Question Sidemounts on a Liveaboard

[L13]

That might work as long as the number of sidemount folks is pretty low. Using the Belle Amie as an example, she carries something like 32 divers and her SOP is "hook BC up to tank when you arrive and then they refill your tank while attached to your BC between dives". That's the same with the Aggressors I have been on. So at any given moment 32 divers in the water means 32 tanks in the water. I know they carry spares, but if 32 people showed up and expected to use 64 tanks I don't know that they have enough on board to accommodate everyone.

I sometimes sidemount in similar situations, because I enjoy it. I call ahead and ask. If the answer is no, I bring my backmount gear, and enjoy it instead.

 

[O-ring]

I sometimes sidemount in similar situations, because I enjoy it. I call ahead and ask. If the answer is no, I bring my backmount gear, and enjoy it instead.

I think that's the safest way to play it with LOB diving.

 

[LFMarm]

That might work as long as the number of sidemount folks is pretty low. Using the Belle Amie as an example, she carries something like 32 divers and her SOP is "hook BC up to tank when you arrive and then they refill your tank while attached to your BC between dives". That's the same with the Aggressors I have been on. So at any given moment 32 divers in the water means 32 tanks in the water. I know they carry spares, but if 32 people showed up and expected to use 64 tanks I don't know that they have enough on board to accommodate everyone.

Very hard to imagine you get all sm divers unless it’s a sm trip. Most boat will be able to handle a handful of sm divers in a majority of BM single divers. It has always worked out for me — I usually ask before booking to make sure

 

[O-ring]

Very hard to imagine you get all sm divers unless it’s a sm trip. Most boat will be able to handle a handful of sm divers in a majority of BM single divers. It has always worked out for me — I usually ask before booking to make sure

Agreed..just carrying out the scenario to the maximum (e.g. if everybody decides sidemount is the way recreational diving ought to be done and becomes the norm). At that point boats would either have to change their SOP or sidemount folks would just have to live with only using one tank like the BM folks.

 

[L13]

Agreed..just carrying out the scenario to the maximum (e.g. if everybody decides sidemount is the way recreational diving ought to be done and becomes the norm). At that point boats would either have to change their SOP or sidemount folks would just have to live with only using one tank like the BM folks.

If the majority of divers were SM, the boats would target their SOP at SM.

 

[O-ring]

If the majority of divers were SM, the boats would target their SOP at SM.

Agreed.. I am just not sure why SM divers feel the need to do recreational dives with 2 tanks. None of the BM divers on these recreational liveaboards do. Maybe someone that dives SM can explain?

 

[L13]

Agreed.. I am just not sure why SM divers feel the need to do recreational dives with 2 tanks. None of the BM divers on these recreational liveaboards do. Maybe someone that dives SM can explain?

My reason: ever since I got the covid-19 vaccine, my air consumption has been up 50% (almost 2 years now) .

 

[O-ring]

My reason: ever since I got the covid-19 vaccine, my air consumption has been up 50% (almost 2 years now) .

Eeek! Sorry to hear that. Hope you recover more as time goes on.

 

[L13]

Eeek! Sorry to hear that. Hope you recover more as time goes on.

It seems to be coming down very slowly, but that might be wishful thinking.

 

[LFMarm]

Agreed.. I am just not sure why SM divers feel the need to do recreational dives with 2 tanks. None of the BM divers on these recreational liveaboards do. Maybe someone that dives SM can explain?

My reason is that (1) I like the balanced trim, (2) I like the redundancy, (3) I like to dive as much as I can in my tec configuration for training. Diving with 160cf doesn’t mean you need to use them all in one dive.