primary hose length

[AaronR103]

Hey all. I'm changing my hoses to a DIR config and was wondering if I should get a 5' or 7' primary hose. I'm 5'6" and currently only dive singles. Is there any reason I should get a 7' hose or will the 5' be plenty? Thanks.

Aaron

 

[Ben_ca]

7... much more room to spread out and not crowd the OOA diver...

 

[dherbman]

Hey all. I'm changing my hoses to a DIR config and was wondering if I should get a 5' or 7' primary hose. I'm 5'6" and currently only dive singles. Is there any reason I should get a 7' hose or will the 5' be plenty? Thanks.

Aaron

If you aren't doing any overhead, you may want to go with a 5' hose. The primary reason for a 7' primary is for single file egress.

I need to pay atttention to where I'm posting as well.

 

[loosebits]

You know, I'm 6'5", my buddy has a 7' hose... might not be too comfortable exiting the cave, his hose is just a bit longer than I am. Need to talk him into an 8' hose

When not using my can, I throw one of those dive-rite pockets I have laying around on my harness and route the hose under that.

Edit:
Whoops, just noticed this was the DIR forum... preparing to get flamed I guess if you're DIR, you should always be diving with your can light... always.

 

[PfcAJ]

I dive a 7' hose with my single 80. I've got pretty short torso, standing a whole 5'6''. I route mine under my light, then under my knife, up and around. This has worked really well, everything is kept nice and tight.

If you don't have a can light, it is prefecty acceptable to tuck it into your waist belt or under a pocket that is on the right side webbing. I did this for a while with no issues.

I personally don't see the advantage of a 5' hose. 7' gives plenty to work with and is still quite managable.

Dive safe and have fun!

 

[notabob]

You know, I'm 6'5", my buddy has a 7' hose... might not be too comfortable exiting the cave, his hose is just a bit longer than I am. Need to talk him into an 8' hose

When not using my can, I throw one of those dive-rite pockets I have laying around on my harness and route the hose under that.

Edit:
Whoops, just noticed this was the DIR forum... preparing to get flamed I guess if you're DIR, you should always be diving with your can light... always.

Not really. You bring whatever tools you need for the job. On a 20-30ft reef dive in clear water, for instance, the can light is next to useless. You just can't see the beam. A pocket attached to the harness strap would work just fine in such a situation. And in the absense of light communication you would, of course, be doing a better job of keeping track of your buddy. If you do need a light to look into a dark spot, though, you always got your backups tucked away on your harness.

Oh, and to asnwer the original poster's question - just go with the 7. You never know if you'll decide to get into overhead diving in the future, and if you do - you're already set. I've never had a problem with my hose being 7ft, even when diving single tank in open water. I'm 5'9".

-Roman.

 

[Soggy]

With regards to hose length, your height doesn't matter...it's your buddy's height that could potentially come into play (though they'd have to be > 6'6" or so for it to be any issue at all). Remember that the reason why you have a 7' hose is to enable a single file egress. The out of gas diver always leads in the event of a single file exit and a 7' hose will work in pretty much any circumstance, though with a very tall OOG diver you might need to maneuver a bit differently.

A 7' hose will work in all circumstances, though I use a 6' hose for open water single tank diving because I find it routes a bit better on my skinny frame. For OW diving, anything in the 5'-7' range will work.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

As a new diver and one who has decided to go with the DIR config from the get go, I'm going to go with the full 7' primary when I buy my rig in the next few weeks. I did a great deal of research and now feel very good about how (theoretically) the long hose works and feel that, with practice, I will be able to master it and will be glad I went that route.

 

[TSandM]

I'm 5'4" and use a 7' hose routed under a can light. I find that, no matter how I fiddle with it, there is always a little extra hose somewhere. But, since I hope to learn to cave dive, the point about the hose length being set by your buddy's height is a pertinent one.

One of the guys in my Fundies class used a 5' hose. His teammates agreed that it was definitely not as nice for air sharing as the 7', and he has switched.

 

[loosebits]

With regards to hose length, your height doesn't matter...it's your buddy's height that could potentially come into play (though they'd have to be > 6'6" or so for it to be any issue at all). Remember that the reason why you have a 7' hose is to enable a single file egress. The out of gas diver always leads in the event of a single file exit and a 7' hose will work in pretty much any circumstance, though with a very tall OOG diver you might need to maneuver a bit differently.

A 7' hose will work in all circumstances, though I use a 6' hose for open water single tank diving because I find it routes a bit better on my skinny frame. For OW diving, anything in the 5'-7' range will work.

No, it is my height that should determine his hose length. We are doing a single file egress out of a cave, lets say I am 9' tall. As the receiving diver, I must be in front. How is a puny 7' hose going to make it from his valves past his head (about a foot) up the entire lenght of my body to my mouth? The shorter the receiving diver the more comfortable a 7' hose is. As it stands now, a 7' hose is long enough since my knees will be bent (modified frog) so he can get closer to my mouth but it would be more comfortable for him (less fins/knees in his face) if he had a longer hose.

On the other hand, if I were a 4'2" 65# horse jocky, a 5' hose would be all he really needs but 7' would still make it more comfortable.

Of course, while it would be more comfortable, I wouldn't ask him to figure out how to route an 8' hose for some added comfort in the rare occasion we need it. When I did my intro, I was the only person in the class and my instructor commented on how 7' hoses weren't made with me in mind after we did our blind-air-sharing exit on the Peanut line.