Tetherspout Comfort
How to secure for long-term wear
This will be a brief post. I’m primarily writing it as I get asked this question a lot.
I’ve worn my tetherspout for a bit over 2,000 hours in total. I’m not an expert but I’m not a newbie either. I’ve tried a few security options and I’d like to go through them and discuss how well they work vis-a-vis comfort.
Slap a padlock on it
Or a security tag.
This is what I see most often from people who just got their spout first installed. And indeed, that’s what I did when I first got that not-fit-for-human-use Ternence spout in. I was wearing my Spyder and I just slapped a padlock on it.
If I recall correctly, I almost immediately experience discomfort once I decided to get dressed. The underwear rubbing on the lock would knock the tetherspout around and it turns out, my urethra wasn’t too keen on a tube of 304 stainless steel (remember – Terence) banging around inside of it.
Four hours later and it had to come out.
Perhaps people can get this to comfortable work but I haven’t met them. I think most of the photos you see of guys with padlocks are either newbies or are using padlocks for effect.
Use a lock collar
Badass Workroom will include a lock collar with his spouts for an extra $25 if I recall correctly. They are secured with his 3-holed screw and just press into the spout. They are relatively secure and a fairly elegant solution. Except you still have to secure it to a cage.
Once I got my BAWR spout, I tried using the lock collar on my Spyder. For one, it clanked and you could hear it clank. But more importantly, the main issue wasn’t addressed – it still banged around and I couldn’t wear it for any significant amount of time. If you want to experiment with a Terence spout, all it is is a drill depth stop.
It’s superglue time
At the time, I had a BAWR test cage lying around for my to-arrive BA-28. I ran to Lowes with my tetherspout inconspicuously in my pocket (not that they are all that conspicuous to begin with) and tested a few washers until I found a candidate.
I glued the nylon washer to my cage, put on the spout, thread it through the washer and slapped the lock collar on the end. Voilà, secured at last. And it was comfortable.
About four days later I started feeling some soreness. And once it started getting sore, it got sore fast.
I was at work on a conference call. And it was killing me. I broke out the emergency key, locked my office door, and got myself out of it. But now I still had this titanium tube sticking out of my urethra and I sure as hell wasn’t going to just pull up my pants and let it get pulled around by my underwear. Fortunately, my spout was slightly undersized at the time and with the cage removed, I could yaw the spout over enough so the retainer was aligned close to where it needs to be for removal and so with a bit of pain, I could just pull the whole thing out1.
Can this design be comfortable? Yes, I believe so but it requires correct placement of the washer or whatever is being used. And as it took four days for me to find out it wasn’t placed correctly, well, not exactly easy to experiment with.
Now, this is just my own experience but I know others have also had comfort issues using this method. But I also know people for whom this works.
The design that allowed indefinite wear
On a whim (they were having a sale) I ordered an Orion and Bijou from Evotion and included their tetherspout solution – a security screw that went through the transverse holes on the spout.
And it was the most comfortable solution I have seen. So much so that I use it in my own designs and Badass Workroom is making me a very custom cage that utilizes it.
Why is it so comfortable? I suspect it’s because it allows the spout to angle itself in the most anatomically comfortable way. I can wear this design indefinitely. I believe the longest continuous wear was over two weeks and it was only removed for sex.
Now, it does have a downside. The security screw (an M3 screw used with both a BAWR E2 and E3 spout) can cause urine to leak out a bit around the side. But most annoyingly, the spout tends to hold urine just a little more easily so you have to give it a few good taps to get it to all flush out. But it certainly doesn’t block the urine flow.
One final option
Badass Workroom has another solution based on a 2015 post that secures the spout using a thick-gauge wire hook that connects to the cage’s lock. I have heard someone describe it as perfectly comfortable but I personally don’t care for it because it just seems kind of… well… ugly.
It’s kind of hard to see how it works but you work the hook through the spout so the spout is all the way around the bend of the hook and then you secure the hook to the cage. There’s no way to remove the spout without unlocking the cage unless you can get the spout to pitch 180 degrees while still in your penis. Perhaps it you had a detachable penis you could do it.
Conclusion or something
I think a lock-collar type solution could be perfectly comfortable but it would take some experimenting to get the position and angle right. Considering how much experimenting we already have to do to get a cage to be comfortable, I worry about another pair of variables.
The security-screw method has some disadvantages but if you just want to be comfortable, I haven’t found any way to beat it.
This is arguable a good way to size it regardless – it can’t come out with the cage on as you can’t yaw it and with the cage off, it can be removed without too much pain