Vintage Diver's only: Question on J Valve Reserve Rod

[VooDooGasMan]

Yes ZKY, I am in cold water also, and like to shed weight, I don a 6.5 scuba pro jumpsuit and 16# belt. in summer, and a camo 7/5 oneil jumpsuit and sport a 19# belt.

Now I dive in current swept area and off boat, so I always use a SMB, With no bouyancy device on scuba kit, I have to put the SMB on stringer when I shoot 20# cabezon or lingcod. So when I shoot my first cab, or ling and going for second cabby, I am pulling alot of weight so the less I am The easier with a stringer full.

I fill the SMB when before I surface so the fish do not sink me. I keep a stringer hanging a fathom down, off boat, for ease of hooking stringer to stringer.

Happy Diving

 

[T. Bix]

I prolly have three or four of those rods laying around and as I stopped using them back in the eighties after snagging it on a tight squeeze some place or another. I got in the habit of wearing my tanks high enough that I could feel the regulator with the back of my head if when I arch my back. That way I always know I can reach my reserve just by reaching over my shoulder, if my backpack is a little loose it's just a matter of reaching down and back with the right hand and tilting the tank up to my left hand to flip the valve down. I only started diving in the mid seventies and we were taught with pressure guages so I guess relying only on the j-valve is not something I've ever done. We did however use them to thumb our dives, "Whoever hits reserve first thumbs it for everybody else". And 300-350 psi is plenty to follow your medium bubbles to the surface or entry point and climb out or surface swim as the case may be.

 

[VooDooGasMan]

My J Rod attachment

Like Knowone say's thats trim, for my twin 50's I still have the j rod clip. Now for my twin 80's the clip has broken off some time ago, as you can see I just use bungie rope, I thought someone would have suggested it, ofcourse that is not a vintage way. If you look at these bands they are set up with small cuts for thin straps, I put the straps in a place they would never get put in trash, so I could use them later, there hid very well(lost for now).

It is a navy set up, and works well with double hose. Ljames here on the board had her twin scuba kit stolen out of her rig, she ex[plains a description of her twins and said it has ugly bands, as I zoom in, I was right she has these bands on HP 102's, just the bottom band is on top on her set. So If I run into these I will take them away from the diver and put new bands on and give them back to lj(she thinks the bands are ugly anyway), I want a set of those bands for my 102's to use the thin strap on.




Happy Diving

 

[Bob3]

Ditto on the little "L" shaped clip with hole drilled in it, clamped under the tank band.
Some rigs came like that from the factory, Nemrod being one that I can think of offhand.

That being said, I always just removed my rods, because I figured having a rod made for 2 places to get fouled & rotate the reserve lever, instead of just having to whack the lever itself.

We used to dive a lot of blackwater, plow through weeds, fishing line & nets so we got in the habit of rigging our gear as much as possible to be clean & not collect crap during the dive.
Even our mask straps were threaded "backwards" so the tail ends were under the strap.
Fins were Duck Feet, so no buckles needed down there & webbing buckles turned into D-rings.
I eventually switched over to a 1-piece suit to get away from those darn little beavertail rotating tabs.

 

[mahjong]

Just curious: How long is that reserve rod (inches)?

This is my '71 usd tank, backpack, j-valve with the rod attached through a notch in the tank band.

 

[mahjong]

Bravo on the bungee...except that my initial inclination would to be to have the bungee just above the lower tank band--a little added insurance against any chance it might have of sliding down the tank (esp if it might not be biting on the lower reaches of your backplate or backpack).

Like Knowone say'sView attachment 90274thats trim, for my twin 50's I still have the j rod clipView attachment 90275. Now for my twin 80's the clip has broken off some time agoView attachment 90276, as you can see I just use bungie rope, I thought someone would have suggested it, ofcourse that is not a vintage way.View attachment 90277 If you look at these bands they are set up with small cuts for thin straps, I put the straps in a place they would never get put in trash, so I could use them later, there hid very well(lost for now).

It is a navy set up, and works well with double hose. Ljames here on the board had her twin scuba kit stolen out of her rig, she ex[plains a description of her twins and said it has ugly bands, as I zoom in, I was right she has these bands on HP 102's, just the bottom band is on top on her set. So If I run into these I will take them away from the diver and put new bands on and give them back to lj(she thinks the bands are ugly anyway), I want a set of those bands for my 102's to use the thin strap on.




Happy Diving

 

[mahjong]

Yes! The tubing is vertical, just like the rod, but the rod slips through it and twists the tubing, thereby firmly locking down the rod--is this correct?

Brilliant...I like it the best (esp given that I have no equipment to work with metal).

I've used a loop of bicycle tubing threaded through the cam band... it works.

Thal, I like that over the shoulder idea. I've seen many older navy photo's wherein the divers have j valves but no rods. I'm going to try it tomorrow and see how it goes.

 

[superstar]

Just curious: How long is that reserve rod (inches)?

It is 22 inchess. I made it to fit the aluminum 80 tank.