Sidemount Lower Attachment Placement

I have seen lower clip placement on sidemount tanks in just about every location. Using the clock and using standard valves (not left and right) where would you located the bottom clip? Would it be different for AL or Steel? How long of leash would you use on Al tank? How long of leash would you use on steel tank?

For the main sidemount tanks or for stages? Since you mention steel tanks I am going to assume you mean the main sidemount tanks.

I clock my 1st stages down so in your example, with that tank being a right side tank, the knob being 12, my lower clip would be between 4 and 5 o'clock. Its about the same for aluminums although I really only use those for stages and stage rigging is nothing like main tank rigging.

Why are you asking?

honey, that's all trial & error. i've changed mine about a million times. try it, see what works & what doesn't, try something else.

There’s a lot of tinkering that can be done with different options to change the position of the lower sidemount tank clipping points – the bungees you are using and type of tanks will have a big impact too.

If you are using a single continuous bungee, as comes as standard with the XDeep Stealth (I noticed you mention you have this set-up in another thread), to connect to Al80 tanks with a wrap then the best position would be at the side of the tank – if the valve connection to the 1^st stage is facing directly up (i.e. 90 degree rotation from your image), the clip point would be at either 3 o’clock or at 9 o’clock. This can then be adjusted slightly to suit the tightness of the bungee if required.

Basically the tank should sit, 1^st stages up and pointing slightly into your arm-pits when attached and bungeed. Al80 tanks will start negatively buoyant but quickly move to positive buoyancy so the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions mentioned above give the best overall position to suit both scenario’s.

For aluminium tanks and no gloves, the leash connection should be as short as possible, as should the clip. Having a longer leash just allows the tanks to move more, have it as short as you can comfortably use.

If you are using steel tanks or a different bungee connection such as loops the positions will be different, I’m sure someone else can advise on their preferred configurations for different set-ups.

My preference is between 4 and 5 o'clock and 7 and 8 o'clock for the left and right tanks, respectively, with 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock being where the knobs are located. I do this with steel tanks and aluminum tanks. As for the length of the leashes, it depends on your attachment point and your a$$ width. If you use a butt plate then a$$ width will be more of a determinant than anything else. Butt plates do vary in width depending on the rig, but you cannot get a narrow versus wide butt plate for the same rig. If you are attaching the tanks to d-rings placed on your waist strap then the length of the leash will depend on where you have the d-ring positioned. When using aluminum tanks you'll have to figure out where you want to position the front position d-rings and then position the rear position d-rings so the same leash length will work in either position.

So, in other words, there's no one answer. It depends on rig, attachment point, tanks, etc.

Dive-aholic:

My preference is between 4 and 5 o'clock and 7 and 8 o'clock for the left and right tanks, respectively, with 9 o'clock and 3 o'clock being where the knobs are located. I do this with steel tanks and aluminum tanks.

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Same here.

The Armadillo manual has some great diagrams on how to setup the webbing... It's a good starting point that i'm happy to show students.
Then i have to explain to them to not look at hose routing and suicide clips that are everywhere in the instructions!