NEW HOSES......GREAT!

[diverdown1955]

HEY guy's, I just got my set of accordian hoses and they are winners!

Thanks DAN for your efforts!

Jerry
diverdown1955

[admin]

Thanks, Jerry, I appreciate your comments! Do you think the hoses would be better if they were maybe 2 or 3 inches longer? They are about 3 inches shorter than the standard U.S. Divers hoses, when relaxed, but obviously they stretch quite a bit more. I haven't tried them myself in the water yet, but they should stay closer to the shoulders and not "float" so high.

Thanks again, to everyone who has purchased these hoses... I have received nothing but positive feedback on them so far!

Dan

[nemrod]

Just got mine too and have not used them, waiting to install them on the Phoenix. They look like they will be fantasitic, maybe they could have been a couple of more inches but then again maybe the length is just right to allow easy stretch and prevent awkward floating.
James

[SeaRat]

I have just received my new hoses too, and I'm a few weeks away from putting them in the water (water's high and mucky right now, and I have other committments too). But I did put them on two of my regs (the Snark III and the Hydro-Twin) on a mouthpiece without non-returns, and I seem to be experiencing a performance increase with both regs. The suction effort is the same, but the volume of air seems greater. Any of you experiencing this? Could it be that the greater number of convolutions decreases hose resistance, and boosts the regulator's performance? I think that may be the case, and will evaluate that (subjectively) on my first dives with the new hoses. I may be able to figure out an objective test of this too, but that takes too much brain power right now.

John

[Deleted]

John

Is there any size difference in the ID? I would think that with more convolutions there is a shorter distance between each, therefore they don't open up as much or gap as much, which would cause less turbilence (sp).........would be similar to the smaller intakes on the cowlings of small planes.....smaller holes packed with air cause reduced drag...........

James (Nemrod) check me on this?

[treasureman]

JUst got my hoses in. At first glance, one looked shorter than the toher that was until i gave them a shake. So dont fret if you get them and one looks shirter just give em a twirl and all will be right with the world.

I too put them on, and went diving with mine. It does leave me with the perception that my reg breathes better.

I know with my twin 50's, the reg sits a little lower on my back because of the extra length of the hosew.

A few incehs longer...hmm interesting question. If they were to be made longer, certainly no more than two inches at most. The mould must be expandable to do this??

In any event. These hoses are high quality, and I got six more regs to buy hoses for. These are truly the cats meow

[treasureman]

One thing I did notice was that the ends that attach to the horns, the hose is a bit thicker, so it was a small fight to use the original hose clamps on the side that has the duckbill. Other side was a snap.

[nemrod]

I will install mine on the Phoenix so it will be hard to say, maybe I will put them on a RAM for a side by side first off. They do appear to have a slightly larger ID but I wonder if it is that they have more volume. James

[treasureman]

I finally got the new hoses and put them to the test. I have 2 RAM, both exactly set up the same way. Only difference is the hoses. Depth was 40 ft.

I tried the standard repro hoses, and as usual the RAm breathed flawlessly and almost effortlessly.

When I tried the new hoses, there was a marked decrease in breathing effort. In fact, it felt like with minimal cracking effort, ther was a rush of air into the hosess and a huge volume of air made its way to the mouthpiece.

Go figure. Same tank, same pressure, same depth, same settings on both regs. Both regs used to breathe near identical before i changed the hoses. if hoses make that much difference, then its time for more.

[treasureman]

will these new hoses be a regular stocked item, or is it a limited supply

[admin]

Thanks for all the nice comments and test reports. I have about 75 sets left and so I should have them in stock for a while.
Dan

[sea.explorer]

I dove with the new hoses extensively this weekend and they performed great. I used them on my RAM and my Spiro Mistral for comparison. I will definitely be diving them more often and putting them on my new hot rod reg I'm putting together for Wazee. Thanks Dan! -Ryan

[luis]

I tried the new hoses last Monday. They worked great. I basically couldn’t tell they were there.

We did two dives; the first one to 85 ft in Sebago Lake and the second one we stayed in shallow water were my wife got to practice a compass course between three buoys.

We also got to play around practicing buddy breathing (more on this experience below) and I played around taking off my tank underwater to check the flexibility of the hoses.

• The hoses are very flexible but rugged. They will not collapse when you stretch and twist them (either buddy breathing or taking of my tank over my head and looking at it in front of me).

