Staging Regs For Sidemount

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Shinythings

Contributor
Messages
147
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Location
Vancouver Island
# of dives
500 - 999
Hi all, backmount diver here about to go sidemount. I recently suffered a herniated back disc and need to find a way to reduce the strain caused by my twin 119s.

I borrowed a SM rig from a friend of mine. He had his regs (MK25) set up from a PADI sidemount course and I wasn't a big fan of the setup at all so I re-reigged my regs, but I'm still not sure what is "best." It seems like everyone just does a lot of trail and error and find something that works for them.

Anyway, this is how I set up my (MK21) regs.

Left tank: 6in LPI going strait up, 6in SPG going strait down, and 40in alternate going strait down, wrapped behind head on a necklace.

Right tank: 6in drysuit whip facing perpendicular to tank inwards, 6in SPG facing down and 7' long hose exiting downward with a tuck thru the waist band, then up and wrapped like normal.

Any comments on what works for you all would be appreciated.

There aren't any good SM instructors that I know of in my area so I will likely have to travel to do the training, but for now I would like to give it a try and see if it works for me. First dive was in the pool, but hoping to take it in the ocean in the next few days.
 
Can you post a picture of the tanks rigged?
Up and down are a bit odd directions if you ask me, as they're turned by 90° when diving... so to me an LPI going up is very strange. It goes left or right depending on which tank it is.
 
So there are generally two thoughts on inflator direction. One is off the fifth-port like the Razor guys do, the other is off the turret....which is what I prefer.

As for the 7ft longhose, it's pretty typical to keep hose retainers like these: Hose Retainer (and check out the best lights in the industry while you're there) on at least your right bottle and loop your longhose through it. I wrap my longhose up like a paperclip (down, up, inwards, down, back up) for handling at the surface, and then pull the inner loop out to go dive. This keeps the longhose stowed on the tank and not in your waistbelt.

If your plan was to travel, call Edd Sorenson down at Cave Adventurers and he can hook you up. The issue with saying that something is "best" is that minor changes in sidemount can cascade into much bigger changes down the line. You kind of need to make sure that any changes you effect "fit" in the overall scheme of what you do.
 
MK21 is a non-turreted first stage guys :wink:
The way he is doing it is quite normal, especially with an over-the-shoulder inflator.
 
two schools of thought with non-swivel first stages.
My current setup uses Poseidon first stages
Left bottle has a fairly short LPI hose that goes up then over to my wing inflator. I find that the razor guys carry their first stages lower and farther forward than I do, so having the LPI on the bottom port doesn't really work for me. It is crucial to have the inflator coming up from the bottom instead of down from the top like normal though. My short hose comes straight up and around my neck which is a little ungainly out of the water, but it's not that bad considering the LPI and SPG hoses come up as well. It loops around the neck and doesn't go anywhere.

Right bottle has drysuit on a normal length drysuit hose going down into the first hose retainer then back up to my suit. I use a 9' hose because both Victor and I are very tall and I don't like him enough to share air with a 7' hose. I also dive with HP120's and LP121's which are plenty long to support that kind of a hose. This goes down through a pair of hose retainers back up, then back down again into the first one for a second loop. SPG is straight up for that as well.
 
Without seeing how it actually looks its hard to say. I also 'paperclip' the long hose to the right tank.
As well i use a shorter hose on the left. I find 40 is too long and doesnt sit nicely. I believe i use a 36.
Also 90 degree adapters on both second stages.
 
I borrowed a SM rig from a friend of mine. He had his regs (MK25) set up from a PADI sidemount course and I wasn't a big fan of the setup at all so I re-reigged my regs, but I'm still not sure what is "best." It seems like everyone just does a lot of trail and error and find something that works for them.
I am curious what you didn't like about your friend's Mk25 set-up. It might give us a better idea of what your personal preferences are. Frankly, from my perspective, the Mk25 - a turret reg with a 5th port - is probably easier to configure for SM than the Mk21. But, that goes to the point of personal preferences - I prefer turrets for SM.

Two overall observations: There may not be one and only one 'best' configuration, and there is (fortunately) a bit of trial and error involved, to find what works best for you. As one example: putting your SPG 'down' - laying the hose along the cylinder - vs 'up' - immediately visible to the diver with a simple glance downward.
Left tank: 6in LPI going strait up, 6in SPG going strait down, and 40in alternate going strait down, wrapped behind head on a necklace.

Right tank: 6in drysuit whip facing perpendicular to tank inwards, 6in SPG facing down and 7' long hose exiting downward with a tuck thru the waist band, then up and wrapped like normal.
While pictures would be helpful, I think I understand how you have rigged the regs. With the left LPI pointed 'up', do you have it looped back down to attach to the BCD inflator hose? And, why do you have the left side second stage hose 'down'? If it is going behind the head and around the right side of the neck, I prefer having it come off the first stage in the 'up' position. But, I may be wrong in saying that I understand what you are describing. :)
First dive was in the pool, but hoping to take it in the ocean in the next few days.
If you have reasonable, and inexpensive access to a pool, that is a great place for 'trial and error'. Us the pool to work out your configuration, then take it out (in the ocean) for a test drive.
 
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so we'll go more a bit in depth to the how and why because I'm in between meetings.

So this is the "razor" style hose routing.

New%20Apeks%20Side%20Mount%20Package.jpg


Steve chose to use a continuous bungee and as such the first stages are much farther forward than in other sidemount bungee types which facilitates the use of the very short inflator hoses. These have another advantage for long hose donation in a drysuit because the drysuit hose won't prevent the swivel. It's not a huge deal as you can pull the hose out with no problem, but it's pros and cons. The picture below shows them on the tank, though since they are depressurized they have sagged a bit. The first stages should be flat. They have chosen to put the first stages "up" with the SPG's running along the tank to keep the SPG's and first stages out of the way. Pros and cons again with this and it is up to you to decide which you prefer.

sidem%20boce-600x800.jpg


One of the other accepted regulator configurations basically turns the Razor system upside-down. The SPG's point straight up and the tank valves are facing down. This facilitates easier reading of the SPG's, especially while using a DPV as well as somewhat easier donation of the long hose in an emergency. In my experience it also makes gearing up a bit easier because you can clip the tanks in before you do anything with the hoses. On the Razor style setup, the short hose has to be swiveled up before you can attach the tank unless you pull the tank down to allow the swivel to rotate. Again, pros and cons and one is not inherently better than the other, just different. "Edd Style" also uses ball swivels on both regulators for comfort, though that isn't really a major configuration change. It is very important with this style of regulator configuration to use slim-line SPG's as the heavy brass and glass spg's will sag and can drag/get caught on things. Apparently Florida cave instructors aren't as big into blogging as Steve Martin, so finding pictures have proven difficult. I will try to find some better pictures of this setup later.
2016-04-20.png

Another regulator configuration option, though this one isn't quite as popular. It only works with Poseidons, Apeks XTX series, Dive Rite XT, and Oceanic Omega series due to having to reverse the regulators

Another option from Brian Kakuk a few years back. Not a huge fan of this due to the long hose being on the left
 
I would like to see how your Poseidon's are set up if you have any pics of that. (tbone)
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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