Trying it Out / Getting Started

[stano]

Put a 3-4lb weight on the bottom of each tank on a cam band. From my experience aluminums require it pretty much.

 

[JamesK]

I am against putting weight on a tank. It's to easy to just clip the tank off when you breathe it down to a floaty PSI.

 

[ermaclob]

clipping does sound like a simpler solution. just got to place the clips in the right place.

 

[FoxHound]

I use a 4lb weight on each of my Al80s on a cam band....the boltsnap and slider are actually right in the middle of the weight to help keep the weight out of the way......the big downer to this is out of the water that Al tank now weights more then an equal sized steel tank with crappier buoyancy characteristics......I'm moving on to X7 HP 100s just because

 

[Teller]

You dont need to add weights to your AL tanks just clip them off to your waist d-rings.

 

[ermaclob]

You dont need to add weights to your AL tanks just clip them off to your waist d-rings.

i dont have a butplate, i put my waist d rings as far up as possible. i dont think ill have a problem with them there when the tank is heavy, but when it starts to float like today's test run, id need to add a lower d ring.

 

[beanojones]

i dont have a butplate, i put my waist d rings as far up as possible. i dont think ill have a problem with them there when the tank is heavy, but when it starts to float like today's test run, id need to add a lower d ring.

When you say higher or lower D-rings, which higher or lower are you referrring to?

 

[ermaclob]

d rings on the waist.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I was one of the guys who did it themselves. Not many, pronounced "ain't not one damn", sidemount instructors here. I also have the means to dive pretty much any time I want to. I have approx 60 dives in SM since January. It took a LOT of tweaking and playing around. Now I am trying a new bungee loop setup and that is even more tweaking. It is helpful to have a friend who can take pictures or video tape you. This helped me tremendously.

If you are just wanting to run one tank, "Monkey dive", and are not real worried about bottle trim and the such, I guess going it your own will not be as difficult. Modifying your gear could be an issue. I chose to buy a SM specific rig, and not try to make one. To me this is a much better way to go, if you don't have anyone to help.

After saying all this, you live in Florida. You have MANY quality SM instructors available to you. I would highly suggest a class. I actually plan on taking a class when I get home, even though I will already have over 100 dives in it. I am going to be switching over to steel from AL80's and I think it will be a good idea to get someone like Rob "dive-aholic" to instruct/mentor me in steels/drysuit.

I'll come down to Cuba...