NorthWoodsDiver
Contributor
Well last night I got a call saying be at the dive site in 15 min, I just got off work and had not even got my gear together yet. Everything was setup for a sidemount dive and I didn't want to tear it down to put together my singles rig so I just went as is.
The plan was a real shallow dive for the new guy to work on buoyancy and for us other 2 to try out our different gear. I was sidemount with steel 72's, diver 2 was in double aluminum 80's trying out a new drysuit, and diver 3 was just working on buoyancy skills with a single 80 and using an aluminum 19 as a pony for the first time.
Like I said, real shallow like 30-40 ft and since I was in a wetsuit anyway I didn't need to go any deeper with the 41 degree bottom temp.
My sidemount setup is not a conventional commercially available rig and is mounted to a backplate. before you bash that idea just know that it was put together for experimenting in open water only, not cave or wreck use. Eventually I will be getting a rebreather so I'll have to be comfortable with sidemount anyway.
I tried wearing the wing between my body and the backplate but that seemed uncomfortable so instead I fabricated a quick aluminum plate from 1/4" pate to sandwhich the wing to my back plate. The wing was an OMS 32 and the plate a 9lb stainless FredT. I made bungees that were 15 inches long and used the CCR sidemount buttplate from Golem gear.
The first thing I realized was that wearing my weight harness with sidemount tanks was bulky and made clipping the bottles difficult. I took the harness off out before the dive and decided to see what my buoyancy would be like without any extra weight. To my relief I seemed perfectly weighted if not maybe a lb heavy. the LP tanks were only transfilled off 80's so I had about 1700psi in each tank.
I dropped down to 20 ft or so before everyone else was in the water just to see how comfortable things were.
The next thing I noticed that needs a change and the thing I figured would bother me was not having a left post valve on the left tank. The reg felt uncomfortable poking in under my armpit. This setup was only pieced together and I had not planned to dive it yet so the was not planned really and I fully intend to had the proper valves on the tanks for future use.
the bungees otherwise seemed to be the perfect length and while underwater is was simple to clip/unclip tanks although I didn't want to remove anything completely just yet as this was a trial run and I was not totally comfortable with trying to remove bottles in such cold conditions in a wetsuit.
I seemed to trim out very nice and was amazed at how easy it was to stay balanced with all the weight centered over my body. I could go to 1 side or the other and maintain that position should I ever get to a point where I need to squeeze through a vertical opening. Even rolling over to my back worked well although the tanks kinda drop and leave me like a turtle but flipping back over was not difficult.
Walkin out of the water the tanks did have a tendency to cling together at the bottom which is annoying but being as I normally would not be walking more than a few feet in this configuration I dont see it as an issue.
Overall I am not turned off to diving sidemount and feel committed to spend what ever money I need on the proper rig and valves and dedicated regulators but for now just the valves is the only hangup really.
I am anxious to try out sidemounting some aluminum 40's and 80's and some bigger steel tanks that way I have an arsenal of configurations to choose from for specific diving conditions.
Another step in the process is to try this with the scooters to test streamlining out.
Hope this helps someone in the future who might be looking at sidemounting for 1 reason or another. T
The plan was a real shallow dive for the new guy to work on buoyancy and for us other 2 to try out our different gear. I was sidemount with steel 72's, diver 2 was in double aluminum 80's trying out a new drysuit, and diver 3 was just working on buoyancy skills with a single 80 and using an aluminum 19 as a pony for the first time.
Like I said, real shallow like 30-40 ft and since I was in a wetsuit anyway I didn't need to go any deeper with the 41 degree bottom temp.
My sidemount setup is not a conventional commercially available rig and is mounted to a backplate. before you bash that idea just know that it was put together for experimenting in open water only, not cave or wreck use. Eventually I will be getting a rebreather so I'll have to be comfortable with sidemount anyway.
I tried wearing the wing between my body and the backplate but that seemed uncomfortable so instead I fabricated a quick aluminum plate from 1/4" pate to sandwhich the wing to my back plate. The wing was an OMS 32 and the plate a 9lb stainless FredT. I made bungees that were 15 inches long and used the CCR sidemount buttplate from Golem gear.
The first thing I realized was that wearing my weight harness with sidemount tanks was bulky and made clipping the bottles difficult. I took the harness off out before the dive and decided to see what my buoyancy would be like without any extra weight. To my relief I seemed perfectly weighted if not maybe a lb heavy. the LP tanks were only transfilled off 80's so I had about 1700psi in each tank.
I dropped down to 20 ft or so before everyone else was in the water just to see how comfortable things were.
The next thing I noticed that needs a change and the thing I figured would bother me was not having a left post valve on the left tank. The reg felt uncomfortable poking in under my armpit. This setup was only pieced together and I had not planned to dive it yet so the was not planned really and I fully intend to had the proper valves on the tanks for future use.
the bungees otherwise seemed to be the perfect length and while underwater is was simple to clip/unclip tanks although I didn't want to remove anything completely just yet as this was a trial run and I was not totally comfortable with trying to remove bottles in such cold conditions in a wetsuit.
I seemed to trim out very nice and was amazed at how easy it was to stay balanced with all the weight centered over my body. I could go to 1 side or the other and maintain that position should I ever get to a point where I need to squeeze through a vertical opening. Even rolling over to my back worked well although the tanks kinda drop and leave me like a turtle but flipping back over was not difficult.
Walkin out of the water the tanks did have a tendency to cling together at the bottom which is annoying but being as I normally would not be walking more than a few feet in this configuration I dont see it as an issue.
Overall I am not turned off to diving sidemount and feel committed to spend what ever money I need on the proper rig and valves and dedicated regulators but for now just the valves is the only hangup really.
I am anxious to try out sidemounting some aluminum 40's and 80's and some bigger steel tanks that way I have an arsenal of configurations to choose from for specific diving conditions.
Another step in the process is to try this with the scooters to test streamlining out.
Hope this helps someone in the future who might be looking at sidemounting for 1 reason or another. T
