Vintage Double Hose

VDH Backplate users using a singles wing:

When you switched to the VDH backplate, did you need to purchase a longer corrugated inflator hose (since the VDH backplate will drop the wing farther down your back)? If so, can you recommend a length?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

I use mine with no mods to the wing.

Jim

I've never had a request for longer inflator hoses as in my opinion most of them are too long to begin with. Standard length should work fine. Since the VDH plate is made to set closer to the regulator than any other plate available the length should be no different than using it with a single hose regulator which has the bcd lower on the cylinder. Hope this helps.

Thanks, swimjim and Bryan.

Always here to help

Sent from my SM-T810 using Tapatalk

No mods required on mine

I had to replace mine for a longer one (DR Travel wing). Original one was so close to my shoulder I couldn't reach it, much less so do the oral inflation thing.

Guess it depends on your body shape, shoulders etc.

I plumbed my 18# Oxycheq with a dump cord off the shoulder that hangs to my side, gave away the corrugated hose, and plumbed a LP inflator connector/dump valve on the bottom where only a dump valve originally was. The LP hose runs down the side of my tank too where it plugs into the BC. Ergo, nothing hanging down in front of me. I had no problem with the standard hose being long enough using the VDH plate. I just didn't want anything in front of me. Yes, all of my dive buddies do think I'm rather strange, why do you ask? Mark

Pedro wrote:I had to replace mine for a longer one (DR Travel wing). Original one was so close to my shoulder I couldn't reach it, much less so do the oral inflation thing.

Yes, Pedro, this is precisely my concern. With my old Halcyon Pioneer 27 singles wing on my Freedom plate, my corrugated inflator hose has the "perfect" length—for either my standard power inflator or my Scubapro AIR 2. However, I am considering purchasing a VDH plate, which will move my tank and reg (and BC?) a bit lower down my back and (I'm thinking) will make my inflator hose too short. At this time I'm not sure how much lower the tank and reg and BC will sit, though.

Thanks, and Safe Diving,

rx7diver

ScubaLawyer wrote:I plumbed my 18# Oxycheq with a dump cord off the shoulder that hangs to my side, gave away the corrugated hose, and plumbed a LP inflator connector/dump valve on the bottom where only a dump valve originally was. The LP hose runs down the side of my tank too where it plugs into the BC. Ergo, nothing hanging down in front of me. I had no problem with the standard hose being long enough using the VDH plate. I just didn't want anything in front of me. Yes, all of my dive buddies do think I'm rather strange, why do you ask? Mark

Interesting I had a similar setup at one time. I switched back to a traditional inflation system after a potential fatal dive in water that is in excess of 1,000' deep. The bones of the situation:

I was diving off a wall in West Caicos in about 130' feet of water. I saw a nice shark and followed it off the shelf into the blue. If you have ever been diving in blue water you'll understand this next part. While diving I was so focused on the shark I didn't monitor my depth gauge and before I knew it I was in 150'. I was a little heavy and reached for my MAV (manual ad valve) to inflate my wing - no joy. It was locked up. Luckily for me I was close enough to the reef to swim back up and level off- my heart was pounding. Since I didn't have an oral infiltrator accessible this could have gone very bad very quickly had I not been able to get back to the reef and a solid surface, I was actually sinking.

Since then I returned my wing back to the way it was intended to be used by the manufacturer and learned a very valuable lesson that day. That was the one time I had wished I had the low-tech oral infiltrator accessible and didn't, it was back in California. So just be careful modifying equipment unless you think of all the possible ramifications- and do BOOM drills with your configuration as often as you can- like every time you dive. Complacency has killed many divers over time, I almost became that statistic and I'm "tankful" that someone was looking over my shoulder where my infiltrator should have been that day.

uwstlth wrote:

ScubaLawyer wrote:I plumbed my 18# Oxycheq with a dump cord off the shoulder that hangs to my side, gave away the corrugated hose, and plumbed a LP inflator connector/dump valve on the bottom where only a dump valve originally was. The LP hose runs down the side of my tank too where it plugs into the BC. Ergo, nothing hanging down in front of me. I had no problem with the standard hose being long enough using the VDH plate. I just didn't want anything in front of me. Yes, all of my dive buddies do think I'm rather strange, why do you ask? Mark

Interesting I had a similar setup at one time. I switched back to a traditional inflation system after a potential fatal dive in water that is in excess of 1,000' deep. The bones of the situation:

I was diving off a wall in West Caicos in about 130' feet of water. I saw a nice shark and followed it off the shelf into the blue. If you have ever been diving in blue water you'll understand this next part. While diving I was so focused on the shark I didn't monitor my depth gauge and before I knew it I was in 150'. I was a little heavy and reached for my MAV (manual ad valve) to inflate my wing - no joy. It was locked up. Luckily for me I was close enough to the reef to swim back up and level off- my heart was pounding. Since I didn't have an oral infiltrator accessible this could have gone very bad very quickly had I not been able to get back to the reef and a solid surface, I was actually sinking.

