Retractors and Bolt Snaps and Accessories, Oh my!

[TexasKaren68]

I created a thread quite a while ago, sort of humorous, about how to not look like a Christmas Tree, listing almost every accessory under the sun (most of which I will probably never own, or so I thought)

Well I'm slowly adding to my "collection" of accessories and wondering why some people are so averse to retractors. I am a klutz. If things are not attached to me in some way, I WILL drop them.

Apparently bolt snaps are preferred but I'm confused about the set up. What do you use to attach the accessory to the bolt snap? I'm having a hard time picturing this for some reason.

I have quite an assortment of stuff for my save a dive kit, and other things to be left on shore/boat. I don't want to take more than necessary but I do want a light (and backup if it's night), a safety sausage for boat dives, and eventually a camera. Depending on the dive and who I'm with I may also want a slate to cut down on confusing hand signals. My BC has a place to mount a knife so I will probably utilize that and get one (can double as a tank banger )

The backup light would be in my pocket. I'm not sure about the safety sausage because I doubt it will fit in the pocket which means it will be clipped somewhere, not sure where. I'm thinking of getting a wrist slate but not sure how well it would fit with my computer on the same arm.

I have a mirror/DAN tag attached to one of my BC D-rings. I'm the kind of person who never even goes for a walk around the block without taking ID with me so the DAN tag was a nice item for me to have.

Anyway, the point of this was to find out how the heck bolt snaps are used and where to hang a safety sausage.

I'm rambling. It must be past my bedtime. :sleepy:

 

[g1138]

Karen you've been here since October and you're still acting like the new girl . Nothing wrong with that, it just gave me a chuckle. Must be all this studying I'm doing for exams.

Anywhozles:
The answer to your question is caveline, or nylon line #20. If you buy a 160ft finger spool you can take some line off of that since you probably won't need 160' of caveline. The plus side to that is now you'll have a fingerspool for your SMB. =D
Here's a couple links on how to tie a bolt snap to your gadgets.
How to tie the perfect Bolt snap
How to attach a Snap

If your computer has a large enough grommet you could also attach a quick link to it to and connect it to the bolt snap. That way you'll have enough length to see your computer without unclipping it.

The key thing to remember is you should clip and unclip your bolt snap with the door facing away from your body. That is you should open your bolt snap and hook it into the D-ring from the under side (in an upward motion). It's easier than the other way around.
This is the best example I could find. There's several times where the diver clips in her bolt snap. If you look closely you'll see her clipping it in a motion that goes from her feet to her head, not the other way around. GAHH THIS IS SO HARD TO EXPLAIN!
[video=youtube;mfcEcCoIvKs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfcEcCoIvKs[/video]

Anyways there's an even number of those who use retractor and those who use bolt snaps. The difference is the bolt snap users tend to voice their opinion more.
Retractors are great but they're maintenance heavy and if they fail, they usually fail when you pull them out. Meaning you'll then be left on a dive with long metal cable dangling out from you. When rinsing them you should pull the line out and rinse the line (a little silicone lube wouldn't hurt either). I didn't do this with my first and only retractor and it jammed within a month. Also once it's been used for a bit if you pull the retractor out all the way it tends to jam on you. There's also the issue with sand

Bolt snaps on the other hand are more sturdy. From my experience Brass and Bronze snaps tend to have springs that get real stiff after a few dives even after rinsing. Stainless Steel snaps have springs that can start out either stiff or smooth and stay that way for a lifetime (provided clean rinsing every time). This is probably because most diving SS snaps have SS springs in them as well.
When rinsing the snap you'll want to manipulate the door so the spring can get rinsed.

As a comparison to retractors, I once left a stainless steel snap out on the docks without rinsing it after a dive. The spring still felt good as new the next day.
For what it's worth, bolt snaps also make a good tank banger. A nice little alert so you can tell everyone when you're peeing.

 

[AfterDark]

I like retractors. I have one for my console one for my camera one for my light and one for my backup light. RETRACTORMAN!. Diving low vis or at night I want things accessible but out of the way, "retracted". My mirror and SMB are in a pocket. My cell phone and GPS are in a old camera case good to 200fsw clipped to my flag/float line handler with the handler looped around my shoulder, keeps it above me and out of the way. My slate is on the back of my console. The next most useful item I found are those Velcro wraps for electrical wire. Nice for hose management keeps em neat and out of the way. Also they can be used like plastic tie wraps and are reuseable.

 

[g1138]

Oh btw I think it would really make our day if you got all those things you listed and use separate retractors to attach all of them. Might make a good picture to post next April Fools

Edit: No offense AfterDark.
+1 for electrical velcro straps!

