Hollis Katana - One size does not fit all

[DevonDiver]

Any rig can be 'made to work'... but the good ones work straight out of the box...as they should.

If I were a novice sidemount diver, it'd be pretty livid to find out that my new Scubapro or Hollis sidemount rig was useless out of the box... and that'd I'd have to go shopping for extra hardware, bungees etc to make it even passably decent for diving...

 

[tbone1004]

@DevonDiver my Hollis Katana was diveable out of the box. The only adjustment I made was a chosen adjustment to facilitate my preference for canister location. It is optional and has nothing to do with the diveability of the rig. If I didn't use a big ass canister light, then it would have had 0 modifications out of the box

 

[Doby45]

Any rig can be 'made to work'... but the good ones work straight out of the box...as they should.

If I were a novice sidemount diver, it'd be pretty livid to find out that my new Scubapro or Hollis sidemount rig was useless out of the box... and that'd I'd have to go shopping for extra hardware, bungees etc to make it even passably decent for diving...

My el cheapo HOG sidemount rig was ready to go with no additional add ons, right out of the bag. You seem to be very snobbish in your opinion of what will work in sidemount. Basically a your way or no way attitude. Thank God, the people that started out diving sidemount in the beginning were not like you in that aspect. So what I get from your posts regarding sidemount, if it is not the way you do it, it is wrong. If you do not get training from you, it is wrong. I personally would not travel to Subic Bay just to get awesome training from you because your whole online demeanor sucks.

 

[DevonDiver]

If you mean 'my way'... as in expecting a rig to be functionally effective for its purpose out of the box... Yeah, I'm a snob.

It isn't 'my way' to state that a rig designed for the tropics, where aluminium cylinders are ubiquitous, shouldn't have a permanent buttplate... but should have front and back waist D-rings.

Likewise, a system for tropical (aluminium tank) diving shouldn't have 12mm pre-sized and sealed bungees... as these are gross overkill in elasticity and resistance..and NO decent sidemount instructor would expect to get properly trimmed tanks from one-size-fits-all bungees.

So, if you think I'm a 'snob' for commiserating with divers who mistakenly buy obnoxious kit... and have to go running to a specialist dive store with credit card in-hand to buy an inventory of hardware for the modifications necessary to make a crappy rig work... well, I guess I'm guilty as charged.

As for those divers who were around when 'sidemount' started... they were VERY diligent in applying fundamental principles in configuring rigs appropriately for the diving they'd be used for... That's why, even now, most commercial sidemount rigs follow one of two design principles.

The rigs that don't... that confuse between approaches.. or are just ignorant of WHY certain features and functions are necessary... are the ones that need huge modifications and tend to frustrate the people who bought them.

 

[DevonDiver]

My el cheapo HOG sidemount rig was ready to go with no additional add ons, right out of the bag.

For what diving?

Not for aluminium tank warm water divining...

Also...it depends what standard of outcome you're happy with... when you say 'ready to go'. Your standard might not equal mine, or what my students expect...

 

[DevonDiver]

@DevonDiver my Hollis Katana was diveable out of the box.

For aluminium tanks?

Bearing in mind that it's sold as a 'tropical' and/or 'travel' rig... which basically means aluminium cylinders....as you won't get anything other than AL80 in most vacation destinations...

Did your Hollis SMS50 come with front AND rear waist D-rings?

Did it have adjustable bungee in a sensible size (6-8mm?) that can be configured in a variety of ways (loop, continuous, independent etc)?

 

[tbone1004]

@DevonDiver yes it was able to be used with aluminum tanks out of the box. Has normal d-rings up front and the drop d-rings in the back and works just fine for AL80 diving. Bungees are only configured for loop bungees but you can easily put continuous bungees in there. I don't know why you'd want independent bungees, but I'm sure it is possible to configure if so inclined. Since loops function much better than any of the other styles, they come as standard.

Removal of the butt rails was done only to facilitate the canister mounting as mentioned and whether I'm using AL80's or LP121's, the rear drop rings mounted on the waist belt and the forward D-rings are used as the LP121's behave like AL80's when empty and start floating in the butt

I do not use the SMS50

 

[DevonDiver]

Ah, ok... thought you were talking about SMS50 'out-of-the-box'. I was wondering if Hollis had eventually changed the configuration as shipped (no front D-rings and horrific bungees..)

 

[Doby45]

Your standard might not equal mine, or what my students expect...

I am sure it is not..

 

[sphyon]

Ah, ok... thought you were talking about SMS50 'out-of-the-box'. I was wondering if Hollis had eventually changed the configuration as shipped (no front D-rings and horrific bungees..)

I will say, I was not a fan of the bungee material included in the katana. It was certainly high quality but I prefer a bit more stretch. So those were replaced asap. To the credit of the rig though swapping them out to another bungee was extremely easy as they are just tucked back into the wing liner. No real modification needed.