Posted by MHK on September 06, 2001 at 14:56:13:
In Reply to: I am confused... posted by Steve Clark on September 06, 2001 at 11:51:41:
Get rid of the Air II because they are a potential failure point on your primary inflation source and in order for the length of the hose to provide meaningful use during an OOA emergency you'll need to lengthen the hose which will ultimatley be a problem and could cause uneccesary entanglements..
As for any potential long hose that isn't your primary it's frought with potential problems and attempts to solve a problem that doesn't really exist.. If you have an OOA diver come to you for air he/she will take whatever regulator you give and be thankful for it.. As for what happened at the surface, it doesn't make much sense and if it was such a big problem, at the surface, I would have inflated her BC and dropped her belt.. Problem solved...
Long hoses that are usually bungeed onto a tank and deployed in emergency situations have historically proven to be more problems then they are worth.. They can to easily get entangled and once deployed can not be self stowed if you need to re-stow it.. By using a 5' or a 7' hose as the primary you ensure that when you donate it to a paniced OOA diver you give him/her a working regulator that is gauranteed to be working, because you have just been breathing it.. You know it's free of contaminents, it isn't inoperable and the few seconds from the time that you get the signal to the time you get him/her some gas is the difference between life and death.. This sititaion, fortunately, occurs rarely, but when it does it's because you are at depth and your buddy has no gas.. This isn't the time for ad hoc nonsense, uncertainty, faulty equipment or any other such delayed response.. Get him gas, square the problem away and get the hell out of there...
Later