SPG Snapbolt

[mikemikethepike]

So, I was doing some bottle drills and went to unclip my SPG and found that I had clipped the bottle to my SPG boltsnap instead of my hip D-ring. Of course this was fairly easy to work out, but it made me think about the size of the snapbolt I am using for my SPG.

I am using what I would call a medium sized snapbolt, but it must be big enough for me to somehow confuse it with the hip D-ring. Should I consider switching to a smaller snap-bolt for my SPG or is this just "normal" and something that will not likely happen with more bottle handling experience?

 

[MonkSeal]

So, I was doing some bottle drills and went to unclip my SPG and found that I had clipped the bottle to my SPG boltsnap instead of my hip D-ring. Of course this was fairly easy to work out, but it made me think about the size of the snapbolt I am using for my SPG.

I am using what I would call a medium sized snapbolt, but it must be big enough for me to somehow confuse it with the hip D-ring. Should I consider switching to a smaller snap-bolt for my SPG or is this just "normal" and something that will not likely happen with more bottle handling experience?

No need for boltsnap change. The opposite this can also happen: clipping SPG to bottle. Would you choose to have smaller boltsnap on bottle to avoid this? Of course not, because you know why you need boltsnap of particular size.

It's just a matter of practice - don't clip blindly, feel D-ring with your fingers, find appropriate place to clip boltsnap (you'll see how important placing is when it becomes crowdy) and clip it off right there.

 

[SparticleBrane]

It's just a matter of practice - don't clip blindly, feel D-ring with your fingers, find appropriate place to clip boltsnap (you'll see how important placing is when it becomes crowdy) and clip it off right there.

Monkseal has it right -- this sounds like the classic "don't solve a technique issue with gear". Just make sure you can tell exactly where you are clipping things.

On that note, it will occasionally happen. Not a big deal.

 

[ivobj]

What helps for me is the feel not only of the size itself but the thickness, the D-ring is thicker. Although this time it happened the other way with you is far more common to clip the SPG in the bottle, as you will unclip - clip the SPG a couple of times during the dive and the bottle usually is clipped once in the surface and unless you are leaving them in a cave cable you don't unclip during the dive. Because of that I do not consider that a big deal, as when unclipping the next time, there is no diference, you may even not notice the SPG was clipped in the bottle.

 

[Indian Valley Scuba]

The key is to feel and intuitively recognize your equipment configuration.

And over-thick D-rings are waaaaay over-rated - there is no way on earth you'll ever break a welded stainless steel d-ring, so going with a small diameter wire makes snapping and un-snapping things a lot easier, especially when wearing thick gloves.