Hose Lengths

I'm currently setting up another pair of regs and am planning on picking up some new hoses as well. Currently, I use the following hose config.

7' primary off the right post
18" inflator off the right post
24" HP hose for SPG off Left post
22" backup reg hose off left post

I'm considering the following changes to this configuration.

- The 7' primary hose is a little long and tends to bow quite a bit. I'm considering swapping for a 6' hose.
- The 24" SPG hose tends to dangle more than I'd like, so I'm considering a 22" hose. Based on estimation, this should put it right where I want it to sit, and I should still have no issues with reading it, however, I do have concerns that I may be missing one of the more discrete point of gear configuration.
- The backup hose will remain at 22"...seems to be OK as is.
- The inflator hose. Although its much shorter than "the standard 22-inch", I've been using this length for quite a while and haven't noticed any functional limitations (I can orally inflate with full head mobility & it reaches the suit inflator), and it also keeps things pretty streamlined. My concerns, however, is that I may be, again, overlooking finer points where the shorter length could be an issue

With all that, it'd be great if you'd share your thoughts on this and possibly help prevent me from wasting money on something less than optimal.

Thanks folks...

Jay

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by George K. Watson on March 23, 2010 at 6:28am

Length of the long hose is typically somewhat determined by your height. There is no fixed point at which a 7' hose become impracticable, this is really determined by comfort in managing it.
As to the SPG hose, you have to be able to read it and show it to your team-mate in the event of an air share
The length of the secondary regulator hose is determined by regulator configuration (turret, no turret), and tank/manifold width. You should be able to breath it and fully turn your head to the left without it pulling.

How much shorter is the LP inflator hose? I would be surprised by 'much shorter' being able to reach the suit inflator. Though that is a minimum criteria.

Permalink Reply by Jay Soucy on March 23, 2010 at 3:42pm

I'm currently using an 18" inflator hose...which is about 4" shorter than "the standard". With this configuration, the power inflator sits slightly below the left chest d-ring. I'm still able to orally inflate the wing and the LP hose will reach the drysuit inflator. Prior to throttling back to the 18" hose, I was using a 22" which seemed to be a bit too long and tended to bow at the post end of the hose. I honestly can't remember if I tried a 20" or not, but somehow I got to using the 18", which seemed to be a good fit with regard to streamlining and keeping the rig cleaner, but again, I don't want to set myself up for failure if I'm missing one or more of the details.

Permalink Reply by George K. Watson on March 24, 2010 at 9:23am

I think the best thing to do is to have a look when you come up in May. It does not sound as if anything tragic is wrong, just a matter of a bit of fine tuning perhaps.

Permalink Reply by Jay Soucy on March 29, 2010 at 12:16pm

For the sake of team consistency, I've switched to a 22" inflator. The SPG hose, I've decided will stay at 24". The long hose (currently 7')...I'll play with routing it behind the wing to manage the additional slack and see how that goes. I'm short, but not THAT short, and I'm sure there are other divers around my height diving a 7' primary without issues. Perhaps its just a diver issue :-)

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