Side Mount Yes/no?

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Shutting down a single cylinder is a solution to a non-existent problem.
I agree with this statement. However, and to be clear ... I am not suggesting valve drills for the purpose of shutting off an air supply, but rather for turning one on. I personally know of one person who drowned because he began his descent with his air off, and his buddy simply dropped to the bottom to wait for him there. By the time the buddy realized there was even a problem, the guy was dead.

We can argue the "should have beens" all day, but the guy will still be dead. Had he been able to ... or thought to ... reach back and turn on his air it would've been little more than something to talk about after the dive ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
There is only one reason I can see for someone drowning from starting a descent with the air turned off. It seems they must be too heavy. If not, they could just return to the surface with a few fin kicks. There's a big difference between recreational diving and tech diving, in equipment, skills and corrective actions. A recreational diver in a wetsuit should be light enough that they should have to duck head down and kick to descend from the surface. If they can just dump air and get down, they are too heavy. In that case, if the air is off, getting back up is easy; just stop swimming down! That way, there is no issue of having too many choices to take, or choosing the wrong path to remedy the problem. If you do nothing, you will likely float back to the surface if you haven't gotten too deep already, and simply doing what feels natural IS the right solution (swimming back up!).

Personally, I think the industry has made a big mistake by making the BC standard and "required" equipment. I think most divers would be better divers and have safer more enjoyable dives if they didn't use BCs. I think a BC is a piece of specialty equipment and it should be treated as such, with special training to teach people how to use it properly for those dives that it should be used on, and also the gradations of use from cold water recreational use to full tech use. If people didn't normally use BCs, they wouldn't normally dive overweighted. Nearly everyone's attitude for proper weighting would be shifted toward a better position.

I have accepted taking a lot of flak for my "BC's are inappropriate for most recreational diving" stance. But, this is how I feel. Whenever I hear about these deaths, it just seems senseless and very sad.

I also like the idea of making BCs too small to allow for someone to dive overweight. If the standard recreational BC were to only have about 8 to 10 pounds of lift capacity, it would be darn near impossible for someone to dive with too much weight to prevent a swimming return to the surface, while still retaining enough buoyancy authority to offset suit compression and air consumption. If they were too heavy to swim back up, they also wouldn't be able to float on the surface with a fully inflated BC. The overweight situation would be glaringly obvious long before attempting to dump air and descend. With that, there could also be the added benefit of really small, streamlined and cool looking gear, instead of the baggy and ugly looking equipment usually sold in the LDS.
 
A lot of people can't see "the problem". That's inexperience, or lack of, and it's immaterial.

I once jumped in with gas off... on a negative decent to a pinnacle in current... plummet....one of the boat crew had shut down my cylinder (helpful!). Breathed the hoses dry until I was sucking on nothing at around 8m. Totally empty lungs, totally empty BCD, totally closed cylinder.

Luckily, it was no drama to diagnose the issue quickly, reach back and open the cylinder. Nobody even noticed... but it was a SERIOUS wake up call.

But that's me... I was a tech instructor (teaching a rec class at the time....about 9 years ago). I can imagine how (badly) a less experienced diver might have handled the same situation. It was potentially fatal... and without self-rescue, would have been.

Then I see people splash in with no mask, no fins on... I've seen some of them rescued/assisted on the surface also.

Do you need to do shut-down drills on single tank? No...
Do you need to be able to open a single tank? It's a great option to have....
Do you need to check your gear thoroughly and follow proper procedures? Absolutely...
Do you need to be weighting accurately? Yes, it's critical....

Back to sidemount... all this talk of shut-downs, OOG etc.... it proves a great point for the benefits of true redundant gas/regs.... and having those valves easily accessible and visible at the front....
 
To boat dive with side mount, do you splash in fully kitted, or do you hang the tanks after you are in the water?

What about getting out?
 
To boat dive with side mount, do you splash in fully kitted, or do you hang the tanks after you are in the water?

What about getting out?

