Why Diver Stage Rigging? Recently I was asked by BSAC to make some online videos instructing divers in certain skills and techniques so that they can further their knowledge from home during the Covid19 pandemic.

As such, the first topic I delivered was setting up your twinset and then the second one was this one, which is all about rigging a diving cylinder for use as a stage cylinder. I hope you find it useful and informative, albeit I did find it slightly strange recording a video to myself.

The traditional tech-diver method is to tie two bolt snaps to a length of string, slip that string onto the neck of the stage bottle and attach the bottom end using a stainless steel pipe clamp. This method is so popular that various scuba gear manufacturers sell “stage rigging kits” containing all the necessary hardware.

These kits make life simple and since none come with instructions, they must be easy to fit, correct? Well, not exactly. One small refinement often left out of the plan is to “optimize” the location of the lower anchor point so that it fits the diver. This helps to make clipping and unclipping the bottom bolt snap easier and will help to keep the cylinder as close as possible to the diver’s body, especially the neck of the cylinder.

The trick is to adjust the distance from the clip at the neck of the stage cylinder and the lower anchor point so it’s the same as the distance between the D-ring on the diver’s shoulder harness and the one on his hip. Since most of the ready-made kits available seem to be made to fit someone about 185 cm tall (about six feet), this exercise usually requires shortening the pre-made string “handle.”

I hope you find this Diver Stage Rigging video useful and informative, albeit I did find it slightly strange recording a video to myself.