 

[AfterDark]

Oh btw I think it would really make our day if you got all those things you listed and use separate retractors to attach all of them. Might make a good picture to post next April Fools

Edit: No offense AfterDark.
+1 for electrical velcro straps!

none taken. yeah gota love those straps!

 

[knowone]

Retractors are for a speculums, and hard
wired snaps are for retracting speculums

 

[Peter_C]

Pockets are the best place to store wetnotes (Which hold my DAN card), spare mask, shears, SMB pre-rigged on a 100ft spool, signal mirror, Storm Whistle, Dive Alert, and sometimes my car key. Every thing fits where the kelp monster can't reach it and all of it is clipped off to a bungee strung inside the pockets. My drysuit has pockets built onto it, and for warm water diving I have X-shorts that slip over whatever I am wearing to offer the storage I need. All the equipment is clipped off with a double ender, except the Dive Alert and my car key are on bolt snaps. My dive lights have bolt snaps on them, and get clipped off to a chest d-ring then stuffed under bicycle inner tube where they tuck under my arms. Very streamlined in a hogarthian kit.

Retractors fail...all of them. Maybe not at first, but they all fail eventually. Usually sooner rather than later and therefore will not be part of my diving kit.

 

[AfterDark]

Pockets are the best place to store wetnotes (Which hold my DAN card), spare mask, shears, SMB pre-rigged on a 100ft spool, signal mirror, Storm Whistle, Dive Alert, and sometimes my car key. Every thing fits where the kelp monster can't reach it and all of it is clipped off to a bungee strung inside the pockets. My drysuit has pockets built onto it, and for warm water diving I have X-shorts that slip over whatever I am wearing to offer the storage I need. All the equipment is clipped off with a double ender, except the Dive Alert and my car key are on bolt snaps. My dive lights have bolt snaps on them, and get clipped off to a chest d-ring then stuffed under bicycle inner tube where they tuck under my arms. Very streamlined in a hogarthian kit.

Retractors fail...all of them. Maybe not at first, but they all fail eventually. Usually sooner rather than later and therefore will not be part of my diving kit.

Everything fails, just a matter of time. That's why we have redundancy. Sounds like you have your rig just the way you like.

 

[ScubaWulf]

I tried a retractor with my console. Console has my SPG, depth gauge and compass on it. When retracted I felt it hung too low, when stretched out it wasn't long enough for me to use the compass effectively. Took it off and switched to a bolt snap attached to a D-ring on my waist. Easy to use, stays out of my way, looks cleaner and more streamlined. Took the split ring off the retractor and threaded it through a grommet on the bottom back of my BCD and now clip my SMB into it. Don't even notice that it is there when diving.

 

[DevonDiver]

BOLTSNAPS

Boltsnaps are used to create a robust method of securing ancilliaries; without risk of entanglement, accidental loss or excess bulk. This is a highly popular solution, favored by the technical and cave diving communities - who have lots of ancilliaries to carry and need a simple, rugged method of attachment/stowage. They don't break, they don't cost very much and they do the job perfectly.

It is as simple as this:

Here is an article on 'How to Attach a Bolt Snap'.

For torches etc, you can put/leave a wrist loop on the torch. When deploying, put your hand through the loop, before unclipping the snap. Then you cannot lose it. Do the same in reverse to store it. I don't bother with a loop. I just make sure not to drop the torch when I am holding it. I've lost 1 torch and 1 reel before... both in my early days as a diver, when they were stowed on silly cables and QR buckles (yes..a false sense of security). Since I started using boltsnaps for everything (about 3000 dives ago), I've yet to lose anything on a dive.

STOWAGE

Clipping ancilliaries onto your D-rings is far from ideal. They dangle everywhere, cause distraction, risk entanglement and increase water resistance when finning (which equates to more energy and air getting used). In an emergency, they can severely increase stress and task-loading. I stopped being a 'christmas tree' diver on the day that I experienced a catastrophic freeflow reg failure at 36m in an ice cold quarry. All the clutter I had on my d-rings made me emergency ascent and stress control significantly harder. Never again....

A great solution is to add a length of stowage bungee loop into your BCD pocket. This works excellently when your ancilliaries are fitted with bolt-snaps. Everything can be stored in your pocket/s, clipped to the loop. When you need something, you pull out the whole loop, select and detach what you need, then just return the loop to the pocket.

It looks like this:

If your BCD pockets are too small for adequate stowage of what you need to carry, you have 3 options:

1) Carry less clutter. What do you really need?
2) Get some glue/sew-on pockets for your wet/drysuit. These are more convenient for gear stowage anyway.
3) Write to your BCD manufacturer and ask them why they designed their BCD so badly.