sandiego......would be willing to explain the procedure you use to get in and out of the water. how you get the tanks in / out etc. i of course had a very easy entry with stairs and a deck etc when doing my intro to sidemount. so it was easy. but i am curious after looking at your pics how you do it. are the tanks clipped off to a line you lower over the side ?? do you find the method you use is safe in rough waters ?? or if it is too rough do you switch to back mount.
thx for any further insight you are willing to offer
rick
The clipline has a loop and a bolt snap at the end. This prevents any bolt snap that's attached anywhere on the line from sliding off the end.
Getting in the water, I clip the valve-end bolt snap onto the line (anywhere) and toss the tank over. It slides to the bottom on its own. Same with the second tank.
Then I jump in, take the tank off the line, clip the tank at my waist, connect the QC-6 to my LP manifold (this is a special feature of the UTD Z-System) and bungee the top. Same with the second tank.
If you sidemount with second stages attached to your tank/tanks, then un-tuck the second stage in lieu of the QC-6 connect. Then route your second-stage hoses as needed after bungeeing.
Getting out, I do the reverse. Disconnect and unclip from my harness, clip the valve-end bolt snap to the line. If it's bumpy, I sometimes clip the boot-end bolt snap as well. I think this prevents the tanks swinging and banging around so much. (This is the configuration in the photo.)
If you use a weight belt and want to take it off before entering the boat, you can still use the bolt snap at the end of the line for that. (I don't, 'cuz my weights are on my harness.)
Back up on the boat, I just pull up the line and grab the tanks one at a time by the valve end. This is super easy because my tanks are more or less neutral in the water when empty. (I use AL80 tanks.)
I typically dive pretty calm areas, so my clipline is pretty short. It hangs about 1.5 tank-lengths below the water. For rougher conditions, I would probably lengthen the clipline (2 or 3 tank lengths under water) so the tanks hang low enough not to get banged by the boat as it bounces up and down.
Also, I'd probably jump in with my tanks already on if I didn't want to mess around attaching them in the water in rough conditions.
As it usually goes, I like to hang out and float around for a while after I jump in, rinse my mask, shrug out my suit, maybe even make a couple of free-dives before I get the tanks on. This is a luxury of owning The Ultimate Dive Accessory (a boat): there's no mad rush to get your dive(s) done on someone else's schedule.
