SM Exercises

[CWSWine]

If I was going to travel with sidemount system I would either purchase the Z or Z-Plus. Either systems allows for sidemount or backmounting and unlike the Nomad or Hollis doesn't take third of suitcase to pack. Heck the Z-System will fit in my laptop bag. Here is the video of the new Z-Plus system YouTube - Video Equipment Blog: Z-Plus Side Mount System and Z-Plus Trim Device but I won't do the manifold thing. I have not dove the Plus but the Z-System with the 20lbs bladder is great and easy to trim out either with one or two AL80's

 

[Dive-aholic]

Rob, I know you are good at this sidemount thing, I know you've been doing it for a long time, and I know a big part of what you do is true sidemount diving. That is great. I respect that, but I know that a lot of the sidemount divers won't do that, myself included. I learned from a guy who has been diving sidemount exclusively before you started diving and diving sidemount for the last 16 years. I took my cave/tech approach to regs and gas management from him. He has long hose on right tank, and he breathes down in thirds. Right, left, left, right until out. With new sidemount students he encourages them to switch every 200psi to establish muscle memory. When he dives, it's in thirds, it makes sense to me, I don't dive in places where one reg would fail, and even at that point, I would have enough for me to get out. At no point am I left without a full third of my total gas supply in one tank on the way in. Half of sidemount is being truly independent and not needing extra gas. By not switching, I am at no more risk of not having a working regulator than a backmount diver who stays on his long hose. If I needed it, he may not have a working octo and we're buddy breathing. If I was doing true sidemount, I'd probably switch every few hundred psi, but I wouldn't be diving with a buddy.

I took my open water configuration from what I had seen with the videos that Lamar posted on different reg configurations for different types of diving. It makes sense to me, and I don't dive a long hose in open water either. It's a hassle. Does it make OOA situations more uncomfortable, yes, do I care, not particularly, do my buddies, not at all. It's talked about before hand.

Sax (sorry, don't know who you are other than by screen name), you do what you do. That's fine. I don't understand the reasoning for it and you haven't offered up any justification for it. That's cool. But this is a thread asking for advice, and the way I see it is if you're going to offer advice, you should justify the reason you do something, or at least clarify the type of diving you are doing it in. You say it makes sense in a cave to switch at 1/3s and then you go on to say you switch more often in OW. That does not make any sense, at least not to me.

Good example of what happens to AL80's especially if you breathe one down too far before the other.
YouTube - andrewgeorgitsis's Channel

That is a little ridiculous, but it happens, so be mindful especially with al80's

WTH! Why is that left cylinder hanging like a stage?

Here's another video showing what happens when you breathe AL80s down -

 

[tbone1004]

I thought it was odd hanging down like that too but it showed the floaty AL80 butts well.

I switch more in OW because I'm less concerned with pressure at that point. I don't monitor thirds as hard as in a cave. It's weird, I know, but my diving mentality is different in OW than it is in a cave. For the thirds thing, it makes gas management easy when you're in the cave or tech diving because I'm less focused on doing a bunch of math for my turning thirds and going "oh did I switch at this point or another. It also leaves more air in my long hose for a buddy if he needs it. Gives him more air to get out and get situated because in an OOA situation I shouldn't be any more stressed than normal, but he may be. I started diving sidemount and switched every 200-300 psi to develop muscle memory and make sure it was balanced. When I took cave I realized that the difference in the PST tanks I use over the course of even 1000psi was not all that much. The 120's are very long, and don't have floaty butts. I have my cam bands really low because of the long Transpac so they move less.
So for suggestions I still go with the every 200-300 psi initially and never more than thirds on each tank. More important with floaty tanks because of the butt issue as showed in the videos, and like all things be open to trying and figuring out what works for you because OW is different than wrecks which is different than caves...

 

[CWSWine]

Wow -- that rig doesn't seem to snug up the tanks at all . . . at least, not like the Nomad. And why were the divers up in the soda straws? They're so fragile . . .

If you notice they have about 4 or 5 inch cord on the bottom bolt snaps, I try to keep mine less then 1/2 inch. Also, UTD sidemounts come with 1/2 inch bungee instead of the 5/8 you see on other rigs.

