Removed Hose Protector from First Stage. Very worried please help

[cool_hardware52]

Cool Hardware, Do you think I should have a larger stage bottle?

80 CF or should I have a smaller one.

I've already made my recommendation, i.e. find a mentor or instructor. A single tank diver with a "stage bottle" in a panic regarding hose protectors suggests to me that your configuration choices are getting a bit ahead of your experience level.

Tobin

 

[Frosty]

scubadude--you are trolling

 

[Max Speed]

You need a pair of dikes.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Wow basic forum is getting pretty gritty. If you ask about hose protectors you shouldn't use a stage bottle. I pitty the poor young boy who asks were babbies come from and his dad says he can not take a piss until he grows up?????

 

[scubadude223]

Reason i ask about them is Regulator manufactures place them on their hoses.

I have taken mine off.

So I wanted to make sure that they are still safe. There is nothing wrong with asking. I don't know how that is trolling

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Re: the OP's actual questions, no you don't need new hose protectors and no, not having them won't cause anything to fail. By trapping crap and preventing easy inspection, the hose protectors are worse than useless. As to whether you need a new hose, if the metal fitting is somehow damaged, sure replace the hose. They're cheap. Otherwise, if it doesn't look obviously damaged and holds pressure fine, it's fine. This is not rocket surgery.

 

[abscuba]

Hey he is at least asking yeah a pony bottle may be a bit much and doubles are way to much, but if ya don't ask you don't learn. Otherwise you wind up with the guy who becomes an instructor one day and looks bad when he calls some divers Mk 15 rebreather a beginners unit because he never asked questions. Scubadude I would agree a mentor would be good or a group that has experienced divers that can help out. There are several groups in SoCal that you can learn alot from and you will get to enjoy diving alot more.

 

[Peter69_56]

I have removed all my hose protectors as I found that unless they are super easy to slide down, they just trap salt and sand and corrode the metal fittings. Also they hide hose damage. I have found that in time the hose will usually fail where it meets the 1st stage reg fitting. It starts to become soft and the hose material starts to delaminate between layers. If there is no hose protector you can see this and replace it before it fails. With a hose protector on, the first sign is usually a failure.

With regard to your 40 cu foot I would call it a sling tank, or deco/reserve. A stage tank is one usually dropped off along the way whilst diving, perhaps hung off the down line for use on return. You hit that stage of your dive with the required deco from your stage tank.

In relation to that I was always taught to carry all the gas you require, now I know if a diver does a 200m dive its going to be impossible, but in general, if you drop much of your gas off as stage tanks everywhere for pickup on return, rather than carry all your gas, you run the risk of not finding that stage tanks it for a number of reasons and thus run low or out of gas, in particular when doing deco where you cannot just shoot for the surface when low on gas as it imposes significant risk.

 

[scubadude223]

Thanks for the replies.

I carry it as a pony bottle. I sling it to the side.

I just thought I would ask because They are installed on the hoses. I switched to a long hose and it was never installed.

My regulator from Apeks has them but the Halcyon Reguator has a large one that I removed.

I appreciate the concern that some of you have with my diving. I decided to go with a 40 Bottle because it could carry over into future diving that I may do where I will need a large bottle in a Stage Manor.

The mistakes that I made with my equipment in the past was to buy something that has no purpose and is unnecessary and try to make it fit my dive.

The question was never about my stage bottle. It was the regulator system with the hose protectors on it.

The manufacture installed them, I removed them.

I will keep it off. Thanks again for the responses. I never was trying to troll, my question was legitimate and I am glad that some of you gave me some good advice. Thanks again. I want to keep diving for many years and I don't want a minor issue like this to keep me out of the water.

 

[abscuba]

"In relation to that I was always taught to carry all the gas you require, now I know if a diver does a 200m dive its going to be impossible, but in general, if you drop much of your gas off as stage tanks everywhere for pickup on return, rather than carry all your gas, you run the risk of not finding that stage tanks it for a number of reasons and thus run low or out of gas, in particular when doing deco where you cannot just shoot for the surface when low on gas as it imposes significant risk."

For deco you do carry the gas you need but there is more to it to just the amount of gas. Say I can do the whole dive on air but I have 80% O2 for my deco stops. Depending on the run time and depth I can stage the deco bottle and carry air and if i get blown off the wreck or cant make it to the stage bottle I use the gas I have to do my deco but of course it will be longer deco stops. Plus there is the team mentality where the team carries enough for a diver to lose a gas and still make the deco stops. Some times there is no particle way to stage bottles and you are dragging around several bottles of gas with you. Gas management is something planned and can change from dive to dive depending on what is being done.

I definitely don't see a problem with pony bottles for back up as long as the diver is capable of maintaining good buoyancy with it and has practiced using it so is ready for if an emergency happens. Stage bottles generally get out side the relm of recreational diving.