is sharing air and might have to follow (or precede) me through a restriction (e.g. a doorway on a wreck), then I would want the 7' hose. 5' would not be long enough.

To me, the 5' hose option is just extra length for no purpose. And extra length just means slightly less streamlining and slightly more risk of catching it on something.

In the interest of complete disclosure, I have been diving less than a year and have 30 dives. So, take my thoughts for what they are worth.

Hey Stuart, just a point on the downside of donating a 40" hose. When two divers are horizontal, as they should be, when they ascend, it places the divers very close and is little room for error (moving hands, heads etc). I've done hundreds of OOA and the potential for a reg to come out of the mouth is GREATLY increased with a short hose.


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[boulderjohn]

Also, although a bungee necklace is preferred by many here, I have gone to a silicone one, because it is easier (not "easy" but do-able) to pop the reg out of the necklace when taking the gear off in the water, with no need to pull the necklace over my head.

This advantage may also be a disadvantage.

When I started tech diving, I learned to use a 7' hose and a bungeed necklace, but I did not bother making any changes in my recreational, single tank gear. I still dove with a conventional octo attached to some kind of quick release device on my chest. When I say "some kind of quick release device," I am talking about a variety of such devices I used over the years. I could never find one I was happy with because they did what they were designed to do--release quickly. They were constantly coming out, and I was constantly putting them back in. Today when I teach OW classes in conventional gear, I see the same thing. Before I have students do an OOA exercise, I always check to make sure the potential donor's octo has not fallen out.

Then one day I read a story on ScubaBoard about a drowning in Europe that occurred when a diver went OOA, went to her buddy for his alternate, and drowned when the alternate was not available for her. It had come out of its keeper and gotten trapped behind the diver. She could not find it, she panicked, and she drowned.

The next day I switched all the hoses on my single tank gear so that the alternate was bungeed around my neck, firmly in place, going nowehere. It would be there when it was needed.

Thus, I do not find the easy release of the alternate to be an advantage. If I hand my primary to an OOA diver, I wnat to be sure my alternate is ready to go for me.

 

[Nemrod]

My wife and I both bungee necklace (fisherman type slip knot) our octopus seconds, and we donate our octopus and we keep our primary. Hers is on a 36 inch hose because she is little and mine is on a 40 inch hose because I am not as little. Sometimes she uses instead, and occasionally I do as well, the Trident universal keeper (often given away) with good success. I keep one always tied to my right chest D-ring, as does she on her Zuma BC. Both release cleanly and both are sufficiently secure, though the bungee necklace is a little more secure/stable, maybe.

Here you can see the Orange Trident keeper, not being used and my necklaced octopus:

Here my wife has her Legend octopus stowed in the Trident keeper instead of necklaced:

Necklaced again but with a full size G250, Trident keeper is idle:

Necklaced with long hose, still have this reg set up long hose, donate primary:

Here my wife has her Legend octopus necklaced but with one of those silicone necklaces. It is just too big for her and we found it not secure enough, probably because it was too long for her and flopped side to side releasing the octopus. A standard bungee necklace works fine for her but she much prefers the Trident keeper.

The Sunset House mermaid needs neither:

I did the long hose thing for a few years on some of my single hose rigs but reverted back to standard octopus configuration for open water diving, first to match my wife and second it just felt more clean and minimal. But either way works well, pick the one that your buddies use or that you prefer.

I love these caves:

And turtles too:

N