latest SM set up with pics - for anyone getting started it may help....or not

[rick00001967]

You can cleanup your tank neck by tying a loop that's just large enough to pass over the tank valve.View attachment 193221

Also, for keeping track of loop bungees there a piece of hardware I use made by Highseas Millworks that attaches to the shoulder straps so you don't need yet another bolt snap clipped to your shoulder D ring.View attachment 193222





I'd also suggest using a tank neck oring for your breakaway, that way you'd only need one zip tie rather than two.

Finally, consider covering the actual nut on the hose clamp you've placed on your cylinders as those are nice line traps when left exposed.

Good luck,
Dave

that neck loop is exactly what i am gonna do.

that hardware looks like a rebreather accessory. xdeep does supply those heavy rubber orings you can slip onto the shoulder straps as well. i just don't like them for some reason. you can just tie a loop of bungee around the strap too i suppose. but the oring or bungee can and will move. at least your way it stays put

pls keep in mind as i said previous.....these tanks aren't mine. they are rentals. so a lot of this advise is awesome and i love to hear it, but for now i need to be able to remove and reinstall all the hardware each time i dive. if i do get my own tanks eventually i will def be covering that clamp nut for sure. thx again

 

[tbone1004]

you can cover the clamp nut with a piece of air hose and it works just as well for getting it off, but if you're regularly switching around, just get some cam bands. They're cheap and are much easier for this. There's a reason most of us keep a set with us when we travel or just in general in the dive bag. Worm gears are for permanent mount, and if you rig stage straps on the cam bands you don't have to worry about the neck loops or having to adjust the height of the cam band.

 

[canadianoid]

You can cleanup your tank neck by tying a loop that's just large enough to pass over the tank valve.View attachment 193221

Also, for keeping track of loop bungees there a piece of hardware I use made by Highseas Millworks that attaches to the shoulder straps so you don't need yet another bolt snap clipped to your shoulder D ring.View attachment 193222
Dave

I don't see the point to attaching the loop bungees to the harness like that. It seems that clipping the loop bungees with a bolt snap to your chest d-ring would make them work like the continuous bungee, that is, where the bungee can pull only as far as the d-ring which defeats the whole idea of the loop bungees being able to pull the tank further - higher and behind your armpit.. Here is what works for me except I've ditched the metal slider rings.. The thin retrieval bungee goes directly onto the loop bungee:

ADVANCED DIVER MAGAZINE

 

[tbone1004]

+1 to that. I actually have a setup similar to the diverite current ring/loop bungee but using the "Old School Kit" from Edd. Works very well for cold water since the ring is easy to get a hold of and still allows the bungee to stay far enough back to keep the valves where they're suppose to. I'd be concerned running the bungee loops that long up to the shoulder strap..... Necks would hang way too low

 

[Patoux01]

Loquat, just put a double ender instead of a boltsnap, and put it in your pouch,pocket, wherever when you don't need it. The less clutter the better.

I agree with your way to put the loop bungee, however there's no need for "special hardware" here. Take a loop of small bungee (3mm), put it through a triglide so you just have a small loop coming out, run the "real" bungee through that loop, all set.

 

[bada3003]

i also think i need to add too much air to the bc. i am only wearing 10lbs and with lower tank pressure (like on the second dive as example) it is touch to get down. once i do manage to get under i sink like a rock. and i try to make sure my suit and bc are as empty of air as they can get. i am planing on trying to reduce lead by a pound or two each time i go out if i can. one shop (knowing what set up i was to be using) told me they thought i may be able to dive with almost no weight at all. we'll see
...

The Stealth 2.0 is not the best rig for cold waters where you seem to be diving. The lift is in the mid-30s which is just enough for two steels (e.g., Worthingtons), especially at depth. So the amount of air you're seeing in the picture is not unusual.

As several people have pointed out, a butt plate for steels is a must. Your profile is typical of steels hanging on waist clips. As you indicated, try removing some weight but keep in mind that this might affect trim. You have to align your centers of buoyancy and gravity when horizontal. You can shift the cylinders a little, distribute weights in the spine pocket, or (and that's the only strength of Stealth 2.0 in cold waters) shift the wing upwards/downwards by a little. You'll see in some pics of well trimmed out divers that the wing entirely covers the door handles, in others only partly, etc. A Stealth 3.0 rig with a wing with lift in the mid-40s would be great for deep cold water diving. Putting on two wings is not a realistic option since you see that the Stealth wing also balloons (but much less than the other infamous wing).

 

[rddvet]

The Stealth 2.0 is not the best rig for cold waters where you seem to be diving. The lift is in the mid-30s which is just enough for two steels (e.g., Worthingtons), especially at depth. So the amount of air you're seeing in the picture is not unusual.

Just enough for 2 worthingtons? That's just not accurate.

 

[gearhound]

I think a lot of the info being thrown out is not accurate. We've been diving all sorts of steels (Faber, Worthingtons, 72s, 95s, 100s 120s) with the Stealth all summer. With stages even. And we've never used the butt plate. A lot of the misinformation is from people that do not know how to set it up properly. Others see this and take it a gospel. As with any other system, for it to work properly, it needs to be set up properly.

 

[rjack321]

Loquat, just put a double ender instead of a boltsnap, and put it in your pouch,pocket, wherever when you don't need it. The less clutter the better.

I agree with your way to put the loop bungee, however there's no need for "special hardware" here. Take a loop of small bungee (3mm), put it through a triglide so you just have a small loop coming out, run the "real" bungee through that loop, all set.

No the old school loops (as they are often called) need to be shorter than shown (like the Armadillo graphic) so the neck is behind your armpit. The problem with that is that you can't reach them to pull them over the valve knob. And they do occasionally (but rarely) slip off underwater. So the bungie needs a keeper to hold it forward within reach so that you can re-loop it over the valve in water at any time. Do not disconnect the neck bungies, if they are the correct length they will be way behind your back and inaccessible when you need them.

 

[Patoux01]

The Stealth 2.0 is not the best rig for cold waters where you seem to be diving. The lift is in the mid-30s which is just enough for two steels (e.g., Worthingtons), especially at depth. So the amount of air you're seeing in the picture is not unusual.

You might want to go and do a weight check, see if you're not roughly 12kg overweighted.

A BCD only compensates for the weight of the gas in your tanks and the loss of buyoancy of your gear. Do you really get 17kg of gas in 2 tanks?

And i'm wondering where depth comes in the equation diving a drysuit (usually trilam or crushed neo).