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

[Soloist]

This thread is 48 pages long and has had nearly 18,000 views in 10 days. Clearly it's providing entertainment to SB members. For those easily offended there are plenty of other threads to review.

 

[Allen-1]

Your SMB is a dangly, or so I've been told. Your reel isn't dangling because (as far as I can tell) you don't carry one. I believe a reel is an essential part of dive gear and is required for solo diving (even if there's no one down there to ticket you).

Your light (not shown) is by definition a dangly.

So you've got 2 of the same 3 things I've got dangling, minus the reel because you neglect to carry it.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

 

[SelfDiver]

All my gear is carried in a pocket with the following few exceptions:

1- stony bottle securely rigged and stowed below and behind my left arm (it won't fit in a pocket)
2- 2nd cutting tool firmly attached to BCD hose in a sheath (doesn't dangle)
3- The camera doesn't count, as any diver who carries one is either going to hold it or clip it off where it will...wait for it.. dangle. I clip mine off in as many as 3 places to keep it snug when not in use.

So what's left:

1- small dive light on retractor tucked behind the right pocket
2- smb & reel clipped to a D-ring in front of my right weight pocket.

For the people following this thread for the gear discussion:
Lots of chaotic information here so keep in mind that LI-er the troll changes tune to justify decisions and to stroke ego.

1- stony bottle securely rigged and stowed below and behind my left arm (it won't fit in a pocket)
-----"Stony"
-----LI-er the troll is technically correct. There is a smaller independent tank in the picture. "Securely rigged"?
-----Ask yourself: Is that a good way to attach it or is there a better way? Is it really streamlined? Why the multiple metal links? Can you detach (Don/Doff) this setup underwater or at the surface?
-----The way this small tank is rigged and used shows a lack of thought.

2- 2nd cutting tool firmly attached to BCD hose in a sheath (doesn't dangle)
-----LI-er the troll already decided to replace those shears with a line cutter. why? and why on the inflator hose instead of the computer strap, like some have mentioned? Is there a reason why the cutting tools have to be on the inflator? Some divers have a small knife on the HP hose, or on the goodman handle.
-----SDI has something to say about cutting devices:
Scuba Equipment for Wreck Diving -
Here is one quote from TDISDI dated 2012, so it might be outdated?

Place the sidecutters in your BC pocket where they will be out of the way until you need them.

Since most sidecutters are made of ordinary steel, they will rust when removed from the water. For this reason, it’s important to remember to remove them promptly from your BC pocket, rinse them well with fresh water, dry them, and spray them with a corrosion inhibitor.

-----The shears need to be regularly tested and maintained just like any other life saving gear.
-----As one other comment pointed out: the shear's pin can rust away and break in the worst time. Same as any piece of gear that you don't maintain or check. We check bladders, inflators, dump valves...etc before every dive. We perform negative and positive pressure tests on regulators on every dive and service regularly. Why not the shears, DSMB, and reels?
----Most important is the lack of thought. Replacing shears with line cutter is treated like replacing a lightbulb. The entire patch-job of gear configuration is rife with this kind of chicanery.

3- The camera doesn't count, as any diver who carries one is either going to hold it or clip it off where it will...wait for it.. dangle. I clip mine off in as many as 3 places to keep it snug when not in use.
-----"The camera doesn't count,"
-----"The camera doesn't count,"? But it gets three permanent mounting points across the body.

1- small dive light on retractor tucked behind the right pocket
----That is a choice with logic behind it?
2- smb & reel clipped to a D-ring in front of my right weight pocket.
-----Technically correct statement. BUT The reel is a clutch reel with two brass clips. The SMB has another clip and some bungees.
-----LI-er the troll states that they are both used on the regular for drift dives. Make sense.
-----There is also some discussion on releasing the DSMB from full depth or using the reel independently, so it is versatile. Make sense to me.
-----On a drift dive, you would inflate the SMB at the surface or use a boat bouy that stays at the surface the whole dive. You hold the reel or line the whole time and the boat can follow the bouy. On large groups, you can have two - leader and last diver.
-----Alternatively, you would release the SMB when you are ascending at the end of the dive. Makes sense for some places.
-----All of this tracks with having a DSMB and reel on your kit, for those conditions. Some dive operators require a surface marker for each diver. You can find reel+dsmb combintaions online for $60.
-----LI-er the troll is used to doing it this way and it works.
-----The reel and DSMB are not the issue. It is the way they are connected.

