What's The Big Deal With Sidemount?

[toby43]

Yes, because of only 3 LP ports (and only two are comfortable with the spg hose).
On the other hand I personally never use two inflators on a single tank setup anymore, even though I never dive wetsuits.
On a dive where I do not even need doubles, why should I ever use the wing in a way that oral inflation would be a problem? (so: no wing hose, but one for the drysuit)
And if you already take that into account a T-adapter to mount 4 hoses to the Tec 3 isn't much of a safety issue.

so the tec3's are fine, but you have limitations. You can't run the inflator hose out the bottom like the razor guys do, you can't run the SPG's up like many Florida divers, and you don't have a rotating turret or ports on the top so it's slightly less ideal. That said I don't think the tec3's are actually good for anything except stages, the DST is much better for doubles, but that's neither here nor there. For sidemount coming from backmount, you NEED to get a longer secondary hose, especially with the Tek3's, a pair of HP hoses, extra SPG and that's it. Your long hose and inflator hoses are perfectly suitable, though maybe less than ideal. Total cost new is $100 for that. The single tank is due to lack of drysuit, but you can always orally inflate the wing, and since you'd only be using AL80's for single tank sidemount, if you're in a drysuit, you don't need to use a wing.

Regarding the canister light, the standard cord lengths are perfectly fine and many divers depending on the rig will actually have them on their hip just like in backmount. Depending on the rig you can also mount them across your back, or up the spine, tons of options. Again, is it ideal? Of course not, the only light that is truly brilliant for sidemount is the UWLD with the side gland, but that doesn't mean anything can't be made to work. Like Victor said, extending the cord is as simple as going to Home Depot and buying some SJOOW cord, which is exactly what is used, making 4 solder connections, and putting the gland back on. That simple, takes 10 minutes if you're a slow solderer.

stage kits as mentioned aren't needed, but if you're a DIR diver, you know how cheap they are to make. Again, go to Home Depot, get some electrical tape, some SS worm gears, some braided line, and you should have extra bolt snaps. If you don't, buying bolt snaps and some gold line is super cheap. Total cost of about $15/tank if you have to buy everything

Plugs for your manifold, no getting around that. $35

Training, not required, though not frowned upon. Depending on where you are located, if you can get to a demo center it may be worth it to help narrow down the rig you ultimately buy as well as remove some frustration. 2 day class at Cave Adventurers is $400

Total cost for that is call it $600 for easy math, plus the rig of your choice. Is it cheap? No, but the training isn't required if you have a buddy who is good at sidemount and can help you get your gear setup, so $200+rig assuming you have to buy a new SPG, hose clamps, and bolt snaps.

Rational reasoning for making the switch? Bedding planes become easier, less risk of cave ceiling damage from the tanks, as you get older being able to carry single tanks, having visual access to your gas supply. Many reasons. I believe in a cave it is a superior and far safer equipment configuration. In open water, I still prefer backmount, but that is personal preference and because I don't have a thick piece of rock over my head, even if there is a decompression obligation, a gas failure on backgas is very different than in a cave. I never made the switch for cave, I did all of my training in sidemount, but I was also doing it before it went mainstream and before gopros so I struggled for many many dives to figure out my equipment configuration because the only instructors were in Florida and I was in college at the time. If you like backmount and are doing mostly open water diving, and are happy, I don't see any reason to make the change other than "because I want to". If you are cave diving, I truly believe it is a better and safer equipment configuration and on that I would recommend that you consider switching. For $1100 you can buy a brand new rig and a full sidemount regulator set vs. $700 for the rig alone

Well look thats a very generous use of your time to post such a valuable series of linked points all of which point to a build up of configuration and clearly represents a lot of experience. Thank you for that. I cant and dont want to buy a whole lot of new gear, i have wasted so much money over the years! But have got some really good feedback from folk here. Looks like the bcd/harness is the first gig. Agree on Tek 3s btw, not convinced at all by the design, although they look pretty....

 

[Coztick]

Giving it a try doesn't have to be costly or complicated.

 

[Subcooled]

what makes it worth the time, effort and money to learn and equip this skill?

Firstly, roll and pitch.

Secondly, the dolphin kick and the non-rigid back in general (fly free).

Thirdly, relaxed and enjoyable cylinder valve feathering (don't ask )

there seem to be whole facebook pages dedicated to making and buying new harness rings!

Humankind will use the next 27 years to reinvent the D-ring and the rubber cord. But first, all possible other designs will be implemented and tried. Some innovations have merit indeed (thanks e.g. for the wonderfull Razor regulator clip), but then the forum effect takes place, resulting in endless doubt and discussions.

