SMS 50 sport weighting question

[victorzamora]

There are three problems that I see with your current plan. The SMS50 sport was specifically designed with OW in mind. The inflator elbow being as exposed as it is in a bad location for protection. It's exposed to whatever is over your head. Secondly, as Andy mentioned, taking weighted-tanks into an overhead environment is usually frowned upon due to the high chance of entanglement. The most critical thing is that part of sidemount is easy tank removal...partially for restrictions and partially for increased flexibility. Multiple clip points means more work needs to be done to unclip, which could be dangerous. There's a reason nobody is using that system: we've thought of it, seen the drawbacks, and skipped it. There are great ways of diving SM in Al80s, and plenty of examples of people doing a great job of it.....it just doesn't make sense to me to go down that path.

 

[SWAMPY459]

There are three problems that I see with your current plan. The SMS50 sport was specifically designed with OW in mind. The inflator elbow being as exposed as it is in a bad location for protection. It's exposed to whatever is over your head. Secondly, as Andy mentioned, taking weighted-tanks into an overhead environment is usually frowned upon due to the high chance of entanglement. The most critical thing is that part of sidemount is easy tank removal...partially for restrictions and partially for increased flexibility. Multiple clip points means more work needs to be done to unclip, which could be dangerous. There's a reason nobody is using that system: we've thought of it, seen the drawbacks, and skipped it. There are great ways of diving SM in Al80s, and plenty of examples of people doing a great job of it.....it just doesn't make sense to me to go down that path.

I fail to see anything in here that addresses how much weight you would use with a 3mm wetsuit in fresh water with a Hollis SMS 50 ...

 

[victorzamora]

8 pounds. Better?

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[SWAMPY459]

8 pounds. Better?

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Yep. Thanks.


Since you brought it up though, I don't plan on crawling on my belly through any bedding plane restrictions to put the elbow into danger of wearing down from ceilings. Couple that with the fact I found a used demo that had never touched water for about half the normal going rate then it made sense to me. To tell you the truth, if I had not found this one at such a good price I'd probably not even have got a sidemount rig at this time.

As far as the double clips, I'll try it and see how it works. If its too difficult to unsnap I'll go back to moving it from the butt plate to the front d ring. Maybe it'll work good, maybe it won't. I'm not going to completely dismiss the idea just yet though.

 

[victorzamora]

As for squeezing through some tiny bedding plane, that's not what I was referring to. If you lose your buoyancy control (not uncommon in cavern class) or bump into the ceiling during lights out drills (or real silt-out), it's a real possibility of damaging your inflator elbow. The tanks being rigidly mounted to your side seems really uncomfortable. Also, the hose routing needed with that top-mounted inflator is just clutter-central.

It's just crazy to me that you'd take a system like sidemount and remove as many of the benefits as possible. That's what I was commenting on. If my choices were the SMS50 Sport or BM.....I'd probably be in doubles, especially for caves.

 

[DevonDiver]

Yes they will be used in an overhead environment..... instead of moving the tank from the butt plate to added D rings I'm going to try something similar to what eternaljonah did in this post: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/si...nting-al80s-how-do-you-trim-your-tanks-3.html

Eternaljonah's solution will significantly reduce the 'play' that the sidemount tanks have to adjust/move through confined environments. This may pose just as much hazard as putting weights on the cam-bands.

Sidemount cylinder attachment is supposed to enable substantial movement of the cylinders to permit the diver to move, flexibly, through an environment. This 'double-D-ring' arrangement seems to be the antithesis of that...

Add to that the increased task-loading of having to unclip two bolt-snaps each time you wish to detach/re-attach the cylinders; for instance when donning/doffing cylinders, when partially detaching cylinders to push ahead, if entrapped in a restriction, or in an emergency when the cylinder/s may need to be swiftly jettisoned... Add to that future considerations when having to handle stage/deco cylinders...

I can't speak for other instructors, but for me... that solution seems likely to cause such a significant impediment to diver function that it'd make it near-impossible to meet the performance standards integral in my overhead environment courses, especially when considering 'timely' operation, single-handed function and the addition of other task loading/emergency management demands...

As a rule-of-thumb: When a solution to a problem causes other problems, which require further solutions... you've probably chosen an ineffective solution..

Ignore the butt-plate altogether... it's not meant for Ali (buoyant) cylinders. Use multiple, or sliding/adjustable, D-rings to enable cylinder trim as cylinder buoyancy varies over the dive. This is how experienced sidemount instructors teach. They do so for a reason - it works. Avoid short-cutting and compromise through equipment solutions to skills problems. Maintaining cylinder trim with Ali tanks is a skills issue.

 

[scuba127]

Ignore the butt plate altogether....what if the belt material on the SMS 50 is too light to properly handle attachment points? Honest question....

 

[DevonDiver]

....what if the belt material on the SMS 50 is too light to properly handle attachment points? Honest question....

Can you clarify your question?

 

[firemedic1015]

Ignore the butt plate altogether....what if the belt material on the SMS 50 is too light to properly handle attachment points? Honest question....

It's plenty stiff to use as an attachment point for AL 80's.

 

[Dive-aholic]

There are three problems that I see with your current plan. The SMS50 sport was specifically designed with OW in mind. The inflator elbow being as exposed as it is in a bad location for protection. It's exposed to whatever is over your head. Secondly, as Andy mentioned, taking weighted-tanks into an overhead environment is usually frowned upon due to the high chance of entanglement. The most critical thing is that part of sidemount is easy tank removal...partially for restrictions and partially for increased flexibility. Multiple clip points means more work needs to be done to unclip, which could be dangerous. There's a reason nobody is using that system: we've thought of it, seen the drawbacks, and skipped it. There are great ways of diving SM in Al80s, and plenty of examples of people doing a great job of it.....it just doesn't make sense to me to go down that path.

Easy fix. Move the elbow down to the dump location and the dump up to the elbow location like we've been doing since the 90s with the Nomads. The elbow is now protected and the dump is at the highest point where it should be.