Hollis SMS Katana -- a newbie sidemounter's review

[BeijaFlor]

I've posted some questions about the newer side-mount rigs, in the past week or so, because I was seriously considering a new rig to replace my DIY-converted DiveRite Transpac. As discussed elsewhere, the Transpac wasn't really meant for side-mount, but they worked up a system to use it ... however, the horseshoe wing is far from optimum; I had a hard time rigging it to minimize the "taco effect." Plus, I'm doing almost all of my dives on-vacation in the tropics, using the dive-operator's aluminum 80s (12-litre for the world outside the USA), and DiveRite is really meant for Florida cave diving with always-negative steel tanks.

There are a lot of innovative rigs out there, but there were only two available to look over in person (and maybe to dive) in the Greater Washington DC area ... one shop northwest of Manassas had a DiveRite Nomad LTZ, and they and DiveRite will be hosting a Demo Day next Saturday at Millbrook Quarry. Another shop, south of Manassas (Blu Water Scuba), had a wide range of Hollis gear, including the SMS Katana ... and from what I've read here, on other threads, I figured the Katana would be a better choice than the Nomad. And Blu Water Scuba had their own indoor training pool, where I could try it out ... to my heart's content.

I scheduled a demo dive for the Katana, yesterday morning (Tuesday 2 Aug), at Blu Water Scuba. They have a huge (25-yard length) indoor pool for training and tryouts ... Tom, the owner, helped me a little with the set-up, mainly by finding me a pair of half-full tanks so they'd be "floaty" for my trial. Wish someone could have taken pictures of me while I worked with it, but ... no matter.

The Katana's air-bladder is sewn out of coated fabric, rather than welded vinyl; it has internal baffles (shapers) that help eliminate the "beach-ball effect" you might get without them - even blown up to the max, resting on a table, it's reasonably flat. Nice touch. It has a long "spine pocket" with slots for two 5-lb weights along the small of the back and one 3-lb weight closer to the shoulder-blades. I used 10 lbs for the first dive, and it was ample; I was a bit overweighted, in fact. (Incidentally, the Katana weighs in at 6 lbs, compared to 8 lbs for my old DiveRite rig. That's two pounds less worry for my checked bag when I go on-holiday. And it's significantly more compact, emptied of air -- I think I can get along with a smaller checked-bag, too.)

"One size fits all" is what Hollis says about the Katana, and the truth is that it is HIGHLY adjustable, while you're preparing for the dive. You really can't adjust it in the water, though; you have to take it off. Once you get it set-up right, though, it's easy to get in and out of the harness, and it's stable.

I set up the tanks with the 'stage straps' I'd been using with the Transpac and its ring-bungee setup, adding "choker" bolt-snaps around the tank neck -- they're mostly to handle the tank out of the water, though. I took my time setting up, donned the tanks in the shallow end of the pool, and set out for the deep end -- but immediately encountered two problems: (1) The loop bungees were too short and stiff for me to get them around my tank valves, and (2) one of the "leader" bungees between the loop and the shoulder-harness came untied from the loop. I returned to the side of the pool, and re-tied the leader -- and I used those "leaders" to loop-in the tanks for the rest of my dive. (They were enough to keep the tanks reasonably snug under my shoulders. I can improve the loops later.)

First impression -- the Katana is superbly balanced. I noticed a couple of times that I felt a bit "light in the feet," but generally it had me flat in the water the way you need to be. The dropped-style D-rings on the back of the belt make "tail rails" quite unnecessary, and it was easy to find them by feel; ditto with the angled D-rings on the front of the belt. Everything felt perfectly stable. I did notice I needed to angle up a bit to vent air out of the top-mounted dump valve, and get vertical (leaning back a little) to get rid of the last vestiges. And I didn't have any way to secure the inflator-hose to my harness -- but that's something I can take care of before I take it out diving again. I had no trouble unclipping the tank-tails and pushing them forward to go through the diamond-rings they had in the deep end of the pool, nor with entirely unclipping the tanks and swimming back to the shallow end as if I were finishing my dive. And I had less trouble floating face-up on the surface than I'd had with my DiveRite rig.

