They were not octopus seconds I don't think, what I recall, since I was a cave diver hanger-arounder wannabe at that time, Y valves on LP108s, independent doubles, sometimes with a Y on the right and a single post on the left, thus mounting three separate, complete, independent regulators. The particular air management strategy we used at the time made the right tank the important tank. This was way before GUE or DIR was around, yes, people were using metal plates and diving the caves, of course, then as now, sometimes they did not come out alive.USdiver wrote: I do seem to recall that octo use had been going on in the cave diving community since the 1960s, as part of their equipment redundancy practice. quote]
For someone not educated much on vintage gear - how did an alternate air source, octo, or whatever they were called at the time work before the era of single hoses? Did you have an extra double hose hanging off a pony (which to me doesn't seam like a great idea if you are in a cave (entanglement, etc), or where there single hoses at the time?
There were no commercial isolation valves to my knowledge but I am vaguely aware that people were cobbling such things together but you have to remember, I was 17yo and maybe diving equipment was not always my most important priority.
Nem
note: Scotty, if I messed your post up, I tried to fix it back, I think I did, sorry, I keep hitting my moderator edit button when I mean to hit quote--sorry for that.