| Valves on inverted tanks become unreachable as soon as you start carrying a tank light on the right hip and stage tanks on the left.
It seems to me that the solution (inverted tanks) is worse than the original problem. I'd try solving the original problem first:
Put more air in the wing and dump the air out of the drysuit before reaching for the valves.
Move the bands lower on the tanks to raise the height of the valves.
Loosen the shoulder straps on the backplate, they should NOT BE TIGHT.
Streach and exercise your muscles until you have the needed range of motion.
If you can get to the valve knobs but they are hard to turn, replace the knobs with Sherwood rubber knobs, and have somebody who knows what he is doing, clean and lube the valves - I can roll my valves open and closed easily using only the palm of my hand.
Michael |