Sidemounting in Cozumel?

[beanojones]

If you're on a boat where you're giant striding, going in with your tanks clipped is simple ... there's no need to hand them down. Likewise, climbing a ladder with small tanks like AL80's is not a big deal. Bigger tanks ... like the HP120's that Aldora uses ... probably would be.


As I recall, Aldora uses small boats where you backroll into the water. If that's the case, I think then handing the tanks down once in the water becomes more practical.

For the most part I think the resistance to accommodating sidemount from any operator is more due to lack of familiarity than out of any real practical consideration.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I know you wrote about your trip in detail, but I cannot remember the thread, so I will just ask the quick questions here:

Did you have any problems with the weight or width of the ladder? (Talking about when diving doubles in SM) Most of them boat also have the hand grip rail that would seem to be a sticking point width-wise.

A lot of captains (most?) I work with seem to want doubles handed up for either concerns about the strength of the ladder, for deco reasons, or possibly unstated concerns about people falling down on the deck with the weight of doubles and damaging the deck, on the few boats that have doubles on them. That means the captain and crew have to hoist some heavy sets up for the divers.

My assumption is that a dive boat that has SM divers in doubles also has BM divers in doubles. In my mostly tourist market, doubles are simply not really welcome on the boat unless it is specifically chartered as such. The reasons given are many, but many might be spurious. Unfortunately, IME even big single tanks often mean everyone else is waiting on those divers at the end. Doubles, the few times they have been mixed in on the boat with other divers, have resulted in that, or in some cases, the captain checking the divers depth gauges on return from the first dive and not allowing those divers to do the second dive.

This is all from a tourist operator perspective. I have never been a tourist diver but once, but I have worked on the tourist operator side, so my viewpoint is informed by that.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I've been on two boats in sidemount ... a Panama City (FL) charter, using a pair of LP77's and three days on The Peace in the Channel Islands using a pair of HP100's. In both cases, I would enter the water giant-striding with my tanks fully clipped in place. The biggest issue was that the gate isn't really wide enough to accommodate a standard entry, and you have to go through the gate at an angle ... and step off the boat accordingly. It takes a bit more care than with backmount.

Getting out, I tried different approaches ... from removing both tanks, to removing just the right tank, to climbing the ladder with both tanks in place. From a time perspective, the best approach was leaving the tanks on and just climbing the ladder. Unclipping the tanks isn't a problem ... stowing hoses, however, takes some time, and when the boat's rocking that's not a comfortable situation for anyone.

On the Peace, doubles configurations are common ... lots of SoCal divers dive them routinely. On our trip, I was the only sidemount diver, but there were maybe nine or ten divers in backmounted doubles ... most using HP130's. The ladders on that boat are built to handle it.

Tropical locations are usually equipped to accommodate singles configurations. I haven't yet brought my SM rig on a tropical trip ... but if I did I might decide to use just a single AL80. I'd really have to evaluate that based on the boat, the conditions, and the mindset of the operators. But foremost, I'd base that decision on not putting undue stress or inconvenience on the boat crew or the other people on the boat. I'm on vacation, after all ... go with the flow ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[beanojones]

Thanks for the input (And to everyone, yourself included, Happy New Year, or あけおめ!)

For one additional minor point, how did the sitting down part work out? I have noticed that BM doubles usually slot in fine to the tank ranks, but the SM tanks are going to bang on the seats, making the captain look askance).

I have learned to take my slung pony off before getting on the boat for that reason. I don't need to, but the captain needs me to. I have yet to take SM on the boat, but that's because I never pay for the boat trips. I am either working, or just catching a ride.

(For what it is worth, I am slowly informing the captains of the coming SM invasion, playing up the full back up aspect. Now that PADI's Self-Reliant Diver course has forced them into allowing solo divers, they are a little more likely to see SM divers. For me at least, solo divers and SM are made for each other.)

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I agree about solo and sidemount being made for each other ... it's one huge reason I wanted to learn sidemount.

I don't sit with my tanks on ... as soon as I board the boat I walk to my berth, unclip the tanks, stow the hoses, and bungee the tanks in. Sitting with the SM rig on is getting easier with use, as the butt plate softens up a bit ... but it's still more comfortable to just slide out of the rig before sitting down. I'll usually then clip it to the tanks, which are already secured.

I haven't yet done small boats with the SM rig. On our Port Hardy trip last year, one of my fellow divers (Curt Bowen) was using his Armadillo on a small boat. He'd just leave the rig on the whole trip, with tanks unclipped and secured. But his rig is very well-worn, and the Armadillo is a bit more streamlined than my Nomad.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Hired Muscle]

Thanks for starting this thread. On a few dives in Coz, I really wished I had a second tank. Redundancy makes me feel better, and I also felt on my own a few times even though I have a great buddy.

Also, we very briefly exceeded our po2 limits on two dives. It was safe because it was brief, but I would have prefered to switch to a lighter gas or air. I know the odds of taking an o2 hit are small, but anything that can go wrong will go wrong. If my buddy, or anyone else for that matter, had an issue/problem that delayed our ascent, gas supply and/or po2 could have become a limitation or aggravating factor. I personally prefer SM for doubles. I am not surprised to hear that Aldora will accomodate SM. I had a great experience with them.

Because I will want 2 gasses on at least a few dives, I might want to keep the HP for my EAN and take an extra Al80 for the air. Again, thanks for sharing thoughts on this subject. I keep coming back to SB for this kind of information sharing.

Happy diving and new year.