Just ordered my FATHOM!

[rjack321]

The kiss sidewinder FB user's group is quite active. Something about "sidemount" brings out the verbose lol

I discovered the quirky nature of lp50s/45s too. The tails clips on mine are shockingly long compared to all my other BOs. I have plenty of pics showing them behaving with the super long tails so I thinks its function of them not being very heavy hanging in the first place.

I also use 85s and just started with 130s - but the 130s are trimix only which keeps them behaving reasonably.

 

[rddvet]

The kiss sidewinder FB user's group is quite active. Something about "sidemount" brings out the verbose lol

I discovered the quirky nature of lp50s/45s too. The tails clips on mine are shockingly long compared to all my other BOs. I have plenty of pics showing them behaving with the super long tails so I thinks its function of them not being very heavy hanging in the first place.

I also use 85s and just started with 130s - but the 130s are trimix only which keeps them behaving reasonably.

Same here. The tail leashes are longer than I expected they'd need to be. Doing the "steve martin" bungee around the manifold nipple instead of the valve really was the key change that fixed the 50s. With bigger tanks doing valves in to armpits was uncomfortable. With 50s you don't even notice they're there.

 

[rjack321]

I'm using the old school loop bungies with all my BO tanks. With regs down - my armpits at way too full otherwise.

Still kind of struggling to keep the tails down with trimix in the 85s although the 130s are better at that.

 

[kensuf]

Just curious what the typical/default IP is set at with a fathom?
I have Charlie's needle valve and I blocked mine at 200psi.

200psi is how they come from the factory. He has the stronger spring, so you can go way higher -- mine is currently at 225 because of some stuff I was doing in Cayman in February.

I'm also about to switch over to a MK17 with a blanking plug. I've already switched my inflation reg because of an Apeks seat failure last week, I'm just waiting on the blanking plug for the O2 side. These are brand new, Martin at TecMe made a small run of the blanking plugs for a friend in West Palm and a few of us are going to test them for awhile, but it's possible you'll see MK17's as the standard first stage within 6 months.

 

[rddvet]

200psi is how they come from the factory. He has the stronger spring, so you can go way higher -- mine is currently at 225 because of some stuff I was doing in Cayman in February.

I'm also about to switch over to a MK17 with a blanking plug. I've already switched my inflation reg because of an Apeks seat failure last week, I'm just waiting on the blanking plug for the O2 side. These are brand new, Martin at TecMe made a small run of the blanking plugs for a friend in West Palm and a few of us are going to test them for awhile, but it's possible you'll see MK17's as the standard first stage within 6 months.

That's very interesting. I have personally been a huge scubapro fan boy for years, and am not a big fan of the apeks regs that come with the fathom. I haven't had any issues with them other than I feel the din fitting doesn't seat well into the threads of most tanks I've used on them. I also find the din fitting is sometimes prone to leaking at the sealing surface. An oring change helped. The same is true for mine and my wife's. We've talked about hoping to one day switch over to scubapros from the apeks. Any reason why the 17 as opposed to the mk25? I think the mk25 if a more ubiquitous reg. I see way more of them around dive sites than 17s. Are the plugs specific to the 17, or are they compatible with the 25s as well?

 

[Pavao]

That's very interesting. I have personally been a huge scubapro fan boy for years, and am not a big fan of the apeks regs that come with the fathom. I haven't had any issues with them other than I feel the din fitting doesn't seat well into the threads of most tanks I've used on them. I also find the din fitting is sometimes prone to leaking at the sealing surface. An oring change helped. The same is true for mine and my wife's. We've talked about hoping to one day switch over to scubapros from the apeks. Any reason why the 17 as opposed to the mk25? I think the mk25 if a more ubiquitous reg. I see way more of them around dive sites than 17s. Are the plugs specific to the 17, or are they compatible with the 25s as well?

I think it’s a diaphragm vs piston issue. The IP on the MK17(diaphragm) is a lot more stable too

Btw, did you ever try the 50s mounted onboard, I’m currently hunting down a pair of 45s, but if I can’t find it I might try the 50s. I like the idea of the 30s though and have thought about it, specially for wetsuit boat diving

 

[rddvet]

I think it’s a diaphragm vs piston issue. The IP on the MK17(diaphragm) is a lot more stable too

Btw, did you ever try the 50s mounted onboard, I’m currently hunting down a pair of 45s, but if I can’t find it I might try the 50s. I like the idea of the 30s though and have thought about it, specially for wetsuit boat diving

Duh, in retrospect I should have known the answer. Didn't think about needing to be diaphragm.

I haven't mounted the 50s onboard. That sounds like a heavy walk.

 

[rjack321]

200psi is how they come from the factory. He has the stronger spring, so you can go way higher -- mine is currently at 225 because of some stuff I was doing in Cayman in February.

I'm also about to switch over to a MK17 with a blanking plug. I've already switched my inflation reg because of an Apeks seat failure last week, I'm just waiting on the blanking plug for the O2 side. These are brand new, Martin at TecMe made a small run of the blanking plugs for a friend in West Palm and a few of us are going to test them for awhile, but it's possible you'll see MK17's as the standard first stage within 6 months.

So far I am happy with the DS4 and Martin's stronger spring @200psi, seems stable and while the needle valve is bulkier than the stock kiss mav, I like it. I tried with a dynamic IP like a pelagian is run. That was a massive task load, maybe there's a way to do that better but it was crazy variable and its actually pretty hard to fine tune the flow rate with dry gloves on - and I was constantly adjusting.

 

[kensuf]

Duh, in retrospect I should have known the answer. Didn't think about needing to be diaphragm.

I haven't mounted the 50s onboard. That sounds like a heavy walk.

Actually, I bet it's a lot less than a set of double 104's.. I have a set of LP50's with LOLA valves and the mounting hardware for them, I just need a free weekend to play with the setup and get it dialed in -- I've been that busy teaching or traveling almost non-stop since the end of January.. There's a very legitimate possibility that I'll dial them in during Doby's course if I don't do it next Wednesday when we do the Peacock work.

 

[rddvet]

In order to have onboard gas, is the suit and wing gas also run off of the bm dil?