stages/deco bottles on right hand side

[stas]

Can someone either explain or direct me to an explanation of why this is a no go in the dir mentality? This is not a troll. I looked through the dir forum here and on decostop and I cant find it.
Thanks, Stas

 

[PerroneFord]

THe DIR mentality seems to place a great empahsis on being able to donate gas to an OOA diver since it is the most critically serious failure under water. Thus the light is on the other hand, the S-Drill is performed on every dive, etc. Placing a ring and a stage bottle on the right hand side may well interfere with the smooth deployment of the long hose, and will almost certainly make it more diffult to stow it.

Additionally, having the stages on one side means the process for deploying the stage hose is repeatable, the routing is the same, etc. I understand there is an issue of balance (especially for those who choose to carry steel stages or oxygen bottles) but in my test carries, I never felt it was a big deal. That said, I am not a technical diver so take it with a grain of salt.

I helped someone rig a BP/W this weekend and this was a discussion we had. Her dad is an instructor (not GUE) and rigs the right D-ring, and was someone concerned about her not having the ring. I left it up to her. She chose to go without it.

I hope one of the GUE instructors comes along to give this a more thorough treatment.

 

[Jay Roy]

THe DIR mentality seems to place a great empahsis on being able to donate gas to an OOA diver since it is the most critically serious failure under water. Thus the light is on the other hand, the S-Drill is performed on every dive, etc. Placing a ring and a stage bottle on the right hand side may well interfere with the smooth deployment of the long hose, and will almost certainly make it more diffult to stow it.

Additionally, having the stages on one side means the process for deploying the stage hose is repeatable, the routing is the same, etc. I understand there is an issue of balance (especially for those who choose to carry steel stages or oxygen bottles) but in my test carries, I never felt it was a big deal. That said, I am not a technical diver so take it with a grain of salt.

I helped someone rig a BP/W this weekend and this was a discussion we had. Her dad is an instructor (not GUE) and rigs the right D-ring, and was someone concerned about her not having the ring. I left it up to her. She chose to go without it.

I hope one of the GUE instructors comes along to give this a more thorough treatment.

Deco or stage bottles being carried on the right side will interfere with the deployment of the long hose, so your correct there..however
Steel deco or stage bottles are not desirable..Luxfer alum 40's or 80's are the tanks of choice..

 

[DiveTub]

Oh and dont forget so you can direct the prop wash from your Gavin Scooter under down your right side !!

Cheers
Chris

 

[stas]

So is it accurate to say that the three reasons not to clip bottles on the right hand side are:
1)Complications with deploying the long hose.
2)Complications with handing of a bottle in an emergency
3)Issues connected with the use of a scooter
?

 

[PerroneFord]

Steel deco or stage bottles are not desirable..Luxfer alum 40's or 80's are the tanks of choice..

This is not always true, though it MAY be true with DIR. Steel stages bottles do tend to make a diver quite heavy. However, the do tend to stay flat whether empty or full and are more streamlined when moving through tight space.

It could also be argued that for a diver who is wearing a weightbelt, some of that weight could be shed, and moved to the tanks as well.

Again, I am not offering this as a DIR solution, but merely as an alternative thought.

 

[RTodd]

Can someone either explain or direct me to an explanation of why this is a no go in the dir mentality? This is not a troll. I looked through the dir forum here and on decostop and I cant find it.
Thanks, Stas

The personal preference crowd came out in force to answer this one for you. You really haven't received a true DIR answer yet. Some basics to keep in mind, DIR is a whole system and it is focused on teamwork.

Putting different gas on different sides to differentiate what you are breathing has about the same success record as poodle jackets and other stupidity. In addition, it destroys the standardization of your stages/ deco bottles since the standard rigged stage reg with 40" hose is no longer streamlined if you try to breathe it on your right side. You and your buddy both confirm the gas you are breathing because the MOD should be in 3" letters on the tank. If you have tanks hanging all over your body and regs coming from different directions, the chances of accurately confirming the breathing mix plummet.

Another few random issues this creates:

1. You create problems with streamlining when on a scooter and most dives with multiple bottles should involve a scooter.
2. Deploying the long hose becomes more difficult since the bottle will trap a portion of the hose. (If the hose is "outside" of the back clip of the bottle it won't be streamlined and you will have to reach around the bottle to free it. If it was "inside" of the back clip on the bottle the top clip will catch it.)

There are numers other issues. Just keep in mind the complete system concept and think about where changing this one thing would force other poor compromises.

I won't address steel stages generally here but that falls in the same bad idea catagory. However, to put it in perspective with the above problems, how you deal with multiple stages is to put them on a leash and tow them behind you. This won't work with steel stages.

 

[UWupnorth]

The personal preference crowd came out in force to answer this one for you. You really haven't received a true DIR answer yet. Some basics to keep in mind, DIR is a whole system and it is focused on teamwork.

Putting different gas on different sides to differentiate what you are breathing has about the same success record as poodle jackets and other stupidity. In addition, it destroys the standardization of your stages/ deco bottles since the standard rigged stage reg with 40" hose is no longer streamlined if you try to breathe it on your right side. You and your buddy both confirm the gas you are breathing because the MOD should be in 3" letters on the tank. If you have tanks hanging all over your body and regs coming from different directions, the chances of accurately confirming the breathing mix plummet.

Another few random issues this creates:

1. You create problems with streamlining when on a scooter and most dives with multiple bottles should involve a scooter.
2. Deploying the long hose becomes more difficult since the bottle will trap a portion of the hose. (If the hose is "outside" of the back clip of the bottle it won't be streamlined and you will have to reach around the bottle to free it. If it was "inside" of the back clip on the bottle the top clip will catch it.)

There are numers other issues. Just keep in mind the complete system concept and think about where changing this one thing would force other poor compromises.

I won't address steel stages generally here but that falls in the same bad idea catagory. However, to put it in perspective with the above problems, how you deal with multiple stages is to put them on a leash and tow them behind you. This won't work with steel stages.

Amen! you took the words right out of my mouth

 

[cerich]

Steel deco bottles are fine in DIR when cave diving and dropping the bottle.

Rtodd, good nice reply, had you not put the "stupidity and poodle jackets" comments in to emulate GI3 it would have more people read it wihout turning off from the attitude.

 

[lamont]

Divers here have started using the clip on the right of the backgas. They're finding its useful to have stages nose clipped to the left hip d-ring when full, rotate them to the left chest d-ring when in use, and then rotate them to the right backgas clip when empty. This doesn't suffer from the hot/cold mix issues, and helps keep it cleaner to see which bottle is currently in use, and parking them off the backgas keeps them away from the longhose. It also makes it really obvious for support divers which bottles to grab first. Thoughts?