SMS75 enough lift?

[Bigeclipse]

All,
I am heavily contemplating going to side mount. I currently back mount and my tech instructor is 100% fine with that but he suggested I take a look into side mount anyways. After reading all the pros and cons, I think I really like the idea of sidemount. I also like the idea of the Hollis SMS75 as I mainly cold water dive with steal tanks but on the occasional dive with singles or aluminum 80s, its good to know I can make this work as well. The only thing im hesitant about is lift with a drysuit and lots of undergarments. I have not 100% figured out my weighting with back mounted doubles and likely can lose some pounds but it appears most people still use in the neighborhood of 45-50lbs lift, so why would side mount be any different? It would appear the SMS 75 does not require a backplate so there is some more weight there. Just curious before I go and buy a sidemount rig, how much lift do people seem to need with some heavy steels and thick undergarments in a drysuit?

 

[tbone1004]

your wing needs to be able to do 2 things.

1. Float your rig at the surface without you in it, with everything attached. This means doubles, backplate, regs, etc etc. which with most people is more than enough weight. If you use integrated weights, i.e. steel backplate, v-weights, etc etc. then it obviously needs to be able to handle this. What this SHOULD equate to is the amount of ballast required for you to be neutral in your exposure protection, plus the weight of the volume of gas you are carrying.

2. be able for you to stay neutral at maximum depth with full suit compression and/or flood.

With the SMS75 you will be using the integrated weights in the harness, so it all depends on how big the cylinders are you are planning on carrying, and how much weight it actually takes to get you neutral in your drysuit. Only you can determine if the SMS75 has enough lift based on the criteria above

 

[Bigeclipse]

your wing needs to be able to do 2 things.

1. Float your rig at the surface without you in it, with everything attached. This means doubles, backplate, regs, etc etc. which with most people is more than enough weight. If you use integrated weights, i.e. steel backplate, v-weights, etc etc. then it obviously needs to be able to handle this. What this SHOULD equate to is the amount of ballast required for you to be neutral in your exposure protection, plus the weight of the volume of gas you are carrying.

2. be able for you to stay neutral at maximum depth with full suit compression and/or flood.

With the SMS75 you will be using the integrated weights in the harness, so it all depends on how big the cylinders are you are planning on carrying, and how much weight it actually takes to get you neutral in your drysuit. Only you can determine if the SMS75 has enough lift based on the criteria above

Yeah that's what I figured was just trying to get a rough idea before I go and purchase as I have access to a good deal that won't last longer than a few days. Maybe I'll just buy it anyways and if it doesn't work sell it for not a big loss since I'm already getting a good deal.

 

[uncfnp]

May not be much help since I'm a petite female and in a neoprene drysuit with a light layer under but I didn't need any extra weight with the SMS 75 and 2 HP100's.

And not sure what integrated weights tbone is refering to.

If you post your question in the sidemount subforum you might get more responses.

 

[abscuba]

I have used mine with 2 neutral 80s and 2 40s with no trouble at all in a 3 mil wetsuit. It really depends on the kind of diving you are doing. If you are doing to take 4 steel 100s then you will probably want something with dual bladders and a little more lift. If your just looking to dive single or dual 80s the 75 should be plenty.

 

[Bigeclipse]

I have used mine with 2 neutral 80s and 2 40s with no trouble at all in a 3 mil wetsuit. It really depends on the kind of diving you are doing. If you are doing to take 4 steel 100s then you will probably want something with dual bladders and a little more lift. If your just looking to dive single or dual 80s the 75 should be plenty.

Looking to dive dual steel hp 100's with 1 or 2 aluminum 40 deco bottles

 

[Bigeclipse]

Do you all think the SMS 75 rig has enough lift (40lbs) for two steel 100's and 2 aluminum 40 deco bottles with a trilam drysuit and heavy undergarment?

 

[kafkaland]

While I can't speak specifically to the SMS75, I found it very hard to make one sidemount rig work for both, cold water diving with dry suit and steel tanks, and warm water diving with AL80s. I started out with a Halcyon Contour, which works fine for cold water, but got rather frustrated with it in the Mexican caves, and ended up getting a Razor as my warm water harness.

 

[Bigeclipse]

While I can't speak specifically to the SMS75, I found it very hard to make one sidemount rig work for both, cold water diving with dry suit and steel tanks, and warm water diving with AL80s. I started out with a Halcyon Contour, which works fine for cold water, but got rather frustrated with it in the Mexican caves, and ended up getting a Razor as my warm water harness.

I may ultimately do that but from all the reviews I've read that the sms75 does side mount steels well and with a couple easy mods can also do aluminum 80s...maybe not great but we'll enough people say.

My real concern is enough lift with two steel 100's and 2 aluminum deco bottles and a drysuit with medium to heavy under garments.

 

[victorzamora]

I may ultimately do that but from all the reviews I've read that the sms75 does side mount steels well and with a couple easy mods can also do aluminum 80s...maybe not great but we'll enough people say.

I can speak to this. Having tried it and several others, it'll sidemount the tanks just as well as anything else out there...it just takes setting everything up right. It won't ever be a Stealth or Razor in terms of form factor, though. Razor-mounting your canister light and removing door handles for AL80 diving helps, but if you'll be diving in Mx a lot, getting one of each isn't a bad way to go. I've done plenty of dives in AL80s on an SMS75 and SMS100 (mostly the modified 100) and they'll get the tanks flat and pretty.

My real concern is enough lift with two steel 100's and 2 aluminum deco bottles and a drysuit with medium to heavy under garments.

Twin 121s and 3 aluminum bottles starts pushing some limits, but 100s and two deco bottles are fine....especially in a drysuit. In fact, that's where I think the sweet-spot is for the SMS75.