Long hose single tank rec setup?

[grf88]

I was glad to have a 7 ft. hose in a difficult open water air share. Use something like this on your belt in place of a light cannister.

Simple Long Hose retainer (SCUBA) by jboneng

A simple long hose retainer for better routing of the long hose on a long hose setup. Useful if you are using a long hose setup but the canister for your light is mounted on your back-gas tanks, the canister is to short to retain the long hose or if you use a non-canister torch. This retainer is...

www.thingiverse.com

If you don't know anybody with a 3D printer you can make one out of almost anything.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

After diving a 7' for many years I moved to a 5' when I stopped doing any technical diving. The 5' is perfect for me for open water, single tank, recreational diving; however, I'm a good 6" shorter than you are and I also have a pretty small frame. I agree with what several others have said ... a 5' would be too short for you. You either want to go with a 7' and something like what @grf88 has shared above to trap the hose or get a custom 5.5'-6' hose.

 

[Joris Vd]

I dove a 6 foot long hose for a bit, hated it to be honest because the flex hose would have too much slack and try to move up my head when not stowing like a 7 foot one...
I'm quite 'big' width-wise so the 5 foot was simply too short when diving dry.

Get one of those hose keeper sticks as mentioned above or go for the 6 foot in my opinion.

And if you're going the 6 foot route, get it in rubber, that should help keep it in place. It should be a perfect non stowable length for a taller guy like you.

If you don't have any moral issues with ordering on the spanish Bazaar, scubastore has one for 33 euros from Scubaforce that is 180cm.

 

[grf88]

I would like to add my vote for rubber vs braided. I tried braided and instantly regretted it as it does really not work as a long hose.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

And if you're going the 6 foot route, get it in rubber, that should help keep it in place. It should be a perfect non stowable length for a taller guy like you.

I would like to add my vote for rubber vs braided. I tried braided and instantly regretted it as it does really not work as a long hose.

Rubber ... definitely! You want a long hose to have some stiffness to it. I use braided hoses on my deco/pony regs, but not on my long or short 2nd stage hoses.

 

[fisheater]

I'm purely recreational and I dive with a 7' hose. I also set my son up with a 7' hose. It's not hard to route, stays out of the way, and allows for air sharing while going single file through the kelp.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

I was glad to have a 7 ft. hose in a difficult open water air share. Use something like this on your belt in place of a light cannister.

Simple Long Hose retainer (SCUBA) by jboneng

A simple long hose retainer for better routing of the long hose on a long hose setup. Useful if you are using a long hose setup but the canister for your light is mounted on your back-gas tanks, the canister is to short to retain the long hose or if you use a non-canister torch. This retainer is...

www.thingiverse.com

If you don't know anybody with a 3D printer you can make one out of almost anything.

^^^This is what I use. Has worked great for years and is cheap as hell to print (like .30 maybe).

The biggest obstacle with the long hose for me was stowing it out of the water. More often than not the reg would drop on the ground or be between my legs. Now I try to make a habit of stowing it on the line or at the safety stop, that way when I climb out it's one less thing. I try to remember, it doesn't always happen, but I've gotten worlds better.

If you see me at a dive site and I'm dragging my reg it's ok to point and laugh... I needs some criticism to keep me in line, lol

 

[fisheater]

The biggest obstacle with the long hose for me was stowing it out of the water. More often than not the reg would drop on the ground or be between my legs. Now I try to make a habit of stowing it on the line or at the safety stop, that way when I climb out it's one less thing. I try to remember, it doesn't always happen, but I've gotten worlds better.

If you see me at a dive site and I'm dragging my reg it's ok to point and laugh... I needs some criticism to keep me in line, lol

You'll save your regulator and your ego by simply tying a boltsnap onto the long hose, near the regulator. Then, whenever your primary reg isn't in your (or your donee's) mouth, clip it off to your right chest D-ring.

No falling. No dropping. No draging. (and no laughter and embarrassment, or damage)

 

[NothingClever]

Rubber hoses for me on all bottles.

Not a fan of the braided ones…chafe the heck out of skin/exposure suits and are unruly, IME.

Might be something new out there that is better but I don’t feel a need to get the latest and greatest when rubber works just fine.

 

[Lorenzoid]

I'm looking at going to a long hose primary donate setup. Not doing caves or penetration of wrecks. Simply doing single tank rec diving. While I'd like to eventually steer towards dual cylinders, caves, etc, the finances don't hold that in store for me for at least a couple years. However, $20-30 for a new regulator hose is no problemo.

So should I go for a 5' hose instead of the 7' hose?

If there is even a small chance you will transition into cave diving, then start out with the 7-ft hose. It's no more unwieldy than a 5-ft hose or, for that matter, a 6-ft hose, but when you get into cave diving the standard is 7-ft. (And once you get used to it, it will not feel unwieldy at all; indeed, going back to a shorter standard recreational-length hose would feel weird--somehow too short.)

I started doing single-tank diving with a 5-ft hose, reasoning that I had no intention of becoming a cave diver. I found it a bit on the short side for comfort--it would tug the reg in my mouth from the side--so I relented, got a 7-footer, and a few years later transitioned to double tanks and, a few years after that, finally got into cave diving.

I should have started out from Day 1 with a 7-ft hose. The extra length may not be necessary, but it works just fine for plain old recreational diving, and it won't feel unwieldy, so why bother with elbow fittings and such to make a shorter "long" hose comfortable.