Not understanding the long hose thing

[ScubaInChicago]

With a long hose it is difficult to deploy the reg with a snorkel attached (but not impossible).

I have a bolt snap tied to the 7' hose...I guess you just substituted that for a snorkel...That's an ingenius idea for a bungee type snorkel backup...

 

[ScubaInChicago]

LOL, that's what you found odd about that sentence? How about his lead exposure suit? Now, *that's* heavy!

It works for most people to not see through his BS....

 

[halocline]

yes, I meant luggage weight. Then why is my HOG bag 5 times the weight of my vacation bag?

I think you're just talking about yourself when the topic is something else.

It is true that a 5-7 ft hose weighs a bit more than a 32" hose, but then again the back up is 22" rather than the usual 36" or so for a conventional rec set up. The extra hose length might come to a few ounces, certainly less than one pound.

The use of a 5 ft primary hose and a bungied back up reg in a rec set up, even with (gasp) a jacket BC, is absolutely not using tech gear in a recreational setting. It's just borrowing a very good idea that makes rec diving easier, more streamlined, and very possibly safer.

 

[TSandM]

These arguments are often funny.

I've been thoroughly tied up in kelp -- immobilized, actually -- but it wasn't my long hose it grabbed. It got my tank valve, and my gauge, and my fins, and my scooter instead.

I talked our two best friends into using a 5' hose when they started diving, with standard BCs, and they did a week of lovely diving in warm, Caribbean water, with no issues.

My tropical diving gear is a Kydex backplate and 17 lb wing (which together weight less than my husband's SeaQuest Balance) and an Aqualung Titan with a 7' hose. We have never had any problem making weight limits on bags.

Nobody NEEDS to use a long hose in open water. But it does have some advantages, not the least of which is streamlining.

On the boat where I was today, several people told LOA stories that were handled with a long hose.

 

[halocline]

I know this question wasn't pointed at me, but I can tell you why a 7 ft hose is a disadvatage to me. And that is because I don't like to be wrapped 360 degrees by a hose. I don't see having hose wrapped around my body an advantage but a hazard for my particular diving environment. I have been pinned down on a reef in crashing surf on my back and had feather boa kelp wrap around the hose behind my head and pull the reg right out of my mouth under the force of a 6 foot wave. When I got to safety (with the aid of my buddy) The first thing I said was "Get this crap off me!!".

Actually, the standard wide loop of hose from a conventional set up is far more of an entanglement hazard than a well routed 5 ft hose under your arm, etc. And, if the primary does get pulled out of your mouth, the back up is right there under your chin.

I'm not disregarding your experience, but rationally speaking it's far from typical. BTW, I love my freedom plate; it has become my go-to single tank set up. I hope you make more of the AL plates.

Here's a photo of me working in the local spring, using your freedom plate with a 5 ft primary and 22" bungied back up. As you can see, the 22" hose sticks out more than the primary, so imagine an additional 8-10" on that hose and you have the typical big loop of a conventional rec set up.

 

[LiteHedded]

I'm gonna have to agree. the long hose is pretty damned streamlined

as you can see on the handsome diver in the above pic

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Actually, the standard wide loop of hose from a conventional set up is far more of an entanglement hazard than a well routed 5 ft hose under your arm, etc. And, if the primary does get pulled out of your mouth, the back up is right there under your chin.

I'm not disregarding your experience, but rationally speaking it's far from typical. BTW, I love my freedom plate; it has become my go-to single tank set up. I hope you make more of the AL plates.

Here's a photo of me working in the local spring, using your freedom plate with a 5 ft primary and 22" bungied back up. As you can see, the 22" hose sticks out more than the primary, so imagine an additional 8-10" on that hose and you have the typical big loop of a conventional rec set up.

I really glad you like that plate. If demand comes up for AL plates I'll make more.
Right now the plate business is quite slow.
Nobody wants to spend money.
At least I can rest assured that both parties on the LH vs SH battle can use my product.
It seems as though much of the long hose controversy is politically based (on both sides).
The non long hose divers see a LH as a kool-aider take over, and the long hose users see other divers as uninformed, stubborn and can't understand why they can't see the light.

With that said I am dismissing myself from this argument. It will just go on and on and on with nothing resolved.
I stated my position with respect and if some don't understand it there's nothing I can further say.

You look very streamlined and good in the water, BTW.

** Just to let people know, I can adapt to almost any configuration. I am not so burned into one style that I can not change up to suit a certain situation, like if I dive with someone who uses a long hose and insists on the other team member in the same configuration, fine, I'll put it on. Wether they will dive with someone who does not use this configuration for all diving is yet to be seen.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

We are not in the DIR forum. The baggage is 16 pages of this. I am sorry that DIR proponents cannot leave room in their zealotry to allow for the FACT that SCUBA can be accomplished efficiently and safely without full technical gear for a shallow reef dive and that knowledgeable and skilled divers might choose to do so.

I am sorry that I disagree with the hard sell on DIR for sport diving, I do not believe that the long hose is necessarily a better concept for most open water sport diving. Yes it works, is it better than other methods for open water sport diving (which is what this thread is about)--NO.

Streetdoc, you are providing an excellent example of why I prefer solo. :mooner:

Over and out.

N

Hmmm ... from the post that started this thread ...

Why the long hose?

So a bunch of folks attempted to answer his question.

What a surprise.

Of course, he already had the answer he was looking for before he even posted. That much is obvious from his subsequent posts.

There's a term for people who start threads like this one ... troll.

Waste of time ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hmmm ... from the post that started this thread ...



So a bunch of folks attempted to answer his question.

What a surprise.

Of course, he already had the answer he was looking for before he even posted. That much is obvious from his subsequent posts.

There's a term for people who start threads like this one ... troll.

Waste of time ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Not for him it wasn't. He's probably sitting back with a cold beer thoroughly enjoying all of this.

 

[captain]

my votes go mostly with Nemrod. While all that stuff has a place and use, it is not for a tropic vacation dive. I have dove HOG set ups and do so in wrecks, but if I am not penetrating anything the costs far out weigh the benefits! all that weight and extra crap, what a hassle. while all you guys are on the boat mounting BC's and finding your octo or routing all your hoses and and playing with snaps; arguing which is better. I will be swimming after the tank I just threw overboard.

and yes that is a three wolf moon T-shirt

Be careful, that old J valve can kill you.