Recreational divers, post your rig here, let's share good and bad ideas

[LI-er]

If you can't find a suitable inflator hose, try a condensation hose at a hardware store.

There's a metal cable inside the corrugated hose that activates the pull dump when you tug on it, its got a loop on each end, no clue how I could shortening it if I don't buy an integrated unit.

You can tuck the inflator in the loop. If you maintain horizontal trim durring ascent, you should have no problem deflating the BCD with the valve on your back.

I mostly vent the BCD by pulling on the hose rather than lifting it but every so often I get positive and it's hard to get that last bit out of the bladder so a quick position change with my left shoulder up and lifting that hose and venting it does the job. I prefer not to lose the ability to do that. Reaching those rear dump valves isn't nearly as reflexive and while that could possibly change over another 100 dives I'm not there yet.

Get rid of the Miflex SPG hose. There is no logical reason to have it. If the transmitter loses connectivity once in a while, so what?

I've sometimes lost connectivity for the duration of the dive, also the mini gauge makes it easy to do a pre-dive check of tank pressure rather than a bunch of button pressing and waiting for the signal to acquire. It's small, the hose is streamlined and I prefer this set up having dived with it for years and having a larger spg and no spg at other times.

If you are going to have BOTH and SPG and a transmitter, then get a real SPG and clip it to the bottom left attachment point of your pony.

The mini spg is as real as a big spg only smaller. I can read it just fine although I wouldn't want to have to use it as a primary way of measuring tank pressure. I find it's current location, running next to the inflator hose keeps things very streamlined and I can see the gauge by simply looking down at it.

Your big knife kept falling out so you got a retractor for it. Instead of solving the problem, you add gear.

It's not a big knife it's the XS Scuba mini dive knife that doubles as a pair of shears. There's an issue with the sheath so I devised a solution. I prefer this combination mini knife to any other on the market.

Snorkel? How long are you using this snorkel for?

A snorkel is required by some dive ops and I prefer to have it just in case. That much being said I haven't used it in decades.

Your regulator clip can be a simple plastic snap on a rubber band.

That's what I'm going to do, the plastic clip I took off the shears that I replaced with a Trilobyte line cutter is going on the regulator hose.

Put a doubleender on the SMB, and have a loop on the the reel line instead of the brass swivel snap hook.

How do I tie the reel off when penetrating a wreck if there's no clip on the end of it?

You can also replace the Manta swivel bolt with a bungee loop and use a double ender for both the clip and reel together.The bungee loops are easier to cut in a wreck penetration entanglement scenario and the reel can be used independetly from the SMB.

Seems like a more complicated arrangement than just clipping off the reel to the D ring with the bolt snap. All this just in case the bolt snap on the reel and the double ender on the smb get entangled in a wreck? In the extremely unlikely event of an entanglement I'll just unclip the double ender and snap bolt or cut the entanglement. It also adds a loop of bungee which itself presents an entanglement hazard (even if easily cut).

The bungee loops are easier to cut in a wreck penetration entanglement scenario and the reel can be used independetly from the SMB.Did you consider that the slate and compass are not usefeul to you because they are in the pocket?

The slate is on the back of the compass, it takes up no space and I never use it. The compass is rarely used, when it is, I simply unzip the pocket and remove it. If I do, I tend to zip the pocket closed and the compass hangs out of the pocket (snug on the retractor) until I don't need it anymore.

There is a much higher probability of using a slate if it is accesible. A slate can be used to write turn pressure and turn time.

I have no need to write those things down. The slate is nothing more than the backplate of the compass and if I should ever have the need to jot a quick note it's easy enough to take it out of the pocket and write on it.

A slate can be used to write wreck survey measurments for those solo recreational 40m wreck penetration dive that you do.

I zero interest in doing a wreck survey. I just want to look at the pretty fish and swim through rusty metal.

A slate can be used to convey a message to the surface when attached to the SMB that you sometimes deploy from full depth.

"Hello up there, miss you much, how's the weather?!"

You can even write down tank pressure at fixed time intervals in case the transmitter dies and you don't want to rely on your memory.

I have a mini spg for that!

Can you imagine how cool it would be to have one computer instead of three?

I feel really cool with a wrist computer on each arm especially when someone asks me what it's for and I say one is for my main tank and the other is for my stony bottle. The 3rd just sits unobtrusively in the bottom of the pocket and doesn't affect the cool factor one way or the other.

Think of all the room you would have in your pocket if you put the slate and compass on your arm where you can actually use them.

What would I do with an empty pocket? Seems rather pointless to have a pocket that holds nothing but a Nautilus Personal Locator Beacon.

The line cutter can attach to your computer wrist bngee to declutter the inflator hose.

I swapped out the snips with the Trilobyte cutter, it's thin, not much wider than the corrugated hose and blends right in.

You want to be a 40m solo wreck penetration diver and a surface swimmer and carry a pony and deploy an SMB from full depth and use three computers and have a slate that you don't use and do all of this in a gear configuration that accomplishes none of these objectives.

I don't "want to be anything". I don't define myself by my diving, I just go out and dive and make sure I've got the equipment to make it work for me. And over 45 years and 745 dives, some in rather challenging conditions, it has.

