Tank Boots and D-Rings

[Angie Reim]

Spools fit in my pocket. Reels don't. Reels are better for long jumps and explorations but I'll carry only ONE unless I know I will only be diving in wide-open spaces. Reels suck when hanging off you in the tight nasty places. Besides if you work up a rhythm frog kicking they tend to hit me in the butt/chest in an annoying way.

I don't dive with boots on my sidemount tanks. I keep boots for my tanks for storage purposes and to keep them upright in the water tank during a fill. My tanks stand upright and chained to my garage wall when stored. Some boots add drag, some boots have a hook-like slot on them that would catch on a line. I don't know what that slot is for. I've split my boots with a Dremel tool (or scissors) depending on the material for easy on/off at dive sites and fill stations.

[Cave Ranger]

All of you have made very valid points. I did saw off the D-Ring hook on the Boots during my Cavern class several years ago.
I will purchase a couple of the spools and practice with them this weekend......WooHooo!!! Yes!!! I get to Camp and Cave Dive in N-FL with some buddies over Thanksgiving weekend!! Life is Good.
I think were going to roast a Turkey on a spit.
It'll be freezing so I'm going to pack my battery powered Fruit of the Looms. Nothing like cold, wet Neoprene fresh off the clothesline. It might be time to consider diving Dry.
Again....Thanks for the posts. Happy T-Day.....Ya'll.

I like boots on my 85s and 95s.. the ones I sidemount with. They protect the tanks if carrying around rocks or sumps, and for sure, they are great for standing out of the water. The boots on my 95s are so loose, they would fall off during a dive, so I always remove them, but the 85s are a pain to knock off... and never gave me a problem underwater... until...

I was in a NFL cave a couple weeks ago. We didn't get far before my buddy found his wings would not hold air... so we called the dive, and up he started to climb the restrictive shaft we had dropped down... and I waited until he moved up giving me room to start ascending... then I headed up and out, but... wait... I'm not moving.... I'm just off the main shaft, around 120', in the 'mouth' of the main tunnel, where the flow is at its highest, and my left tank boot caught the main line. Caught it good... so while my regulators were breathing wet, current creating much tension on the line stuck to my tank boot....my buddy out of sight, doing his restrictive ascent... I had to take time (it took nearly 3 minutes, 180 seconds... tick, tick, tick.. ) to unhook myself. Yes, I could have cut the line in seconds, but in this situation, I had plenty of gas and time... this time... Did I say I was stuck good?

So what's the moral of this story...? Well, for me, its to eat more Mexican food (like that new Mexican restaurant next to the court house in Live Oaks), drink at least a beer a week, and REMOVE tank boots from my 85s before going into caves...