How to Rig a Stage Bottle: DIR Stage and Deco Bottle Rigging

Watch a diver with a badly rigged bottle.

The valve flops down. The bottom swings out. Every few kicks, a hand goes down to shove it back where it belongs. They're not diving. They're managing a bottle.

It's not a skill problem. It's a rigging problem. And it's fixed on the bench, before the dive, in about twenty minutes.

What do you need?

UTD's rigging guidance keeps the parts list short:

• An aluminum 40 or 80. UTD doesn't allow steel stage or deco cylinders in its certification courses.
• About 6.5 feet (180 cm) of 5 mm braided nylon line.
• Two stainless steel single-ended bolt snaps with a large eye, so you can work them with gloves.
• One stainless hose clamp with a cover over it.
• About a foot (35 cm) of rubber fuel tubing to protect the line at the clamp.
• Two bands cut from a motorcycle inner tube to hold the regulator hose.
• Markings: maximum operating depth on deco bottles, and your initials near the bottom. See Deco Bottle Marking.

Nothing else. No handles. No extra clips.

How does the rigging work?

Three parts do all the work.

The line. It's tied snugly around the neck of the cylinder, below the valve, and runs down the side of the bottle in line with the valve outlet. That alignment matters. When the bottle hangs at your side, the regulator faces up toward you instead of pointing at the bottom (SSI).

The top bolt snap. It sits on the line near the neck and clips to your left chest D-ring. It holds the front of the bottle up and close.

The clamp and bottom bolt snap. The hose clamp goes around the cylinder, over the line, lower down. The line leaves the clamp in a short loop that carries the bottom bolt snap. That snap clips to your left hip D-ring.

Here's the thing most people miss. Where the clamp sits decides how the bottle hangs. Move it and you change the loop between the clamp and the bottom snap, and the whole bottle sits differently against your body.

So you don't set the clamp by measuring. You set it in the water.

How do you set it up?

1. Tie the line around the neck, below the valve, so it can't slide.
2. Put the top bolt snap on the line near the neck, where it reaches your chest D-ring.
3. Run the line down the cylinder in line with the valve outlet.
4. Fit the fuel tubing so it protects the line where it meets the clamp.
5. Clamp it. Hose clamp around the cylinder and over the line, tight enough that nothing slips. Cover the clamp.
6. Form the bottom loop and put the bottom bolt snap on it.
7. Add the inner-tube bands for the regulator hose. Stage and Deco Regulator Setup covers the regulator.
8. Test it in the water, with your own harness and suit. The bottle should ride along your left side, roughly parallel to you. Adjust the clamp until it does.

What should you avoid?

UTD's list of don'ts is short and worth memorizing.

• No metal-to-metal connections. The bolt snaps ride on the line, not on a ring or on each other.
• No "suicide" clips. Double-ended clips can snag a line or clip themselves to something you didn't intend.
• No brass bolt snaps. Use stainless.
• The rigging is not a handle. Carry the bottle by the valve or the cylinder. Hauling it around by the line loosens everything you just set.

Is rigging a one-time job?

Let's be honest. Most divers rig a bottle once and never look at it again.

The comfortable belief: it hung fine last year.

The truth: line stretches. Knots settle. Clamps creep. Bands perish in the sun. A bottle that hung perfectly last season can hang badly today, and you won't notice until you're fighting it at depth.

Check it every time you clip it on. Is the clamp where you left it? Is the line tight to the cylinder? Do both snaps open and close cleanly? Does the bottle sit flat when you're horizontal?

Rig it once, then prove it

A well-rigged bottle disappears. You forget it's there until you need it. That's the goal.

Rigging a stage bottle is part of the Stage and/or Deco Bottle Extension, along with gas switching, bottle passing and the emergencies that come with carrying more than one gas. When you're ready to carry two, read Carrying Multiple Stage Bottles.

So, how does your bottle hang right now? Have you ever actually looked?