I started using a bailout in Bass Strait where we were doing 'jump off the ladder' gas dives & it seemed a good idea to have a bailout and we were using scuba bottles & j valves because thats what we had, and just throwing them on like a scuba rig- ergo reg = up, wereas the Brits at the time went the other way, mind you at that time in europe there were stll alot of double hose scuba gear around. I don't know if any of this anything to do with anything its just my experience..
damn... j valves... thats old school :)
Here in France we still put the bailout upwards. Never had a serious problem with it. On a few occasions I've opened up my bailout without knowing. I guess with the bailout downwards it could happen aswell. I wonder what others have to say about this mather.
i've learned on the job that diving with the bailout open isn't a good thing. if your whip gets cut or pops from wear, you lose your bailout gas. i've seen that happen twice. so if you wear your bottle down, one hand hits the hat...other hand hits the bottle and you're on bailout.
Excellent point Toby, with a Gorski there is no side block valve so the tank is worn upside down with the hose charged and the valve off its easy to check thru out the dive and protected from bumping open most of the time.
On at the bottle, off at the hat, regular checks on the gauge. If your whip gets severed, it doesn't really matter which way up your bottle is, the gas aint going into the hat! and if you do rupture the hose with pressure in it, you know about it INSTANTLY! If you're off at the bottle, and you've severed your whip, etc. it would be a really bad day if you then had to go onto bailout and find it's been severed!
....But no-one will ever get total agreement on this one!