Starting Tech - Side-mount or Back-mount Questions

[Manatee Diver]

Right now I don't have confidence to backroll because of all the stuff clipped to my butt, and I'm afraid of climbing the ladder with the weight of tanks hanging off the bungees and sliding oring. I definitely take a disproportionate amount of crew attention and have had a lot of "why the hell am I doing this..." moments

Don't have them in the bungees when you climb up the boat, either use safety leashes clipped to your chest d-rings, or put a small loop of paracord around the valves, and then use a double ender to clip the tanks to your chest d-rings when entering and exiting. When you get in the water you loop the bungees around the valves, and release them before climbing the ladder.

I back rolled with my short hose directly in my mouth, once in the water I did the bungee and ran the short hose around the back of my neck, did my long hose bungee, and then deployed the long hose off the tank around my neck into my mouth.

I'm a Florida style cave diver that did my AN/Helitrox off of boats in the Keys. I have a thread in the tech forum where I described how I did it.

 

[Mike1967]

I have a thread in the tech forum where I described how I did it.

Link please?

 

[Manatee Diver]

Link please?

Hopping my way to full cave...

The AN/Helitrox is on the newer pages.

 

[happy-diver]

Attaining proficiency might be the best reason for doing anything


Magnificent!

 

[Diving Dubai]

Right now I don't have confidence to backroll because of all the stuff clipped to my butt, and I'm afraid of climbing the ladder with the weight of tanks hanging off the bungees and sliding oring. I definitely take a disproportionate amount of crew attention and have had a lot of "why the hell am I doing this..." moments

So choose to use the ring bungee method, meaning my tanks have a permanent mechanical connection to the harness

My preference is not to have gear on my butt D-Ring, I have a stowage pouch on each of my tank cambands and stow gear on my cylinders, unless I'm making tight penetrations into wrecks

Basically I've configured my gear to suit the majority of diving I make, it's set up specifically for boat diving. If I was inshore diving and could attach tanks in the shallows, then I might do things differently. Set your gear up in a sensible way that meets your needs.

If possible, practice gearing on dry land and again figure out what changes you might make that makes your life easier and independant, although always bear in mind how any changes might affect tank trim.

The fact that my rig is set up in such a way that I can climb in and out of it without any assistance, doesn't mean I won't accept it if offered, just that if it's not there, I'm okay and not a burden on any other divers or crew