 

[Subcooled]

I have no worries about lines in sidemount passages that are on the ceiling in no vis situations getting caught up in my gear is another thing i don't have to worry about.

Yup. It is wonderfull to have all the entanglements on the same side of the body as the hands are.
Somehow however, the line always tends to wrap around the cylinder bottom ('cause it's the furthest point)

 

[Subcooled]

I wouldn't try that stuff in a cave anyway. Can't see anything there that cant be done in BM.

A clever choice, not to try in a cave, as we all know.
Acrobatics aside, you missed the half-the-height-twice-the-width -issue.
I thought that BM divers don't fancy to dive on their back or on the side or head down. I could be wrong as I've never used BMD.

That guy doesn't look like a cave or technical diver to me.

I can only see a diver that has side mounted two tanks and does some nice manouvers in 3D. Are these manouvers as easy with BM?

What does a "cave or technical diver" look like? I'm genuinely interested.

 

[Subcooled]

Apeks Tek3 regulators are quite workable for sidemount. The lack of a 5th port (end port) means they'll never be optimal for hose routing;

I did have DST's with the 5th port and I absolutely hated it. Short hoses are rigid. Now I have standard DST's and even DS4's and guess what... it does not affect my underwater swimming at all. The need for a 5th port may be equipment-specific.

ps. Sorry for a response flood. I'm reading this thread at once.

 

[BeijaFlor]

I'm going to address this from a different perspective ... no cave, no wreck penetration, no technical diving, just fun diving in warm waters, as an old fellow who's a bit of a air-hog and who got tired of being the reason the dive ended....

Back in the mid-2000's, I upgraded from an old Zeagle BC to a DiveRite Transpac and Trek Wings. Around that time, DiveRite was positioning the Transpac as a side-mount rig, and their website was my first exposure to sidemount. I was familiar with independent doubles, because that's what my Advanced class instructor used, but I didn't really see a need for it yet ... I wasn't pushing the limits of no-deco, open-water fun diving.

A few years later, I wasn't diving in my (cold) home waters any more. I dove on vacation, in the warm Caribbean; I carried my own gear, because I prefer it and I'm used to it. I wasn't doing all that much diving, though, not enough to really work on my air-consumption rate ... and I'm not all that "fit," nor is my body negatively-buoyant. I was used to being the first one to signal "low on air," and I wasn't particularly happy about it, but as Bruce Hornsby sang, "That's just the way it is...."

Then, in December 2014, I went to Thailand and did some diving with Pattaya Dive Center. The diving wasn't all that great, but it was better than no diving ... and after the first dive-day, I saw that they offered a PADI Recreational Sidemount course. Well ... I'm diving with a BC that can be converted to side-mount ... and it WOULD give me more breathing gas ... I signed up for the course, went through the pool setup session and open-water training with Andy Jennings (the one side-mount instructor for the Pattaya area) ... and by the end of the course, I knew I never wanted to put a tank on my back again!

I bought a new regulator - in fact, I bought two, on eBay, a Mares MR-12 Beta (with a first stage that matched my MR-12 Voltrex) and an MR-22 Abyss (I switched the Abyss second-stage onto the MR-12 first stage, because the MR-22 is WAY heavier than the MR-12!) I bought the DiveRite Nomad ring-bungee set, plus more D-rings and bolt-snaps and other hardware ... I rigged up stage-straps for those "aluminum 80" tanks they have at all the tropical dive-shops where I dive ... and I did enough water-work, both at my local pool (where my dive-club buddy was running an Open Water course) and in open water (with a Florida Keys trip), to rig, adjust, and configure my old Transpac as a decent, workable side-mount rig.

After 41 dives on side-mount -- almost all of them "resort dives," mostly with dive-operations that are side-mount friendly (like Tropical Sea Divers in Boca Chica, Dominican Republic, and the Arizona Dive Shop on Subic Bay, Philippines -- Thank You!!) -- I am thoroughly delighted with side-mount diving. I am really happy with having enough air, or breathing gas (where nitrox was needed, such as on the "Tabby" Japanese DC-3 wreck in Subic Bay), that I'm no longer the "limiting factor" who calls an end to the dive. I appreciate the redundancy of having independent doubles, even though two tanks are a hell of a burden when I've got everything hooked-on, clipped-in and ready on the dive boat before the dive.

I'll be the first to acknowledge that I've got more to learn about side-mount diving. When I did my first open-water dives off Key Largo, a visiting diver from England (BSAC) told me seriously that side-mount is "an entry drug to tech-diving."