Retractor Rules #1 to #3

[LI-er]

Attach my small slate that fits in the BCD pocket (a gift from another buddy on the same trip, which I do find useful on occasion) to the retractor but leave it in the pocket. And if for some reason I need to let go of the slate (cue any number of unique marine specimens coming by at just the right moment...) the retractor will hold it until I'm done with the slate. Brilliant!

Not understanding why my name appears above a quote that contains words I never typed but I'm glad my post was useful to you.

 

[therookie]

Yeah I added a bit to what you actually typed, sorry for the confusion. Edited to hopefully avoid any further misunderstanding

 

[LI-er]

Yeah I added a bit to what you actually typed, sorry for the confusion. Edited to hopefully avoid any further misunderstanding

It's still wrong but there are worse problems

 

[Soloist]

I've been tweaking my dive gear set up for the better part of 4 decades. More than I probably need to, more than most divers probably do, especially for a recreational diver. But it's fun! A different sort of clip here, a larger one there, I'll never be able to click that double-ender open while wearing 5mm gloves... a snap clip will be easier and in that location not very likely to snag a piece of monofilament.. wait that brass bolt snap clashes with the chrome D ring, back in the box for you!

But leaving all those precious clips aside for a moment, in my heart there will always be a place for retractors on my rig, and I have 3 of them. No make it 4. Wait I have 5 retractors on my BCD. Damn that's a lot of retractors. But they all follow one of the 3 retractor rules that must NEVER be broken.

Experienced and/or tech divers will probably tell you never to use a retractor, which some newer divers might find surprising. Why not use a retractor, it's convenient, it's easy, you don't have to clip and unclip, less task overloading, they're really cool tech gadgets, retractors are great! But in reality retractors aren't so great. In fact there are two sub categories of divers who use retractors and that would be a) divers with retractors who have lost a valuable piece of dive gear and b) divers with retractors who have not yet lost a valuable piece of dive gear. Retractors are unreliable, the spring loaded cord has a tendency to break and it's almost like it KNOWS that you're over the edge of a wall when it's time has come. I wish I could say this never happened to me but I can't. A moment of silence for a backup dive computer that I had attached to a BCD shoulder D ring with a retractor that broke as I pulled along the tag line in a stiff current and dropped somewhere in the vicinity of the USCG Bibb near Key Largo, Florida.

That much being said, I have developed 3 specific rules for the 5 retractors that I incorporate into my every day diving.

#1- As I carry a camera rig with video lights that occupies my hands for most of the dive, it's a lot easier to have a dive torch on a retractor next to my BCD pocket. Even though the light isn't cheap, at around $100 USD, I'm willing to risk losing it in exchange for the convenience of not having to clip/unclip or wear it on my wrist. So that's retractor Rule#1. Only put an object at the end of a retractor if you're willing to lose it.

#2- In my BCD pocket I carry a compass/slate and a backup dive computer, both on retractors. They live in the zippered pocket and are only allowed out of the pocket on rare occasion, and at that point the one that is not in the pocket is firmly in my hand. The odds of losing it due to a broken cord are close to zero. So that's Retractor Rule #2. A retractor can be used on dive gear that lives inside a pocket and will only be out of the pocket when it's in active use.

#3- I carry a mini XS-Scuba combination scissors/knife. It's a great little tool, I've used it several times mainly to trim fingernails that tore loose after messing with tank valves, but has an annoying tendency to slip out of its sheath and be lost. So I added a mini retractor as a "backup". Should it slip out , it's going to be held by the retractor and I'll hopefully notice it dangling there before it's too late. This has happened several times and not only to me. So that's retractor rule #3, use it as a backup to a piece of dive gear that has another attachment point. Same goes for the retractor on my BCD corrugated hose. It functions only to keep the hose close to my torso so it doesn't dangle. Obviously the retractor isn't the only attachment point for this hose so it falls under Retractor Rule #3 as well.

What are your thoughts on retractors? Did you read this and think "Geez I am lucky I read this extremely useful and entertaining post before I lost a valuable piece of dive gear"?

Any other uses that I didn't think of here?

Maybe someone can come up with a Retractor Rule #4.

Wow! That's a load of stuff. Over the years I have focused on minimizing and streamlining my kit (solo dives included). So are you hauling, hooking, attaching, latching, clipping and squirreling away all this paraphernalia in (around and on) to a Jacket Style BCD or BP/W configuration? If it's a jacket, I'm curious as to how you are (according to your pony thread) slinging a bottle. Understand, I am NOT saying it can't be done, but I have just never seen it.

 

[LI-er]

are you hauling, hooking, attaching, latching, clipping and squirreling away all this paraphernalia in (around and on) to a Jacket Style BCD or BP/W configuration? If it's a jacket, I'm curious as to how you are (according to your pony thread) slinging a bottle. Understand, I am NOT saying it can't be done, but I have just never seen it

I dive a Seaquest Balance, it's a rear inflate BCD, with D rings on the top shoulder straps and two more D-rings below each weight pocket. I ran a length of bungie through the bottom of the backplate and clipped a double-ender to it to secure the bottom of the bottle.

