Sidemount Photos from my DIY rig trials...

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Location
Subic Bay, Philippines
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Had these photos taken today, whilst trialling my DIY rig...

Practicing hover, back kick, sidekick and helicopter turns... and watching some pipefish...

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Wriggling in the tight bits...
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Inside an engine room (Jap Patrol Boat). Whilst inverted, the cylinders obviously deviated from good trim. Thoughts?

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Ascent and Deco Stop.
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All photos courtesy of Jun Lao, PaparazSea Images.

Photos (higher res) on my blog: Sidemount Diving on Subic Bay Wrecks, PhilippinesScuba Tech Philippines
 

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Last edited:
The rig looks pretty well tuned for a ~250.00 setup.

I will definitely be working on something like that for teaching OW sidemounters.

-- Travis
 
the tanks look to far forward IMO. I would try sliding the bottom clip up the tank higher to help pull the tanks behind your armpits. on my al80s the bands are almost halfway up the tanks. you also may want to consider a different style front bungee like a loop bungee. I know you want a hard mount, and that can still be achieved if you put the top clips on loops.

how did you like it?
 
James... do you have a photo of how you configure your loop bungee?

Now I've gotten my bungee length sorted, the next trial-and-error adjustment will be the cylinder rigging/cam-bands. They'll definitely be coming up the tanks today...2" per dive until I've found an optimum.

I much prefer the feel of my DIY to the Hollis that I used before. It's cleaner, more streamlined and muscle-memory is retained. Can't compare to the Razor or UTD yet, but I plan to trial those soon hopefully. Given the prices involved - those wouldn't be suitable for me stocking as rentals though.
 
I do have some pics I can add when I get back to my computer. I am on my iPad now.

sounds like a good plan on moving your tank bands. I started with mine 6" up and then went from there as well.

I should be able to put some pics up for you later tonight.

---------- Post added April 21st, 2012 at 11:01 PM ----------

Here is a pic of my bungee loops that I made. I used two inch webbing and some grommets to make it.

IMG_20120318_185322.jpg


I slip the bungee around the tank valve and then the I can clip off the neck of the tank using a bolt snap that is attached to a leash and secured around the neck. That gives me a hard mount that allows me to giant stride and back roll off of boats. The leash is long enough that the it can stay connected the entire dive and allow the tanks to still ride where I want them. It also allows the tanks to be pushed forward in front of me without issue. If you would like a pic of that, I can take one tomorrow.
 
If you would like a pic of that, I can take one tomorrow.

Sure... that'd be great. I'm have problems picturing the leash concept.

I could change out the bolt-snap bungee and loop them on the existing shackles at the back. Will give that a try later (need to make some spare bungee up anyway). Just not sure how you're holding the loops down/forwards to prevent tank movement when inverted/upside-down.
 
the snap and leash keep the tank top from moving to much when inverted. the bottoms I have to unclip and clip to a different drng if I go upside depending on the buoyancy of the tank.

I will get some good pics tomorrow of the bottles and the rig on out of water for you. maybe that can help give you some guidelines, if y decide t change anything.
 

Here is a pic of my bungee loops that I made. I used two inch webbing and some grommets to make it.

How long is the webbing?

I'm going to experiment with running a single bungee across the back also...

Finally got my Oxycheq Ultralite backplate... that'll be trialed on the rig in the coming week (pictures to follow). The ultralite has a nice webbing loop on the back that'd be perfect for routing a bungee or the webbing for loops
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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