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bailout up or down

some of the vids show the guys with she bailout upside down wondering what pros and cons are of up vs down

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by George Patterson on January 6, 2010 at 3:38am

and then some but its dificult to re-train so ill stick to what i know do the guys that have trained in the bailout up style have to switch when they work in the gulf or do you let them do what they are comfortable with

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Permalink Reply by Martin Morris on January 6, 2010 at 9:40am

My 2 cents worth: bailout down, off at bottle and off at hat. Precharge hose with hat valve first and bottle valve 2nd. then shut both off. Due to jetting and blackwater I disassemble and clean my 1st stage at least 5 times a year. I have never had to buy a new one. I have cleaned several that were thrown away and sold them. One was bought by the diver that threw it away. I have been rebuilding regulators since the 70's; diving, welding, and refrigeration. I have never seen a diving regulator that was bad, just poorly maintained.
For penetration dives I like to duct tape 2- 30's to the umbilical and connect the lp side with a crossover hose.
And I prefer brass air quick connects due to fact that you can pop it open and breath off the hose if needed.

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Permalink Reply by Pierre Le Fevre on January 6, 2010 at 10:09am

Inverted bail out was the norm. when a helmet had no side block with emergency gas valve. Oceaneering Rat-hat, Desco pots, earlier models of the Aquadyne free flow helmets, europeen version of band - mask
Comex Pro etc. Unless you are using a older version hat or a Gorski helmet there is no logical reason
to invert your bail-out. Open on the bottle off on the hat with a submersible pressure gauge (content gauge)
is a safe alternative as long as the supervisors ask what is in your bail-out. What about if the visibility is poor, stick in front of your hat light( the dial is fluorescent) and press it against the face plate.Another possible problem with a upside down bail-out bottle is diving in a contaminated environment, if for some reason the first stage loosen during the dive and you open the valve contaminents would enter and giving you a mouthfull and lungfull of whatever you are in !!! Common sense should prevails and old habits are hard to break............

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Permalink Reply by Skylar on January 7, 2010 at 8:44pm

valve down anytime you remove access to something as important as your control of your emerg. gas supply then you have less control of the situation.

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Permalink Reply by Bracey on January 31, 2010 at 10:46am

Down, up was what i was trained for in school but the company i have have worked for wanted the valves down, it works for me

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Permalink Reply by zac frame on February 3, 2010 at 9:25am

Stop being wushish id dive that b**** under my ARM...... na but i leave both valves off.......

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Permalink Reply by Stanton on February 3, 2010 at 7:27pm

I'll agree with FLYNN on some good points.

I started diving keeping the bailout valve open, as school recommended, but I lost all my air on a dive and didn't know it until I saw my gauge when I was prepping for my next dive. Apparently I knocked the hat valve open inadvertently. I've knocked my bailout valve open on the hat bouncing around under piers and relieving platforms and such. So much to whack your head on where I work, generally.

As far as bottle up or down:

What I've found about reaching my bailout valve is that when I'm in a drysuit (rare occasion), or when I'm in precarious positions, it's easier just to reach around toward my butt and open the bottle if I need it. I find it hard to reach over and behind even to unfoul my head from stuff, and wouldn't want to have to make the stretch for the valve if something bad happened.

I also charge the bailout whip once I have it connected, then close both valves (the hat and the bottle) I just feel like the air charge locks the QD for sure, and if there are any leaks in the bailout whip, I'll know about it.

~these are just my experiences and opinions, not saying any particular way is right or wrong.

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Permalink Reply by cody madden on February 19, 2010 at 8:46am

Always bottle down. I personally want to be able to reach all of my valves. Emergency or not i want to be able to have hands on in an instant. I see no reason to have a valve out of reach. On scuba its easy to reach over your head with a hat on not so much.
Now personally i like off at the bottle on at the hat. Still only one valve to turn in an emergency and you wont drain your bottle if your whip gets cut, blown whatever may happen. I have always dove that way and it is what i am comfortable with On that i say go with what you are comfortable with and what you have practiced for. I have only had to go on bailout three times and each time it was no problem to turn my bottle on and get back to the bell.
Pre-dive stby snoops all fittings leak checks and is the last one with a hand on the diver before he jumps to ensure he is clear to hit the water.

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Permalink Reply by Barry Ribbeck on February 20, 2010 at 5:57pm

Back when.....when bailouts weren't required , we liked them on surface gas dives when there was no OB Bell. When I first started using them, we wore them with band masks and I hated hitting the back of my head on the k valve, so I would flipped them - valve down. I also liked the BOB off at the tank. Bailouts were always pressure checked between dives and after seeing a lot of empty bottles being switched out I choose to have the bottle off. Having it upside down made getting the bottle valve much more accessible.