Dive light on retractor mounted behind the right (and only) BCD pocket (keeps it somewhat protected and out of the way), compass/slate, backup PC on retractors in pocket, Nautilus PLB in the pocket on coiled lanyard, dive knife in a sheath attached to a grommet above the left BCD pocket with backup retractor. Accessory pocket attached to the left shoulder webbing that holds a foldable snorkel and mirror. I have a second cutting tool (shears) in a sheath ziptied to my corrugated deflator hose, along with a ziptied whistle, and a reel/smb hooked to the lower right D-ring. Integrated air signaling device on my power inflator, plus the retractor to keep the corrugated hose streamlined. The pony bottle is slung on the left side and shares the left D ring with a ring for the camera. The pony reg is on a necklace. A wrist computer on each arm (one for the pony bottle), that's 3 computers total. A contact lens case with holes drilled in it attached to the back left of my BCD that contains vented ear plugs but I haven't used them in a while. I guess those could go in my tool kit. Rubber reg holder on right D-ring so it doesn't hang when it's sitting on the boat. Small lightweight carabiner to hold my dive computers when my rig is sitting in the rack. Two chrome rings with a quicklink on each D-ring to clip off camera and makes it a bit easier to clip/unclip as it hangs a bit from those rings (Gopro on a tray with two video lights) plus a 3rd clip on a lower D ring to secure the camera close to my body if it's not used.

I guess it is a lot of stuff after all.

 

[LI-er]

@Soloist you laugh but realize that a) I went back and edited my post because I forgot a few items and b) I do in fact get compliments on my rig by crew on various dive boats. But now that I think about it maybe they're just messing with me.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I had a buddy that insisted on clipping off his console with a retractor. He touted how easy it was to just pull it forward and use the compass and or check his air pressure, depth, etc.
Until the weight of the console began to wear out the spring in the retractor and the console began to hang down as we were cruising along and it would catch in cracks in the rocks and get caught up in every weed and patch of kelp it could find. We would be diving along and I'd look back and he was constantly stuck back there trying to undo the console from the latest snag.
He finally got so frustrated that upon returning to shore he swore it off forever and got rid of it before our second dive. I told him just to stuff the console under his waist band.
When I started I was also a gizmo freak, it seems all new divers go through it in the beginning.
I used a retractor and a console too. I ran into the same snag hazards and finally got rid of the retractor and just stuffed the console under my waist band, which was better and less prone to catching on stuff but still not ideal. I would have to pull it out to look at it and then stuff it back under my waist band. I've concluded that this is why so many divers using consoles just give up trying to secure them and just let them swing around.
I abandoned all of that nonsense and went with an SPG on my left hip D-ring, a compass on my left wrist and a computer on my right wrist. Nothing dangling, nothing that can get caught, and everything is easy to see without fishing around or unclipping anything.
Do what you want, but this is my story.

 

[LI-er]

I abandoned all of that nonsense and went with an SPG on my left hip D-ring, a compass on my left wrist and a computer on my right wrist. Nothing dangling, nothing that can get caught, and everything is easy to see without fishing around or unclipping anything.
Do what you want, but this is my story.

I don't carry a console, those are danglers and snag hazards and can be coral wrecking balls, I have an AI wrist receiver on each arm. I run a thin miflex hose ziptied so it runs alongside the hose for my BCD power inflator. At the end of that thin miflex hose just past the inflator is a small backup spg the size of a nickel.

The retractor is only for the corrugated hose and keeps it snug. It never hangs up on anything. My BCD has a pull dump system so there's rarely a need to raise the hose over my head, all it takes is a brief tug to vent it.

Nothing dangles, except perhaps my reel and smb to the extent they're below my BCD, being clipped to a lower D-ring. The dive light is snug behind the BCD pocket and the pony bottle is under and behind my arm. There's nothing hanging. I don't carry an octopus/safe second.

I freaking love gadgets, scuba and non scuba related.

When I put on my BCD I feel like Batman.

 

[Soloist]

@Soloist you laugh but realize that a) I went back and edited my post because I forgot a few items and b) I do in fact get compliments on my rig by crew on various dive boats. But now that I think about it maybe they're just messing with me.

Nope. Only laughing at your "I guess it is a lot of stuff after all" final thought. Carry whatever you deem necessary. Must be quite the checklist though. Unfortunately gear maintenance is an obsession for me, so if there are less little bits and pieces to disassemble, clean, scrub and soak after a dive trip all the better.

 

[Soloist]

I had a buddy that insisted on clipping off his console with a retractor. He touted how easy it was to just pull it forward and use the compass and or check his air pressure, depth, etc.
Until the weight of the console began to wear out the spring in the retractor and the console began to hang down as we were cruising along and it would catch in cracks in the rocks and get caught up in every weed and patch of kelp it could find. We would be diving along and I'd look back and he was constantly stuck back there trying to undo the console from the latest snag.
He finally got so frustrated that upon returning to shore he swore it off forever and got rid of it before our second dive. I told him just to stuff the console under his waist band.
When I started I was also a gizmo freak, it seems all new divers go through it in the beginning.
I used a retractor and a console too. I ran into the same snag hazards and finally got rid of the retractor and just stuffed the console under my waist band, which was better and less prone to catching on stuff but still not ideal. I would have to pull it out to look at it and then stuff it back under my waist band. I've concluded that this is why so many divers using consoles just give up trying to secure them and just let them swing around.
I abandoned all of that nonsense and went with an SPG on my left hip D-ring, a compass on my left wrist and a computer on my right wrist. Nothing dangling, nothing that can get caught, and everything is easy to see without fishing around or unclipping anything.
Do what you want, but this is my story.

Yesterday just before this thread dropped my wife and I were organizing gear for our next dive trip. I happened upon her camera retractor she used 10 years ago for a handful of dives. My inner seven year old was exhilarated and he spontaneously coerced me to pull the cable! The unit is still laying on the floor with two feet of line dangling out of it un-retracted. Sigh. I was immediately reprimanded and shamed. Not judging those that use retractors, but I have personally never used one and doubt I ever will...especially now.