Upside down 1st stage....

[FacDave]

I'm diving steel 120's with an "H" valve....the tank is long and my APEKS 1st stage hits me in the back of the head. Doing the first Lake Michigan dive of the year on 4/5, (37 degrees, you pussies), and I had the brilliant idea of turning the first stage upside down. I can't think of a reason this would cause problems, anyone done this before?

[awap]

There really is no upside down on a first stage. Unless you just accept the way most diver mount one as right side up. Do whatever is comfortable and accommodates your hose routing. The regulator does not care.

[CompuDude]

Some regs look better in one orientation or the other, but awap is right, it doesn't affect how well they work.

The hose routing generally determines the optimal placement for regs. For instance, on the ScubaPro MK25, the best hose routing happens with the turret pointing down, especially when diving with a bp/w. However, with some setups, specifically jacket BCs where the owner prefers to have the tank halfway down their back (completely ignoring any possibility of reaching their valves, but that's another issue), it bring the hoses up a little higher by pointing the turret up, which bring the hoses up several inches.

Other than hose routing, though, it makes no difference to the actual functionality of the reg.

[texdiveguy]

Looks like you got the answer on the regs.,,,,but let us know how that cold dive goes in April, sounds fun!

[cummings66]

I dove my HP120 with an H Valve, and had dual DS4's on it. Yes, they hit my head and there wasn't anything I could do to make it stop. When I doubled the HP120's the problem went away.

However, do whatever you need to make your head happy. I found if it wasn't the first it was the hoses, never could get away from it. It didn't really bother me as my head normally isn't looking up that much, and once you know you're going to hit it you move the head slowly up until contact...

But, 37 degree's F is rather warm don't you think. Come down to my neck of the woods if you want a cold water dive. I never did hit my desired temp of 33 F, but I did 34 degree's several times. I do envy you the lake dive though, I'm hoping to do it after my next set of classes so I can do so deco dives.

[texdiveguy]

Originally Posted by cummings66

I never did hit my desired temp of 33 F, but I did 34 degree's several times. I do envy you the lake dive though, I'm hoping to do it after my next set of classes so I can do so deco dives.

Why do you want to do diving in 34f water?

[Shellback]

Originally Posted by texdiveguy

Why do you want to do diving in 34f water?

I think that he wasn't kidding, he did hit his head on that H-Valve a few too many times ! Just kidding Cummins...

[navyhmc]

Originally Posted by texdiveguy

Why do you want to do diving in 34f water?

He's trying to match my 30f (-2c)salt water dive???

[mm2002]

One has to be severely mentally handicapped to even want to dive in water below 50 F. You guys are just plain nuts........ok, not "plain" nuts, but some variety of exotic nut I can't even begin to comprehend.

[obrules15]

I did my rescue class in 42 degree water. I still haven't recovered. I then recommitted to spending as much time in the carribean as humanly possible.