So I got dry, went back to the shop, and bought it ... then I decided to play with it some more, because I was there and I had the pool to myself. I tightened up the crotch-strap a little more, took the stage-strap harnessing off the cam-bands, and tried again with the more 'minimalist' tank rigging the Katana makes possible. I also put less weight into the spine-pockets, using 6 lbs instead of 10 - this with both tanks in the "floaty zone," one at 1000 PSI, the other at 1700.

Second impressions: The Katana feels like part of me -- easier and more natural than my Transpac ever was, even when I was using it back-mount. I did have to go vertical, as I said above, to get the last vestiges of air out of it ... but then I was neutral, comfortably stable in the water-column, with less lead than I've ever needed even for a fresh-water dive. I repeated all the "sidemount tricks" and gear-drills I could think of, and completely dropped my right tank to swim around a little with just the left tank. And it worked ... beautifully. By the end of the second session, I had both tanks down to 1000 PSI, and they rode right where I needed them to be as I finished my dive. (Actually I swam back to the shallow end underwater, with the tanks completely unclipped and bobbing vertically, the bolt-snaps in one hand. Perfect.)

I have a few more things to work up, and to add ... I want to mount longer loop-bungees, though I managed to tie the existing ones off closer to their ends. I want a surgical-tube loop to secure my inflator to my chest. And I'm buying a double-offset rigid D-ring for the back of my crotch-strap, to give me a place to attach my butt-pocket or "man purse."

And I'm thinking of getting a heavier wetsuit and a pair of tanks, so I can dive locally with this rig. It's that much fun -- it would have to be, wouldn't it, to get me to consider cold-water diving again.

 

[tbone1004]

the katana bungee is quite stiff, but there should have been ample amounts to get around the valve stems, especially with al80's. What is going to happen though is they sit a LOT farther back than you will be used to with your Nomad, especially using ring bungees. You may not be able to reach the loop easily if you aren't particularly flexible, so untieing the loop and putting one of the 2" metal o-rings similar to what the ring bungee uses is fine to aid in grabbing them. Alternatively you can just use the o-ring as your attachment point and use it just like the ring bungees on the DR.

Inflator hose is as simple as a small prusik loop of bungee and use a double ender to clip it to your opposing shoulder d-ring, or you can prusik it through a normal bolt snap for the same effect.

You shouldn't have to get fully vertical to get the last bit of air out but you do have to break trim if you want it all out. If you are flexible you can also replace the blanking plug on the right side with another dump valve. My katana has a Deep Sea Supply dump valve on the right that allows for better dumping albeit it's a bit awkward to reach.

For fitting, make sure that you have the waist straps at the same level that you wear the belt on a pair of jeans, so right at your hip bones as opposed to your waist. This will get the trim down where you want it, but also make the whole rig feel a lot better.

 

[tbone1004]

compared to some of the pictures that you have posted of yours, this is where the Katana is designed to have your tanks ride

Like I said earlier you can either choose to put a metal o-ring on the loop to use your ring bungee system, or you can put it on there just to have something that makes it easier to grab. Also of note, you will have your chest strap MUCH lower than where you are used to for it to work properly because of the attachment point. Mine ends up just below my sternum.

 

[BeijaFlor]

the katana bungee is quite stiff, but there should have been ample amounts to get around the valve stems, especially with al80's. What is going to happen though is they sit a LOT farther back than you will be used to with your Nomad, especially using ring bungees. You may not be able to reach the loop easily if you aren't particularly flexible, so untieing the loop and putting one of the 2" metal o-rings similar to what the ring bungee uses is fine to aid in grabbing them. Alternatively you can just use the o-ring as your attachment point and use it just like the ring bungees on the DR.