It depends on the boat and the conditions. Some boats ... perhaps most ... are ill equipped to handle entry on sidemount. In that case, and again depending on both the boat and conditions, you can opt to enter either tankless or with one tank clipped in, and mount the other(s) in the water. In current or rough seas this wouldn't be a good option, but for more normal conditions it works just fine. Boats with swim steps or side gates will usually accommodate an entry with both tanks already clipped in, although on a lot of boats with side gates they're not wide enough for a normal giant stride, and you have to go in sideways or at an angle to accommodate the width of the gate. Not particularly difficult, but a slightly different technique than you were taught using backmount. On smaller boats, such as a RIB, you may opt for either both tanks, one tank, or none, on the backroll entry ... depending on the conditions. I've done it all three ways. Clipping in on a small boat could be uncomfortable, particularly in rough seas, and it's one of the drawbacks that should be considered before choosing to go sidemount.

There are as many options for getting out as there are for getting in ... and many of them again will depend on both the conditions and the boat setup. Some ladders on larger boats will allow you to just climb up the ladder with all your gear on ... others will require you to take off your fins and/or unclip tanks in order to ascend to deck level. These need to be evaluated and considered ahead of time ... it's just an extension of that "what if" game we were all taught during our OW class. As my instructor used to put it, never get in the water without having considered how you're going to get out ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)
 
I've jumped off in a single tank with the air off (those dang boat crews) promptly reached around and turned it on - I was glad I took the time to learn that skill! Everyone should be able to do some kind of valve drill even if it means pulling the tank to one side or another to reach it.

Switching to SM permanently was the best thing I've ever done. Got to move my weight off my back and move my valves to where I can see them. It's a win win. I use a weight plate with 4lbs in it because the weight of my lp85's + canister + reels + smbs + liftbags etc etc .. other stuff - are enough to sink me, my drysuit, and my bcd. life is good when you get to take the tanks off and walk around freely on the deck with just your light bcd on.
 
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Wow did this thread go sideways. I think it's only obvious that we all should be able to react appropriately in an "emergency" situation. The reality is we never know how we will react until it happens. I always make a point of breathing through my reg a good 3 or 4 times and putting some air in my wing. In the event my valves are off neither of those two things will happen.
 
Nice thread! I recently just started sidemount as I'm getting older/less flexible and at same time wanted to have a bit of redundancy. I don't have a permanent dive buddy and every dive I'm usually paired with a newly certified diver... I'm not comfortable with the idea of fully dependent on a buddy I just met 5 mins ago in case I get into an air emergency! Anyway I did my training on double and single AL80 and have no problem achieving good trim balancing on a single tank. My current setup is short hose w/bungee & bcd inflator on primary, right tank setup is 7' long hose, am using xDeep Stealth classic and wetsuit in tropical water. My question is how do I set up my primary to accommodate both single and double tanks option at the same time? Do I use an "Air2" BCD reg as a backup on my primary, or move my reg from the right tank setup to my primary everytime I feel like using single tank (won't this wear out the thread)? If I use Air2 should I change my primary hose to 5' otherwise it is too short for effective sharing? Finally do I add a spare inflator hose on the right tank setup? Appreciate all recommendations/comments. Thanks!
 
....move my reg from the right tank setup to my primary every time

That'd be my choice... and it's a 2 minute job.

won't this wear out the thread?

I doubt it.

If I use Air2 should I change my primary hose to 5' otherwise it is too short for effective sharing?

5' is sufficient for sharing. 36" is sufficient for sharing - that's all that most backmount, single-tan divers have.

7' is ideal for sharing in overhead environments... to permit air-sharing through restrictions in single-file. In open-water diving, recreational or technical, a long hose permits more comfortable, less stressful 'cramped together' air-sharing ascents.

However, given that... on sidemount...surplus length of the long hose remains stowed under the cylinder bungees, you might as well opt for 7' rather than 5'.

Finally do I add a spare inflator hose on the right tank setup?

No reason to do this, unless you are diving a redundant bladder where the secondary inflator runs from the right.

If you suffered air depletion from the left/primary tank, you could still orally inflate the bladder (an open-water level skill).

If you suffered a wing bladder failure, having a secondary/redundant inflator makes no difference. You'd need a redundant bladder to deal with that. Again, that redundant bladder could be orally inflated. Or... like he new XDeep Stealth Tec Dual-Bladder.... you could swap from primary to secondary LPI on the same side. You aren't planning for both.... simultaneous bladder failure and depletion of left/primary tank. That'd go beyond 'reasonable' foreseeable failure combinations....
 

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