Sidemount and Stages

[Doppler]

I agree with Rob that exact measurements are a guideline only and the actual setting will vary from diver to diver, cylinder to cylinder and to some extent, mission to mission.

Having just spent the better part of a week, suffering for art's sake playing with my SM rig in JB, the answers to SM are not plug and play. It requires some dedication and humility <LOL>

How are things Rob!?

 

[Dive-aholic]

Things are great, Steve! Taking a little break from teacging this month and just getting in a lot of my own dives. making progress on my JB project. And enjoying temperatures in the mid 70s!


Sorry, had to rub it in. Did you get any snow up there?

 

[pholife]

I'm in agreement with Doppler on that one, try to get things in the right place and stick with it...
I am crossing my stages with my working gas on the rear bottom d ring which keeps them in line and from banging about, plus the weight of the stages keeps the main bottles down. As for the top, thats wth a 1/4 inch bungee looped on big clip to my lower d-ring, (main bottles off 3/8th bungees under the armpits(keeping my right upper dring for the long hose and left for my canister handle to clip to, although i dont like it there as in backmount it can be stored below my second stage). That now is the biggest issue, where to secure my canister handle on the rig, ideally on the left side, but add another d.ring????)

It is a bit tricky getting the hang of moving the main bottle to my second rigid d-ring... plan to spend the week diving it, and shallow water practice staging them over and over to get the hang of the inside reach.

Any advice on where you clip your primary light for storage? (canister handle, my canister its self is fairly centered on my hip/pelvic, just a few inches from where it would sit in a backmounted config)

 

[shoredivr]

Get rid of the canister and use one of the powerful little lights with a soft goodman handle like the Sola Light and Motion. There are other brands, that's just an example. 3 hr burn time, light and battery sits on the back of your hand. No canister. No light cord. No problem.

 

[pholife]

yea I looked the short light, but want more than the three hour burn time, because think about that, its really a 2 hour burn time, keep that extra hour as a reserve. Sure you take out the light cord but its in front of everything.

What I ended up doing was moving the two 1k weights I had on the inside of the waist belt and put the canister there, tried it today with 2 stages and was fine.

I am just finding that using 4-5 stage I am cutting up my hands quite abit reaching to clip and unclip them... my left hand looks like i have lepracy now! just cuts all over the place... gotta toughen up my skin a bit!

Well tomorrow nice light trimix blend 20/20 for the Arch here in Dahab only brining one stage though, running through the plan now and 50% is gonna be the deco gas... dont really feel like ****ing up my hands to shave a few mins off deco

My opinion is still for those "shallow" deco dives sidemount is the way, I just enjoy knowing EXACTLY how much air is there compared to trusting a maniforld I cant see... think once you start pushing the depth, considering the enviroment utilizing that empty area on the back for you working gas, but obviously this is catered to the dive

From those who have done anything on sm beyond the 100m mark, how often are you changing regs at depth?

 

[DevonDiver]

I am just finding that using 4-5 stage I am cutting up my hands quite abit reaching to clip and unclip them... my left hand looks like i have lepracy now! just cuts all over the place... gotta toughen up my skin a bit!

It's a bit (ish) off-topic, but I always wear 3M Comfort Grip gloves. There's virtually no loss in dexterity, but they give all the protection you need. Costs about $5 wherever in the world. If I can get them in most Philippines hardware stores, you can probably get them anywhere...

 

[pholife]

very good call! havent wanted to use drysuit gloves as I am fearful they will rip, just gonna have some holes again

yes I will go to the hardware store and get some, I'll post if they are available here in Dahab.

andy whats your take on "cheating" with the stages, in the sense that rather than securing my normal sidemount (working gas bottles) to NOT the rear most dring but rather the deco bottle there thus I am making a cross, allowing the "normal" bottle to be moved forward as it becomes more positively bouyant with out unclipping it and using that "cross" (where the deco bottle is attached) to keep the normal bottle from floating upwards as it becomes more positively buoyant?