What's with sidemount?

[beautybelow]

on the deck of a heaving dive boat in 4-6 foot seas, whether fully kitted up and trying to waddle to the jump gate with cylinders swinging this way and that (applies to those who don't have their rigs fully tuned yet), or trying to get in and have their cylinders handed down to them from 6 feet high. Your sidemount instructor was the first diver we've ever had dive sidemount from the Spree, and he did fine. Others who came later got through the process without managing to kill themselves. I just don't see it as a best case scenario for all situations. When someone tells me "I dive sidemount", I want to tell them that I can rig that way too, and would if I had any reason too. I dive with a snorkel. Not often, and only if I think I will spend a long time on the surface, because a snorkel is a tool. It helps me accomplish things I can't otherwise accomplish if I didn't have it.

To repeat. I have nothing against sidemount. I just don't get it. I didn't get BP&W before I tried it, either.

I took it as the OP was talking about sidemount with two tanks.

In my 500 and some odd posts on scubaboard since 2006 only about 5 have been understood the first time, maybe that's why I rarely post. haha

Anyway, my original point I tried to add to this discussion according to the original post and posts added by the original poster was:

I am guessing that most recreational liveaboards (and it's a fairly educated guess) can't accomodate 2 tanks for each diver on a full charter. (doubles or twin sidemounts, doesn't matter)

I mentioned the sidemount diver a few weeks ago only because it made me think that if they all were doing it what a mess it would be. He was not an issue at all and I assumed he was just logging dives in his sidemount configuration because he was a sidemount instructor.

I stated in my first post here that I know very little about sidemount diving and one question I had for this instructor which I never got around to asking was: Are both tanks manifolded so you empty them at the same rate? I just assumed they were and we were filling two tanks. I never did ask the boat crew because honestly I gave it all very little thought at the time.


If you are going to dive one of the tanks provided by the boat then personally I don't care of you stick it under your T-shirt and hop in (which I have done). The company however may have other policies that apply.

 

[Tigerman]

Steve Bogaerts Sidemount Skills demo in a Razor Harness - YouTube should show pretty well how the sidemounts is set up..

 

[watboy]

Should I consider independent BM doubles? I will not be doing any penetration ever and my main goal is to get more experience w a doubles setup in recreational dives. It just seems like if its independent tanks, SM would be better than BM.

If you plan to dive doubles when you travel, this is one of the most appealing advantages to sidemount. My first exposure to it was on a trip to Port Hardy ... the extreme north tip of Vancouver Island ... with some folks from Advanced Diver Magazine. Curt Bowen was using his Armadillo, and some AL80's that he got locally. That just seemed way more practical than hauling in a set ... or more than one set ... of manifolded doubles.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Bombay High]

you can do one on the back and then two on your sides or else the guys around here attach a small deco bottle to each sidemount tank. So they go in with 3 80s and then two i guess 40 somethings? I've just started my side/tec so I dont know much about it yet

seems crazy to sling your bottom mix and back mount your deco gas. How do you see what you are about to switch to ? Are the MOD markings on the 2nd stage ? Seems confusing ... Am i missing something ?

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I stated in my first post here that I know very little about sidemount diving and one question I had for this instructor which I never got around to asking was: Are both tanks manifolded so you empty them at the same rate? I just assumed they were and we were filling two tanks. I never did ask the boat crew because honestly I gave it all very little thought at the time.

Sidemount tanks are not manifolded ... you are effectively diving with two single cylinders. Each cylinder has its own independent regulator, and you breathe off of them by switching regs from time to time.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Wookie]

Wookie are you or do you ask to see a certification for side mount, I do not see it to be a full boat of SMD unless a group. If it is the cool thing then the new cool SMD could be more of a danger then its worth, plus the fact now eating more time getting in and out of the water. I would demand a certain amount of experience for mix diving cause your BM divers are there to dive, not be observing someone stumbling around trying to figure it out.

No. I believe that certification cards are for depth or gas, not for equipment. The rebreather is the exception. I wouldn't ask to see your drysuit, DPV, or Spear card, either.

 

[beautybelow]

Sidemount tanks are not manifolded ... you are effectively diving with two single cylinders. Each cylinder has its own independent regulator, and you breathe off of them by switching regs from time to time.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I see...but I am assuming that you want to keep them somewhat equal in pressure so both would have to be topped off.

 

[TSandM]

I think sidemount has a certain amount of appeal for the aging demographic of divers. It has intrigued me since I first read about it, because it seemed like a way to get around one of my biggest issues with diving doubles, which is maneuvering them out of the water. I had a first opportunity to dive a borrowed setup and didn't like it at all, but I dove the same setup a couple of years later (after the folks who owned it had learned a great deal about optimizing the configuration) and I was instantly in love with the way the gear FELT. Putting the tanks at my COG meant I was stable in many different positions in the water, in a way that just isn't possible with backmounted doubles. I was sold -- it felt great, and I wouldn't have to walk doubles up and down all the stairs and trails in MX!

But because I wasn't sure what setup I wanted, I stayed in backmount for a while, and started doing some cave dives with stages. What I found out was that carrying single Al80's up and down stairs and trails is actually HARDER for me than schlepping my doubles. I can't hold an 80 off the ground without significantly bending my arm, so I end up carrying them across my arms, which doesn't leave me any hands for handrails or trees or anything else to aid my balance. To my enormous surprise, I concluded that what I was already doing was the easiest way, for the most part.

I think sidemount is attractive to people who are hoping to reduce the physical effort required to dive backmounted doubles, and for those who travel and find it difficult to source doubles where they go, and for a small group who just plain like the way the setup dives. I think the style will grow because the demographic of people who are limited in range of motion, or who have back or other joint problems, is also going to grow. And as far as why people want to dive doubles on recreational depth reef dives -- I've done it, and I love diving double 80's in warm water. It means gas is never a limiting factor, and I like the way the doubles dive. In our cold water, I try to stay out of doubles a lot of the time. I'm doing a recreational charter (meaning recreational profiles only) at the end of the month, and I think I'm the ONLY diver on the boat who will be diving a single tank. I don't get that at all.

 

[rongoodman]

I think sidemount has a certain amount of appeal for the aging demographic of divers.

Now that really hurts .

I carry the tanks up and down the stairs and trails one at a time, but up on my shoulder, like a waiter with a tray.

 

[ianr33]

No. I believe that certification cards are for depth or gas, not for equipment. The rebreather is the exception. I wouldn't ask to see your drysuit, DPV, or Spear card, either.

How about a solo card?