• The hoses are very heavy. The outside diameter is larger than the conventional USD hoses, but they seem to be so heavy that buoyancy is not an issue. If anything they may actually be a bit less buoyant.

• The breathing performance is at least as good as my conventional hoses, but I can’t really say that it is noticeably better. My experimental Royal breathes so well that to notice any minor improvements would have to be a side by side comparison. Looking down the inside of the hose, it looks like a more uniform air duct since the convolutions are closer together, but it is hard to tell how much of a difference that would make. When I get a chance, I will try to see if I can measure any side by side resistance difference with my Magnehelic gauge.

Over all the good points are that the hoses are very comfortable and perform well, but now for the bad points.

• They are kind of ugly, but as an engineer, I can easily ignore looks as compared to function. Also looks is definitely on the eye of the beholder. I am sure some will like the looks. I agree with one of Nemrod's comments: “perhaps an acquired taste”.

• They are very hard to dry. I ran air from my hose dryer set up (a hair blower on cool, look at this link for picture: vintagedoublehose.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=851&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15) through them and another pair of conventional hoses for over an hour. The conventional hoses are very dry. The new hoses seem dry, but I stick my finer deep in the corrugations and they are still wet.

I will try drying them further tonight, but when relaxed the convolutions tend to close and air may never flow into them enough to dry them well. Maybe if I stretch them a bit. I am thinking that the easier solution may just be the occasional use of something like Leistering mouth wash (or something similar) to control any potential bacterial growth.

This reminds me, one thing I notice; my hoses have a distinct mint smell to them when I was breathing. It was kind of pleasant, but weird. Has anyone else notice that?

Over all, IMHO the hoses are great, but the issue about moisture and bacteria growth can not be ignored. I think it can be easily dealt with regular cleaning and drying the best possible.



About buddy breathing, the hoses worked great, but I forgot to instruct Christine with some important details before we practiced. I forgot to mention to her that with my curved mouthpiece, when it is up side down, if you don’t blow all the water out, you are drinking it. The position of the mouth piece opening provides a small sump for the main user if there is any water, but during buddy breathing the receiving diver needs to deal with the upside down mouthpiece.

We will practice buddy breathing with my double again. But, that exercise convinced me that if I am diving with a mixed group of divers who are not very well practiced in buddy breathing specifically with a DH, having an octopus can be very important.

[Broxton Carol]

The "MINT" smell is for vintage divers who dont brush after every meal. You wouldnt want to offend any passing manatee would you?

[SeaRat]

luis said:

I tried the new hoses last Monday. They worked great. I basically couldn’t tell they were there...

...• They are very hard to dry. I ran air from my hose dryer set up (a hair blower on cool, look at this link for picture: vintagedoublehose.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=851&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15) through them and another pair of conventional hoses for over an hour. The conventional hoses are very dry. The new hoses seem dry, but I stick my finer deep in the corrugations and they are still wet.

I will try drying them further tonight, but when relaxed the convolutions tend to close and air may never flow into them enough to dry them well. Maybe if I stretch them a bit. I am thinking that the easier solution may just be the occasional use of something like Leistering mouth wash (or something similar) to control any potential bacterial growth...

...Over all, IMHO the hoses are great, but the issue about moisture and bacteria growth can not be ignored. I think it can be easily dealt with regular cleaning and drying the best possible...

...About buddy breathing, the hoses worked great, but I forgot to instruct Christine with some important details before we practiced. I forgot to mention to her that with my curved mouthpiece, when it is up side down, if you don’t blow all the water out, you are drinking it. The position of the mouth piece opening provides a small sump for the main user if there is any water, but during buddy breathing the receiving diver needs to deal with the upside down mouthpiece.

We will practice buddy breathing with my double again. But, that exercise convinced me that if I am diving with a mixed group of divers who are not very well practiced in buddy breathing specifically with a DH, having an octopus can be very important.

Luis,

I'll be looking at the drying of the hoses after this weekend, when I plan to use them. But the bacterial growth can probable be minimized by using a bottle brush to unsure that no buildup occurs inside the corrugations.

Concerning the buddy breathing, I haven't done that in years with a double hose, or any other regulator, as I've been mostly solo diving during these times. But as I recall, when we were in the US Navy School for Underwater Swimmers, they made a point of having us raise the mouthpiece over the regulator's horizontal plane to initiate a free flow before putting it into our mouth. This would pretty much eliminate the water in the mouthpiece, even with the upside down, offset mouthpiece.

'Hope that helps.

John