octo length

[laserdoc]

I would like to upgrade my octopus hose to a yellow one. What length should I get?? A 40 inch or a 60 inch??
Thanks
Dave

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Anything longer than 36-40 inches is clumsy to store in a normal recreational configuration with a large loop of hose hanging out in the current.

A 5' or 6' hose however is extremely nice to work with in terms of sharing air, but it is best used in a long hose configuration where you would use the long hose on your primary and plan to donate your primary in an OOA situation. Once you go this route you will never go back as it makes sharing air and swimming and ascending while sharing air exponentially easier.

The "usual" long hose configuration involves using a short hosed octo bungeed around your neck. Doing it this way makes access to the backup regulator hands free and has some merit in technical diving situations, but the downside is that it is too different from a normal recreational configuration which I think turns off many divers and many instructors. It is also, despite the opinion of some divers, not the most streamlined option available for the octo and in a recreational situation, it creates one more thing to get tanlged in the snorkel that seems to be conisdered manadory by most recreational divers, instructors and agencies.

Another more moderate approach would be to consider using a long hose primary but with your alternate carried in the traditional recreational manner on a 30"-36" hose. It leaves you with a conventional octo arrangement that with proper hose lenght can be very streamlined and still leaves you with the option of donating a long hose regulator to an OOA buddy. And you can get 5',6' or 7' hoses in yellow which tends to advertise your "donate the primary" approach.

Donating the primary is not the method taught by most recreational agencies and that is very unfortunate as in many if not most real world OOA situations the OOA diver is going to go for your primary as it is actively making bubbles and he/she wants bubbles of his/her own right now without the bother of signals, finding the octo, etc.

 

[Charlie99]

Donating the primary is not the method taught by most recreational agencies and that is very unfortunate as in many if not most real world OOA situations the OOA diver is going to go for your primary as it is actively making bubbles and he/she wants bubbles of his/her own right now without the bother of signals, finding the octo, etc.

While there aren't a lot of long hose divers out there, there are plenty of divers with integrated octo/inflator rigs such as Air II. The possibility of the primary being donated should be discussed in OW cert courses.

 

[Nemrod]

Get a 40 inch hose at Dive Rite Express. Get a swivel connector on the same order from the them as well. Route the ocatpus under your right arm and clip it to your BC in the center chest area or use the standard hose second stage as secondary bungeed at the neck and breath the 40 inch hose on swivel routed under your arm. In this case you donate the long hose primary and you take the bungeed second stage--in an OOA. While routing under the arm is not well spoken of here on scubaboard, it works darn fine for me and lot's of other people who do not want to deal with a seven foot long hose from a cave diving system. On the other hand, many advanced divers do like the seven foot hose so you wil just have to decide for yourself. If your using a jacket BC I bet you wil like the 40 inch better. N

 

[terrasmak]

I use a 22 inch hose on a bungy , with a 7 foot hose as primary

 

[Vayu]

Same as terrasmak.

-V

 

[loosebits]

I love the long hose and the bungied secondary. That being said, I've seen 5' hoses used as a secondary. I don't remember quite how they were routed though but they are popular with the Cozumel dive masters.

I'd stay away from swivels, I prefer keeping my o-rings to a minimum.

 

[Brewone0to]

Go for the 7 foot length for primary.
22-24 inch secondary on a bungee necklace.
Properly routed,It causes no dangle or snag points.
You'll never want to use a standard reg set again.

Long hose good.
Swivels are bad/Potential failure point

 

[laserdoc]

7 foot for a primary?? isn't that a little long?? How do you route that extra length?
Thought I would go with a 40 in and a 22in for my octo on a bungee setup

 

[DBailey]

7 foot for a primary?? isn't that a little long?? How do you route that extra length?
Thought I would go with a 40 in and a 22in for my octo on a bungee setup

I don't dive the 7-foot setup, but here is my understandind (which may be completely inaccurate) of the routing:

--From the first stage, the hose goes along the tank.
--It is tucked under the light canister at the waist or into the webbing at the waist.
--Back up the chest.
--Alonside the neck, around the back, and out front again to the mouth.

Check out these threads:

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=131634

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=98106&highlight=long+hose+route

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=57191&page=2&highlight=long+hose+route