Long Hose Regulator pulls uncomfortably, any suggestions?

[guyharrisonphoto]

Hi,

My long hose regulator pulls to the right and becomes very uncomfortable after an hour or so in the water. The right side of my jaw aches and my right teeth and gums are sore after most dives.

I have a 7' hose. It seems to be properly routed, down the side, stowed under my halcyon ACB weight pocket which is on my hip, up snug across my chest and around the neck. I pull it snug to get the maximum slack in the loop coming off my neck and there seems to be plenty of slack.

My reg is Apeks XTX 200 second stage.

Any advice? Are some hoses more flexible than others so that maybe I can switch out the hose? What about the miflex LP hoses, any feedback there as to this particular issue?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hypertech]

I have the Miflex. Its a mixed bag. Its light and very flexible, but it likes to twist in a certain way. It works for me, but others don't care for it and prefer rubber. It is also slightly abrasive due to the braided exterior. Some that dive only in warm water don't care for it rubbing on their neck. It rare that I don't have a hood on and it doesn't bother me.

That said, 7' of rubber is the same as 7' of miflex. Unless you're a pretty big person, it should route fine and not tug. My first thought is that your weight pouch is probably too low for proper routing. Plus, if it take a bunch of hose to go around the weight pouch before coming back up, you might be losing the length there. Have you tried just routing it without going under the weight pouch and just stuffing the extra hose in your waistband? If that works and solves it, and it doesn't stay, you could figure out something to hook it around that isn't as low and large as the weight pouch. DSS makes a can light simulator that is basically a piece of angle iron with a slot for webbing. Something like that might work.

 

[knowone]

May be try one a bit longer and practical like a hookah

 

[HenrikBP]

I tried a 7' miflex and went back to rubber. Something about how the Miflex doesn't like to twist made it a bit cumbersome to do air shares. It is also pretty light and likes to float up behind my head.

That said, I sometimes feel a bit of pulling as well. It happens when I don't take all the slack out of the hose run from 1st stage to where it runs under my battery canister. That little bit of extra hose on the run from the canister up behind my head makes all the difference. Might be worth a try.

I've also gotten really tired and sore jaw muscles when I tried different mouth pieces. These were a softer silicone and were a struggle to keep in my mouth. I use the original Apeks Comfobite and love them - the relative firmness of the material along with the "bridge" makes them require very little effort to stay put.

Henrik

 

[Tortuga68]

I tried a 7' miflex and went back to rubber

+1

And I would also suggest trying a different mouthpiece

 

[lamont]

You should be able to adjust the long hose and pull the slack out from behind you and get it across your chest and allow for more range of motion.

Have you made sure that your long hose really is a 7' hose, and you didn't get a 6' by mistake or something?

 

[rjack321]

Is routing it under the can light & the weight pocket taking up too much slack? Maybe just use one or the other to hold the loop down at you waist?

Conversely short people can take up alot of extra slack by routing 7ft hoses under both the can light and knife. My wife does this to keep a 7ft hose snug on a 5'3" frame.

 

[kathydee]

That said, I sometimes feel a bit of pulling as well. It happens when I don't take all the slack out of the hose run from 1st stage to where it runs under my battery canister. That little bit of extra hose on the run from the canister up behind my head makes all the difference. Might be worth a try.

Every once in a while I dive my singles rig which still has a shorter 6' hose :shocked2:. I have to pull the hose tight from the 1st stage under the light can to achieve full range of motion with my head and avoid that tug on the second stage. Seems it slips several times during the dive and I need to keep tugging and repositioning it. Sometimes I manage to wedge it tightly under the light can so it stays pretty well.

Remind me to pick up another 7' hose one of these days .

 

[HenrikBP]

Every once in a while I dive my singles rig which still has a shorter 6' hose :shocked2:. <snip> Sometimes I manage to wedge it tightly under the light can so it stays pretty well.

Kathy - you're tiny - I would've thought even a 5' hose would wrap around you several times

About the hose slipping; that's one more advantage to using a rubber 7' hose. In my (limited) experience, the rubber hose stays put behind the canister better than the Miflex.

Henrik

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Henrik, why do you have pics of my cats in your avatar? Either mine or my GF's.