Rigging of multiple stages...

[AndrewJD]

I don't think were are making a distinction between "wrong" and "right" here. I believe that where you place a bottle should be based on what is advantageous to you. Different for everybody.

J

 

[notscenerob]

I believe that where you place a bottle should be based on what is advantageous to you. Different for everybody.

J

What are the advantages of clipping the rich mix closest to the body? I'm always looking for a better way




(not trying to be provocative....I guess it could be read that way. I was more curious if rigging the rich mix "on top" is the way some agencies train divers.)

 

[Flightlead]

NAUI certainly teaches it that way.

I'm not sure why, I don't remember it being discussed. One scenario I can think of though is passing a bottle to an OOG team member. Passing them the on top bottle is certainly easier/quicker, and if that bottle is leaner it has the advantage of being usable to greater depth. If the OOG occurs below the MOD of your rich bottle and your rich is on top then you end up passing them the underneath bottle.

I have not tried either a regulator donation or a bottle pass from the underneath stage so I couldn't tell you for sure if its more difficult, but my guess is that it is.

What are the advantages of clipping the rich mix closest to the body? I'm always looking for a better way




(not trying to be provocative....I guess it could be read that way. I was more curious if rigging the rich mix "on top" is the way some agencies train divers.)

 

[DiveBandit]

If I have more than one bottle I always have clipped one to each side. Doesn't having all the bottles on one side throw you off balance ??

Also curious as to the advantage to having all the bottles on one side as opposed to one on each side. I haven't had any issues with not having a free hand or movement restriction.

I do like the idea of raccon tailing the 02 bottle, but as a previous poster said, this wouldn't work in the caves

 

[JeffG]

Doesn't having all the bottles on one side throw you off balance ??

No

Also curious as to the advantage to having all the bottles on one side as opposed to one on each side. I haven't had any issues with not having a free hand or movement restriction.

A couple are a) not trapping the long hose and b) using a scooter.

 

[grazie42]

If I have more than one bottle I always have clipped one to each side. Doesn't having all the bottles on one side throw you off balance ??

Also curious as to the advantage to having all the bottles on one side as opposed to one on each side. I haven't had any issues with not having a free hand or movement restriction.

With aluminiums it doesen´t throw you (not me anyways) off balance.

Besides making the LH minimally easier to deploy (I never had any issues when I had one on each side), I find that having one "side" totally free gives greater freedom of movement for my upper body and makes it easier to squeeze thru tight spaces...

I always have the rich mix closest to my armpit because I think the lower bottle (reg) is easier to reach and the lower one would be the one most likely to be needed in "anger", it´s a personal preference for me but I would advocate keeping placement consistent within the team...for obvious reasons...

ymmv

 

[notscenerob]

If I have more than one bottle I always have clipped one to each side. Doesn't having all the bottles on one side throw you off balance ??

Also curious as to the advantage to having all the bottles on one side as opposed to one on each side. I haven't had any issues with not having a free hand or movement restriction.

I do like the idea of raccon tailing the 02 bottle, but as a previous poster said, this wouldn't work in the caves

No balance issues here. with three bottles it gets a bit much, but nothing that cannot be easily managed by kicking my fins out a bit wider.

The advantage I see is that I always have to visually check the bottle before I breathe it. I'll never breath the wrong gas by force of habit (always rigging O2 on the right...)

Trailing a bottle just seems like a BAD idea to me. I'll know right away if I lose something hanging off my chest, not always the case if it's hanging from my butt.

I try to be consistent in my rigging, keeping my stages in the order they will be used (first gas is closest to the body), but today I got mixed up during the rush to get in the water. Because I had to visually confirm my mix, I didn't just grab the closest bottle (way too rich to breathe at my first 33m stop).

 

[JiveMaster]

Here's a segment from a training video that should give you a pretty good idea of how to use a bottle leash on the left hip.

The leash is used when you have more then two bottles. The leash can support up to three bottle easily. For more you'd add a second leash.



Note: This bottle arrangement is combined with a bottle switch procedure that doesn't depend on bottle location as a way of selecting or verifying bottle contents. the procedure is,

1. Check depth
2. Select bottle by MOD marking (maintain contact with bottle from this point forward)
3. Confirm Pressurized 1st Stage
4. Deploy Hose
5. Purge 2nd Stage to clear any debris (silt, rust, etc...) and confirm that the pressure drops on the selected bottle.
6. Open valve on selected bottle
7. Place hose around head
8. Confirm Depth
9. Switch regs

Jonathan

Man, seems nice and all, but the whole....DON'T DROP THE TANK just kept ringing in my head...at this point you have both hands tied up and if you must react fast, you almost have to drop a tank... Might not be so bad if you're doing you're deco in shallow or a cave, but in open ocean that won't cut it for me! Hey, different strokes, different folks...

I would try to improve this by clipping one of those stages off temporarily (or something) to avoid the whole...DO NOT DROP THE TANKS!

 

[JiveMaster]

Also, in your description, why are you unnecessarily flooding your reg (by purging, then opening the valve)??

 

[AndrewJD]

Man, seems nice and all, but the whole....DON'T DROP THE TANK just kept ringing in my head...at this point you have both hands tied up and if you must react fast, you almost have to drop a tank... Might not be so bad if you're doing you're deco in shallow or a cave, but in open ocean that won't cut it for me! Hey, different strokes, different folks...

I would try to improve this by clipping one of those stages off temporarily (or something) to avoid the whole...DO NOT DROP THE TANKS!

I think that dropping a tank is a risk. However, the risk is relatively low both due to consequences and probability. You site two concerns, an emergency during bottle move and user error.

In the case of the emergency I'm having a hard time trying to imagine a plausible scenario with a significant probability that would result in you having to drop a bottle, sorry. I would ask you to provide one but my response to what ever pathological example you come up with would be, drop the bottle and deal with the lost bottle, a contingency that has been planned for (at least in my world). In terms of bottle recovery, either the bottle is empty and will go up to be recovered later (hopefully) or it is full and goes down and may be recovered on a subsequent dive (hopefully).

In the case of a user error, I would argue that practice and a "tug" every time you clip a bottle reduces the probability to almost none. If it does occur then you again deal with the lost bottle as above.

All that being said, I'd welcome you to improve upon the procedure and share your improvements. I think you'll fine that you have to give some thing up in order to reduce the risk of dropping a bottle. The question will then be, is that trade off worth it to you?

Cheers,
Jonathan

As an aside, I think the DO NOT DROP ANYTHING commentary is hilarious.