Side mounted bailouts, reels & short arms- looking for suggestions

[tstormdiver]

OK,.... after going through the first 3 days of my CCR Cave course (was more of an orientation than anything), I am trying to figure out some ideas about handling reels with sidemounted bailouts (AL80's). I have found out that mounting them on the butt D-ring does not work at all well for me,... my arms are too short to effectively reach the reels around the bottles back there. I then tried a waist mounted D-ring & set the reels on top of the cylinders during a dive that required multiple jumps (4). Unfortunately, I wound up with a big jumbled up mess & wound up wasting 20 min. in frustration just trying to get & keep them organized for easy access. I use traditional Dive Rite cavern/ jump reels (I don't care much for the side reels). Would mounting them where they hang just below the cylinders make life any easier? The reels between me & the cylinder is certainly uncomfortable, but if it were only the bolt snaps, with the reel bodies below, might be workable,... just not sure, at this point. I realize with this, that the reels would still have to be mounted high enough to not dangle below my profile & cause entanglement problems. Any other suggestions out there? A week ago whilst trying to get those reels sorted out on top of the cylinders, I wound up rubbing a huge raw spot on the top of my wrist (not fun) & would rather not have to experience that again. Maybe it is just a matter of becoming more familiar with that set- up,... I'm not sure, that's why I am asking for suggestions. Thanks.

 

[tbone1004]

First question, what plate/harness are you using and on what breather? The breather itself doesn't really matter, but the rig certainly does.

do you have any objection to spools? Those are much easier..... Hanging those types of reels is really bad since they have the handles and spin knobs and all of that, so as soon as you have to get anywhere near the line you are asking for trouble, they have to go in pockets or on your back somewhere....

Are you mounting your al80's like you would backgas steels hanging from the rails or are they clipped to hip d-rings razor style? If you can get them down low and secured razor style they are much more tolerable and you can easily reach the back of the rig. This style of mounting rotates the tanks up and into your body so the bottom clips are actually being pulled down and out by the rotation imparted by the bungee.

 

[tstormdiver]

I'm using an Apeks SS plate with double side d-rings on the crotch strap to attach the cylinders (I can barely reach those), slid all the way up just about as high as I can- I usually attach the rear of the cylinder first, then the top. The valve of the cylinder is secured by bungee loops around the valve handle. Rides very nicely that way. I have tried the butt plates (Golem Gear & Dive Rite) & those put the rails nearly between my legs & even further out of my reach. I am diving the Hollis Prism2.

It seems when I have to twist to reach back to the D-rings, it pulls the D-rings/ rails completely out of my reach. That is why I gave up on that. By putting them above the cylinders on a waist D-ring, they are away from the line & I can reach them, but they get tangled together. I have never had any trouble with them entangling in the line with OC, waist mounted.

Not crazy about spools,... more trouble to wind & if not clipped off properly, come unspooled too easily. They're OK (IMO) at best for SMB's but not much else. Yes, I know the classic reels are bulky, but I like how easily they roll up & lock into place. Just what I've been used to using all along.

 

[tbone1004]

a lot of us have switched to spools for all of the jumps since most of them are pretty short, only normal reels I carry are for any distance, my SMB actually has a sidewinder on it instead of a spool.

have you tried the tech buttplate from dive rite? That puts the rails up much higher and a bit wider apart than the normal sidemount buttplates.

I guess the other option which I would also seriously consider is to put a bent D-ring on the lower cam band on the O2 and Dil tanks. That gets the reels a bit higher up and you can access them pretty easily and the D-ring doesn't add any more snag points since it is on a cam band instead of a metal band

 

[tstormdiver]

Not bad ideas, but I wonder if the wing would not get in the way??? You gave me another idea .... That double D-ring on the crotch strap, is rather flat & buries into the butt of my drysuit. I wonder if bending that D-ring might make it easier to manipulate. Worth a shot.... Thanks for the ideas & inspirations.

 

[tbone1004]

wing shouldn't have that much air in it in a CCR due to the general lack of buoyancy change throughout the dive, so the reels shouldn't get in the way. May have to pull the wing down a bit, but it isn't going to hamper any performance.

 

[tstormdiver]

Unfortunately, I have to overweight some at the top of the rebreather to trim myself out with the 2 AL80's (they pull my knees down). I've adjusted everything out as far as I can to counteract, but it is not enough.

 

[tbone1004]

should still only be about 10lbs or so in the wing, it's worth a try, you have to have some d-rings and slide locks in the gear bin, takes 2 minutes to put them on the cam band

 

[tstormdiver]

I may try that, along with some other things..... see what works Thanks for the suggestions, I really appreciate it!

 

[Garth]

[video=vimeo;111953253]http://vimeo.com/111953253[/video]

I'm the one filming but my buddy is diving with LP steel 50's with bungee around the valve and neck. Making it short will bring it in line with the body well. Also adding a little length to the bottom clip will allow it to be parallel to your trim.

Those are some good tanks.

Garth