stage bottle rigging question

[oversea]

I have a 27 cu ft pony rigged up as a HOG. type stage. My question is how tight should the bottle ride against me. I realize this is a broad question. It just seems the tank, especially at the waist, is too far away. I may be thinking too much, but does anyone have any suggestions or rules of thumb for this? Also, alot of people use car inner tubes to stow the stage reg when not in use. That can be expensive if you have to buy a new tube. Does anyone have any alternatives? I have an old wetsuit and thought about cutting a slice of the sleeve or leg.
Thanks

 

[wedivebc]

I have a 27 cu ft pony rigged up as a HOG. type stage. My question is how tight should the bottle ride against me. I realize this is a broad question. It just seems the tank, especially at the waist, is too far away. I may be thinking too much, but does anyone have any suggestions or rules of thumb for this? Also, alot of people use car inner tubes to stow the stage reg when not in use. That can be expensive if you have to buy a new tube. Does anyone have any alternatives? I have an old wetsuit and thought about cutting a slice of the sleeve or leg.
Thanks

I like it tight against my waist D ring and a little looser at the upper D ring but the bouyancy of the AL tank usually keeps the bottom right where I want it.
I use a slice of inner tube about 1" long to hold the hose in tight

 

[Henryville]

Try here for the hose retainer:

http://www.diveriteexpress.com/gas/retainers.shtml

I keep them about the length of the bolt snap away from chest and hip d-rings, but I haven't used a 27.

 

[boomx5]

Also, alot of people use car inner tubes to stow the stage reg when not in use. That can be expensive if you have to buy a new tube.

Thanks

I went and bought a car inner-tube from Walmart for $10.00. So far I've probably cut about 8 bands off of it for stage bottles and other stuff, and I have at least half the tube left.

 

[Spectre]

Crab bands work great and are cheap [$7.70 a pound (~65 bands) at go2marine]. A lux 27 looks to be a couple lbs negative when full; so that probably accounts for it 'hanging' far away. Lux 40s are preferred because they are only slightly negative full; and drift right up into your slip stream when moving.

 

[boomx5]

Crab bands work great and are cheap [$7.70 a pound (~65 bands) at go2marine]. A lux 27 looks to be a couple lbs negative when full; so that probably accounts for it 'hanging' far away. Lux 40s are preferred because they are only slightly negative full; and drift right up into your slip stream when moving.

Hey Jeff,

How tight do they fit on your bottles? Is it hard to restow the hose?

 

[Spectre]

Hey Jeff,

How tight do they fit on your bottles? Is it hard to restow the hose?

They fit on pretty well. I know some people talk about putting the bands over the stage rigging so that it's up off the tank, but i've not had any trouble getting my fingers on the band to re-stow in the past [*]. They come in perfect sizes.. 5" and 7"; and they are fairly thick, which is why I think it's easier to get your fingers under them vs. inner tube retainers.


[*] I'm mostly doing single stage, so I've only restowed a few times... but I don't recall having problems.

 

[Daryl Morse]

Also, alot of people use car inner tubes to stow the stage reg when not in use. That can be expensive if you have to buy a new tube. Does anyone have any alternatives? I have an old wetsuit and thought about cutting a slice of the sleeve or leg. Thanks

I'd think it would be hard to pull open the inner tube with gloves on to restow the hose. I tried out a rig that used a couple of bands of surgical tubing as a hose retainer. It had an extra cable tie around a very short section of the tubing that made a little knob that could easily be grabbed even with neoprene gloves on. If you position them on the outside of the tank (away from you), you can easily pull the tubing open to restow the hose.

 

[ScubaDadMiami]

I really like the Dive Rite straps. I carry two 40s all the time, and they are great because they have a bit of fabric attached to them for grabbing to pull them away from the tank for stowing the hose.