When I reached into the wing, I found the bungees had been tied with a longer "tail" behind the knot than I judge necessary. I re-tied them closer to the ends, and hopefully they're long enough now to snag a valve stem (or a knob). If not, it's easy to buy and mount longer bungees.

Inflator hose is as simple as a small prusik loop of bungee and use a double ender to clip it to your opposing shoulder d-ring, or you can prusik it through a normal bolt snap for the same effect.

Exactly. I just didn't have the spare bungee to rig it at the pool. I was telling things as they were, not as they're going to be ... I'll get it rigged before next dive.

You shouldn't have to get fully vertical to get the last bit of air out but you do have to break trim if you want it all out. If you are flexible you can also replace the blanking plug on the right side with another dump valve. My katana has a Deep Sea Supply dump valve on the right that allows for better dumping albeit it's a bit awkward to reach.

Thanks for the reminder -- THE ONE THING that I forgot when I ordered the butt-pouch mounting plate this afternoon! (Going to try to call them and get it added to the order ... Yes, they could, and they did.)

For fitting, make sure that you have the waist straps at the same level that you wear the belt on a pair of jeans, so right at your hip bones as opposed to your waist. This will get the trim down where you want it, but also make the whole rig feel a lot better.

That's exactly where I've got it. And yeah, it's "a bit of all right." Feels wonderful.

 

[tbone1004]

no problem. Tobin has the best dump valves on the market, they're quite a bit better and are the first thing I do when I get a new rig that isn't DSS, though they are all replaced now

 

[BeijaFlor]

compared to some of the pictures that you have posted of yours, this is where the Katana is designed to have your tanks ride

Like I said earlier you can either choose to put a metal o-ring on the loop to use your ring bungee system, or you can put it on there just to have something that makes it easier to grab. Also of note, you will have your chest strap MUCH lower than where you are used to for it to work properly because of the attachment point. Mine ends up just below my sternum.

Wish I'd had photos to post. I haven't given any thought to the art of the underwater selfie.

 

[lermontov]

t You may not be able to reach the loop easily if you aren't particularly flexible, so untieing the loop and putting one of the 2" metal o-rings similar to what the ring bungee uses is fine to aid in grabbing them. Alternatively you can just use the o-ring as your attachment point and use it just like the ring bungees on the DR.

.

I put a zip tie on the o ring on my nomad-works good

 

[BeijaFlor]

I put a zip tie on the o ring on my nomad-works good

True enough, Lermontov, the Nomad ring bungee setup works quite well. I don't always have an easy time of getting it clipped-in to the top of the tank, though ... and well-meaning divemasters and boat captains, who are unfamiliar with the rig but eager to help, have found ways to do it wrong, leaving me to sort out the goof underwater. (Grumble.)

With the Katana, I figure it'll be easier to rely on the bolt-snaps on the entry, and deal with the loop bungees in the water.

 

[lermontov]

True enough, Lermontov, the Nomad ring bungee setup works quite well. I don't always have an easy time of getting it clipped-in to the top of the tank, though ... and well-meaning divemasters and boat captains, who are unfamiliar with the rig but eager to help, have found ways to do it wrong, leaving me to sort out the goof underwater. (Grumble.)

With the Katana, I figure it'll be easier to rely on the bolt-snaps on the entry, and deal with the loop bungees in the water.

I agree its a bit messy and feels a little congested - but after countless times experimenting think Ive got it sorted i can gear up on the boat ok as i put gloves on last. I drop a rope loop over the side to clip tanks to on exit so i can get up ladder easier ( bad back -ageing) then haul in tanks after, my problem is unclipping when im in water with gloves and all my gear on reels knives etc (11-15ºc normal temp)-thats a work in progress lol

 

[sphyon]

Aww yeah! Glad to see you are digging the katana. I might have to give cave adventurers a visit this month finally.