Since then I returned my wing back to the way it was intended to be used by the manufacturer and learned a very valuable lesson that day. That was the one time I had wished I had the low-tech oral infiltrator accessible and didn't, it was back in California. So just be careful modifying equipment unless you think of all the possible ramifications- and do BOOM drills with your configuration as often as you can- like every time you dive. Complacency has killed many divers over time, I almost became that statistic and I'm "tankful" that someone was looking over my shoulder where my infiltrator should have been that day.

Uwstlth: You are absolutely correct that my configuration has some inherent design flaws. I don’t advocate it for everyone, just me. My thinking is that I don’t use the BC underwater anyway for the normal 30 to 40 foot dives I make. It just stays empty the entire dive until I get back on the surface. At that point I take my tank off, inflate the BC so the tank will float, tie it off to a line, climb into my boat, and then haul the tank back on board after me. I didn’t mention it but I do have a 3 inch flex hose from an old snorkel affixed to the lower port with a manual/power inflator attached to that so I can orally inflate on the surface once I get my tank off if I need to.

As for blue-water dives, been on a few, but never have been really comfortable doing them. One time diving Darwin’s Arch in the Northern Galapagos a huge whale shark swam by at depth and the dive master with about six divers following him swam down and out into the blue to follow it. I thought about following for a half-second but the current was ripping and it was late in the afternoon and it just seemed like a really dumb idea at the time so I passed. Long story short all the divers, including the divemaster got blown all over the ocean after following the Whale Shark down to 175 feet. We found the last diver floating a mile away in open ocean over three hours later (after sunset) surrounded by Galapagos sharks. Luckily we all had RDF trackers on us, no one died, and I heard later that was that particular divemaster’s last divemastering assignment for that company at least. Ah, the dives of our lives. Mark.

uwstlth wrote:So just be careful modifying equipment unless you think of all the possible ramifications- and do BOOM drills with your configuration as often as you can- like every time you dive.

uwstlth,

Always sound advice even if one doesn't modify one's equipment, but simply *changes* equipment! I was reminded of this this past summer when I took my new-to-me Phoenix-modified DAAM diving for the first time. Using a double hose reg was not new to me. My initial cert course (in 1986) used them, mounted on a 72 and plastic backpack with D-ring harness and no BC, for fully half of our pool skills. So, regulator recovery, and doffing and donning, and U/W swimming while cradling the scuba in one's arms, and buddy-breathing while wearing or cradling the scuba, etc., are all deeply ingrained within me. These are things one doesn't forget, especially when one spent several semesters over several years as a TA for the scuba course, as I did.

However, I had never before dove a double hose reg in open water, and never with a BC. I think all of you seasoned double hose reg divers would have had quite a laugh at my expense last summer if you had been observing me learning how to orally inflate my BC while diving my DAAM: Remove reg from mouth, and then ... what!!?? If move reg down to chest, then the BC inflator hose is too short to reach *around* the reg hose to allow me to comfortably orally inflate. If I reached *through* the reg hoses to grab the inflator, then raising the reg (to purge it) tangled everything up! Alternately, if I moved the regulator up to my forehead (so that my oral inflator would have an unobstructed path to my mouth), my reg free-flowed! It was too funny.

My kids, playing on the surface above me, wondered why I was causing so many bubbles!

I finally figured it all out, though. I'm just happy that my first time orally inflating wasn't during some crisis situation!

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

rx7diver wrote:

Pedro wrote:I had to replace mine for a longer one (DR Travel wing). Original one was so close to my shoulder I couldn't reach it, much less so do the oral inflation thing.

Yes, Pedro, this is precisely my concern. With my old Halcyon Pioneer 27 singles wing on my Freedom plate, my corrugated inflator hose has the "perfect" length—for either my standard power inflator or my Scubapro AIR 2. However, I am considering purchasing a VDH plate, which will move my tank and reg (and BC?) a bit lower down my back and (I'm thinking) will make my inflator hose too short. At this time I'm not sure how much lower the tank and reg and BC will sit, though.

Thanks, and Safe Diving,

rx7diver

To my taste (and limited experience) I'd rather go with one a bit too long over one a bit too short if a perfect fit is not possible.

Either way a new hose if fairly inexpensive if you end up needing it. I would not hold back on the VDH plate because of that.

Can't you borrow one and see how it goes?

Pedro wrote:I would not hold back on the VDH plate because of that. Can't you borrow one and see how it goes?

Too late. I've committed. Mine should arrive sometime later this week!

rx7diver wrote:

Pedro wrote:I would not hold back on the VDH plate because of that. Can't you borrow one and see how it goes?

Too late. I've committed. Mine should arrive sometime later this week!

Keep us posted