 

[nwbrewer]

This explains the long tail pieces. (you may have to be a member to see it) To paraphrase, AG believes that for consistency it's best to just use your standard stage bottle rigging. That's fine for the original stated purpose of a "safer way to monkey dive" but for true SM it doesn't make much sense to me. (with all of 2 SM dives under my belt)

Clippin the tank.. - Unified Team Diving

 

[TSandM]

Just to address a question from back a ways . . . I tried the magnets that Piranha sells, because they seemed like such a lovely way to secure octos on student setups. They don't work. They seem powerful enough, but for some reason, it takes very little to get them to let go.

 

[nwbrewer]

Just to address a question from back a ways . . . I tried the magnets that Piranha sells, because they seemed like such a lovely way to secure octos on student setups. They don't work. They seem powerful enough, but for some reason, it takes very little to get them to let go.

+1

I played with these and they're no where near strong enough, and the ones I saw were severely corroded, and they weren't that old.

The best "quick disconnect" system I've found is the one I made myself with a piece of Kydex molded over the hose and then a regular bolt snap tied to that. It takes a pretty good pull to yank it out, but you can then unclip the boltsnap from the d-ring and slip the kydex back over the hose and you're ready to go again. I keep a spare one in my truck for times when I dive with newer divers who are usually letting their rental octo dangle.

 

[Colliam7]

One thing I haven't come across yet, though, is the actual routing the LP hose takes from the 1st stage to the in-use 2nd stage. Does it go behind your head or across your chest? Is there a difference in routing for the right and left tanks?

As the old line goes: If you ask 10 different sidemounters how to rig the gear you will get 20 different answers! There is no standard way.

So true! Having said that, most of us can tell you what we do, and you can 'pick and choose' as you wish. In my case, I dive a shorter hose on the left tank, which does route from the first stage, behind my head [NOT 'around my neck' ] from the left side to the right side. I also use an omniswivel at the point of connection between the hose and the second stage. When I started, I used hoses that I happened to have available, and I tried running a shorter (30") second stage hose directly up from the first stage to my mouth, and found I just didn't like it. Perhaps, I was too used to my backmount doubles rig, but I found I preferred using a slightly longer hose (33-34") and running it up behind my head (with a bungee necklace, of course). For the right side, I use a long hose (7') that is stowed against the side of the tank, until I deploy it for air sharing, with elastic tank bands. I position the long hose the same way I do with BM, running it up across my chest from lower right to upper left, then around the back of my head from the left side to the right. When not in use, I clip the second stage off to a right chest D-ring with a bolt snap. (I also put an omniswivel at the junction between the hose and the second stage on the right side.) Is a long hose on the right side necessary? There are multiple threads on SB debating that. I chose to go with a set-up that I was already familiar with from BM.

one other thing to bear in mind is that few,if any,divers end up diving the Nomad the way it comes out of the box. MUCH better to tweak it at home before you go.

Again, very true. One of the beautiful things about SM is that it is still very much DIY diving in many ways.

 

[BertP]

@CWSWine - I had a look at the video and the Z-System seems to me to be an interesting system. Bear in mind, though, that I know next to nothing about SM so my opinion isn't of much value. One thing that did catch my eye in that video was the fact that the diver had his second regulator (from the left tank??) on a bungee around his neck rather than clipped to a D ring. Is that an accepted practice? It seems to me (again, no SM experience) to be a handy way of stowing that reg so it is easy to get to.

@saxplayer2004 - I agree with the 200 - 300 breath down since that seems to be the most common suggestion.

@TSandM - Thanks for the pointer on the magnets. They definately sounded like a good idea to me as well but if they don't work......

@nwbrewer - I'm having some difficulty envisioning what you are referring to. How is the kydex molded over the hose and how do you slip it back over the hose after you have pulled it off? Doesn't that process damage the kydex?

Bert

 

[nwbrewer]

@nwbrewer - I'm having some difficulty envisioning what you are referring to. How is the kydex molded over the hose and how do you slit it back over the hose after you have pulled it off? Doesn't that process damage the kydex?

Bert

I'll try and take a picture tonight, but Kydex is pretty elastic, and the "yank it loose" is only for emergency deployment, so it's not like I do it that often, I've done it a few times to see how it works. For normal deployment, just unclip like you normaly would.

Jake