I used to fight with my bailout bottle hose for years until a guy in Corpus Christi showed me a simple trick.

For the longest time, I'd just clip the bailout bottle to my harness and let the hose flop around. It would always get caught on something, usually the guide line or a piece of rigging. I'd spend half the job untangling it. Then, about six months ago on a dock inspection job, I was working with this older diver from Texas. He saw me messing with it and just said, 'Loop it once around the bottle valve before you clip it.' I tried it. You make a single, loose coil around the valve stem, then clip the second stage to your chest D-ring. The hose stays put, has just enough slack to reach your mouth, and never snags. It's such a small thing, but it changed my whole setup. I haven't had a single tangle since. Does anyone else have a little trick like that for keeping their gear clean?

3 comments

3 Comments

hall.alex1mo ago

Wait, you just loop it around the valve? I always thought you had to use a separate bungee or something to tie it off. That's actually brilliant, keeps it simple. I'm gonna try that on my next job for sure.

elizabeth_lee1mo ago

Remember my buddy who always overcomplicates things? He spent twenty minutes last week trying to rig a bungee cord through a handle, like @hall.alex mentioned, while his hose was just dragging on the ground. I finally just walked over, looped the hose end around the spigot valve like you said, and gave it a tug. The look on his face was pure shock, like I'd done magic. He'd been doing it the hard way for years.

jessec351mo ago

That guy probably spent more time looking for bungee cords than actually watering his lawn. It's funny how people can stare right at the simple answer for years and never see it. I bet he'll be telling everyone about the "magic loop" trick next week like he invented it. Classic case of overthinking turning a two second fix into a whole project.