Having slung an AL40 for solo I can understand the desire.I recently started looking into a redundant air-source, and may suggested side-mounting. Then the idea of side-mounting both my main (80cu) and redundant (19cu or 40cu) came up. This seems like it would be great for the type of diving I do (boat with small ladder). My only question is, does anyone have advice for running this configuration? For the most part, I'd want to leave my small air-supply untouched.
For example:
- Should I mount the 80cu on the left, so I can easily plug in the inflator hose? I'm relatively ambidextrous, and don't mind the main being on the left.
- Does this configuration feel noticeably unbalanced in terms of drag or bouyancy?
- I have 4x weight pockets, what's the best place to attach them on a backplate setup & would I likely want more weight on one side?
- Is there anything important, I'm probably missing about running in this configuration?
It doesn't sound crazy. The hardest part I expect would be trimming sidemount with a backplate. Multipurpose BCDs are not as good at sidemount as a SM dedicated BCD.
I'd mount the small tank on left, the right tank is designed to be removed. Assuming you're not doing too much up & down the power inflator use should be small. You could potentially remove large right tank before getting in boat and keep left tank / regulator. That's safer than removing both tanks while still wearing your weight climbing into a boat.
Sam