Maiden voyage

[Marie13]

I posted this in another thread, but thought I'd post it separately, as it was a good first time with my own gear. Nearly 3 hours in the pool.

Hollis SMS75, Apeks XTX50 regs, HP80 tanks.

5ft long hose on right, 36" short hose on left. 15" inflator on left. All rubber hoses. 36" hose is way too long. I'm changing to a 28".

I bought a used SMS75, but I don't believe it had ever been in the water. The bungees are very stiff. Buddy had to help me stretch them over the valve after we lengthened them a bit. I'm going to switch them out for a bit thinner cord that has more stretch.

I have the Hollis weight plate. I was diving my 3mm (I get cold in the pool after about an hour). Started out with 4 lbs on my shoulders and 4 lbs on bottom row of plate. Too much, so the bottom 4 lbs came off. HP80s trimmed out nicely. I didn't really know what to expect. Now I know this pair trims out nicely, I'm going to get a left hand valve.

I love it! Felt comfortable and very stable. Two more pool sessions to get familiar with my gear, and then SM class in the spring.

 

[MichaelMc]

Whoo Hooo! Congratulations. Have fun.

 

[Pinecube]

It's good to hear you're enjoying it, congrats! I'm in a similar boat with a maybe 2 hours in total in sidemount, but it seemed like I had to do a lot of playing around just to get the tanks to look half as trimmed as yours. I need one of those mirrors like the one in the back of your second picture! Your comment about the bungee is spot on, I have the SMS100 and I swear I just about broke my thumb trying to yank the bungees around the tank valves. Just curious, what made you go with the 5' hose rather than the 7' hose?

 

[Marie13]

I'm a shrimp (5'5"). I use a 5ft long hose on my single tank setup, and since I'm just going to be doing open water SM for the next year or two, it made sense to keep what I was used to.

ETA: the manager at my LDS (which is DRIS) was kind enough to spend 2.5 hours with me before Christmas, answering lots of questions and doing most of the initial setup, which probably saved me a ton of frustration. He adjusted everything so the valves were in my armpits. He dives the same SM rig when he does OC, and as I later discovered, he changed out the bungees, too!

 

[Marie13]

@Pinecube

What tanks are you using for SM? I had a number of people poo-poo my idea of using HP80s for SM, but they trimmed out nicely. They work excellently for me single tank BM, as well. I'll probably end up with HP100s once I start down the tech path.

 

[Pinecube]

Makes sense to me. I figured the extra 2' wouldn't hurt to have and the excess just gets stuffed in the tank bands anyway.

I'm using Faber LP85s, I wanted LP95s but I was a bit short on time and everywhere was sold out. I figure I need to get myself squared away before I start making any more changes (like changing tanks), I just haven't had the chance to get back in the water.

 

[tursiops]

I can't tell from the pix: do either of the reg hoses go behind your head?

 

[Marie13]

I can't tell from the pix: do either of the reg hoses go behind your head?

Yes, the short hose is supposed to, but it turned out to be way too long once I was in the water and sort of floated up above my head. I'm fixing that. Long hose doesn't go behind my head.