Thanks to your suggestions and a few others I've removed a few clips and "metal to metal" connections and streamlined my rig a bit, and I'm satisfied with that.

 

[Soloist]

For what it's worth and at the risk of being excoriated for a boooring, unimaginative, mundane (somewhat) cookie cutter rig, here is a recent pic of my travel configuration for Indonesia. Consisting of Aqua Lung Mikron regs, lightweight stainless Contour Plate, nylon wedge, one piece harness, various D-rings and slides, 2x nylon cam bands, crotch strap and DGX 30# wing with standard inflator. The complete BP/W assembly weighs 6.3 pounds.

Pockets, lights, Nautilus, safety/cutting equipment and primary DSMB/reel are not shown here. Bits and pieces can be easily added, removed or swapped out for specific dive requirements and conditions (boat, shore, liveaboard, night, slung bottles, hunting and/or one-off type dives). Primary light with wrist lanyard clips to my right shoulder D-ring and held in place vertically with an EPDM (DGX) loop. Reel/DSMB clips to a large D-ring on the right backside of the backplate.

The lightweight Mikron yoke has a 40" primary with small bolt snap, 22" octo with bungeed necklace and a naked SPG that is routed under my arm and clipped to my left side shoulder D-ring. It sits about 8 inches from my face allowing me to check tank pressure hands free throughout the dive. Total weight 3.5 pounds.

This setup continues to be refined over many years to please ME, so no one else has to like it, approve of it or dive it. Many of the concepts utilized were discovered (mostly by my wife) right here on SB. I have had some, hopefully understood as good-natured, fun at @LI-er's expense, but to reiterate to him and everyone else, you do you and whatever makes you happy and comfortable under the surface.

 

[34109411]

For what it's worth and at the risk of being excoriated for a boooring, unimaginative, mundane (somewhat) cookie cutter rig, here is a recent pic of my travel configuration for Indonesia. Consisting of Aqua Lung Mikron regs, lightweight stainless Contour Plate, nylon wedge, one piece harness, various D-rings and slides, 2x nylon cam bands, crotch strap and DGX 30# wing with standard inflator. The complete BP/W assembly weighs 6.3 pounds.

Pockets, lights, Nautilus, safety/cutting equipment and primary DSMB/reel are not shown here. Bits and pieces can be easily added, removed or swapped out for specific dive requirements and conditions (boat, shore, liveaboard, night, slung bottles, hunting and/or one-off type dives). Primary light with wrist lanyard clips to my right shoulder D-ring and held in place vertically with an EPDM (DGX) loop. Reel/DSMB clips to a large D-ring on the right backside of the backplate.

The lightweight Mikron yoke has a 40" primary with small bolt snap, 22" octo with bungeed necklace and a naked SPG that is routed under my arm and clipped to my left side shoulder D-ring. It sits about 8 inches from my face allowing me to check tank pressure hands free throughout the dive. Total weight 3.5 pounds.

This setup continues to be refined over many years to please ME, so no one else has to like it, approve of it or dive it. Many of the concepts utilized were discovered (mostly by my wife) right here on SB. I have had some, hopefully understood as good-natured, fun at @LI-er's expense, but to reiterate to him any everyone else, you do you and whatever makes you happy and comfortable under the surface.

View attachment 887138

nice basic, same as mine. no clutters or x-mas tree.

 

[russ805]

Any more pics of personal rigs?

 

[Blackcrusader]

And it didn’t occur to you how dumb your instructor was?
Unless you were taking the class on a rebreather of course, were you taking the class on a closed circuit rebreather?

No I did not consider my instructor to be dumb. I was a student doing sports deco trained diving in the 1980's. My instructor was not just a BSAC instructor. He was also a commercial diving instructor for Shell Oil. So if you think he was dumb that's up to you. Why is that?

Just because he taught me a technique that does not lead to wasting air on dives?

 

[Blackcrusader]

So bleeding out is a better option?

Yup let them bleed out before they get to shore is the advice of some.
Death and glory didn't you know?

 

[MaxBottomtime]

Any more pics of personal rigs?

Merry and I have nearly identical rigs. Freedom plate, wing, spg. Computer and compass on opposite wrists. Nothing else. No dangling retractors, empty bolt snaps, extra computers, etc.

em

 

[rongoodman]

Why are the hoses on your secondaries so long?

 

[Pavao]

No I did not consider my instructor to be dumb. I was a student doing sports deco trained diving in the 1980's. My instructor was not just a BSAC instructor. He was also a commercial diving instructor for Shell Oil. So if you think he was dumb that's up to you. Why is that?

Just because he taught me a technique that does not lead to wasting air on dives?

Every single breath you take you’re exhaling it into the atmosphere, literally every single one of them, wether you exhale through your mouth or through your nose it does not matter.

You still think not clearing your mask is a gas savings technique?

 

[Blackcrusader]

Every single breath you take you’re exhaling it into the atmosphere, literally every single one of them, wether you exhale through your mouth or through your nose it does not matter.

You still think not clearing your mask is a gas savings technique?

So when I am at 45m depth I am exhaling into the atmosphere. OK.