This thread is for entertainment purposes only. Don't take advice from strangers on the internet

 

[LI-er]

lf: Is that a good way to attach it or is there a better way? Is it really streamlined? Why the multiple metal links? Can you detach (Don/Doff) this setup underwater or at the surface?

My stony bottle is attached via 2 double ender clips, one at the top, to a ring around the valve neck and one on the bottom to a ring attached to a clamp that goes around the tank. Based on the advice received here I have replaced what formerly was a boltsnap-round ring connection with the double ender.

Why the multiple metal links?

Yes I regularly remove and attach the stony bottle on the surface. Once per dive in fact. It's held by two clips within easy reach, I and there wouldn't be an issue with removing/attaching it at depth.

LI-er the troll already decided to replace those shears with a line cutter. why?

Insults aside, based on advice received on this thread, as I hadn't checked the shears for functionality in a while and they're rather rusty, I replaced them with a slimmer Trilobyte line cutter from my tool box which has a brand new blade and uses replaceable box cutter blades which I have a ton of in my workshop.

and why on the inflator hose instead of the computer strap, like some have mentioned? Is there a reason why the cutting tools have to be on the inflator?

I like to have it there. Not seeing any real difference between the cutting tool being attached to the hose vs the straps, I got the idea from seeing the rigs of tech divers on boats charters in the Atlantic and I liked it.

Some divers have a small knife on the HP hose, or on the goodman handle.

Good for them, my knife is in a sheath above my BCD pocket.

it gets three permanent mounting points across the body.

I usually clip off the camera tray to the 2 shoulder D rings, and occasionally clip off the top of the camera rig next to a video light (which is facing down) to a 3rd ring near my waist so it doesn't hang. I don't consider it "permanent" as it's a simple matter of clipping/unclipping which I do many times throughout the dive.

1- small dive light on retractor tucked behind the right pocket----That is a choice with logic behind it?

Every piece of gear and how it's attached has been given a lot of thought over 45 years and 745 dives. Including each of the 5 retractors which I detail in a separate thread. As I have explained, the light being on a retractor is that way because my hands are usually occupied with the camera. I accept the risk of losing it in exchange for the convenience of not having to clip/unclip it throughout the dive.

-----The reel and DSMB are not the issue. It is the way they are connected.

The SMB and Reel are clipped off to a lower D ring

 

[LI-er]

Exhibit A:

You're comparing a backplate/wing to a BCD which of course is going to be more bulky with virtually EVERY diver, and you're deceptively omitting several pieces of gear from your photo which you carry on each dive.

The rusty bulky shears have been replaced with a line cutter which is about as slim as the corrugated hose and the white zipties have been replaced with black ones.

 

[Allen-1]

You're comparing a backplate/wing to a BCD which of course is going to be more bulky with virtually EVERY diver, and you're deceptively omitting several pieces of gear from your photo which you carry on each dive.

The rusty bulky shears have been replaced with a line cutter which is about as slim as the corrugated hose and the white zipties have been replaced with black ones.

"deceptively"? "several"?

I clearly stated that the double-ended boltsnap on the upper right D-Ring is for my primary light. Everything else is in the pics.

You just like to argue.

 

[USdiver1]

You just like to argue.

48 pages in and you're just coming to that conclusion? Thank you, Captain Obvious.

This is why the thread is so entertaining.

 

[LI-er]

I'm not seeing your spool, your dive light, your knife, your computers, a compass or a snorkel (you may choose not to carry one but on most recreational dive charters it's required). Do you not carry an audible signal device?

If you're going to compare rigs, then post your rig with the gear on it that you use when diving. All of it.

 

[Divin'Papaw]

You just like to argue.

BING BING BING BING. Now can we PLEASE stop encouraging this behavior by continuing to engage!!!

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[Soloist]

You're comparing a backplate/wing to a BCD which of course is going to be more bulky with virtually EVERY diver, and you're deceptively omitting several pieces of gear from your photo which you carry on each dive.

This statement is incorrect. The ScubaPro Glide is NOT a BP/W (backplate/wing assembly) It is a poodle jacket BCD (courtesy of @Eric Sedletzky).