Sidemount for local, walk-in diving, for old farts.

[Tigerpaw]

OP here. I was not really thinking about the weight of the cylinder(s), but the weight up high on your back when wearing the cylinder(s). Wouldn't sidemount move your center of gravity a bit lower when you're wearing your cylinders as you're walking in? And, as an option, couldn't you walk with a cylinder in each hand, holding them by the valve, as you're walking in, to put your center of gravity even lower? A lower center of gravity should make you less unstable as you're walking in, correct?

rx7diver

Typically for shore sidemount entries, you carry your tanks to the water. Once you have your gear all together you gear up in the water. It takes a little getting used to but it's safe and effective.

Another thing is you don't want to be walking long distances with sidemount tanks attached. For one it's super heavy and really unsafe but you also can ruin your bungee cord from the stress of the weight.

So for shore dives best option is to carry your tanks to the water and kit up in the water.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

Okay, I'll chime in here, as I have been a BM diver for decades, and at 79 years old, qualify for being an old fart (both, the old and the fart thing). I have in the past routinely walked down at High Rocks on the Clackamas River some rather steep terraine, and walked out downstream too. I normally have smaller doubles (either AL 50s or steel 45s). I also dive double hose regulators routinely. But I haven't dived much since loosing my front tooth last summer (long, but interesting, story).

I have also fallen because of the weight distribution of my scuba. I was wearing a Dacor Nautilus CVS (Constant Volume System), which I also like diving. This unique buoyancy control system was called a constant volume system because it had a hard shell, and overpressure relief valve, a water intake valve, and a regulator that kept the inside air pressure constant. But in doing so, they placed 16 pounds of lead near the diver's (my) spine, and the tank several inches behind the diver. I was getting out, turned and the motion of the turn on the rocks created a motion that could not be stopped, and I fell on my side. Now, I've had a lot of training in falling techniques (judo and USAF Master Parachutist), and so I simply fell to the side on my thigh, hip (and Nautilus CVS) and side, without even a bruise (wearing a thirk wetsuit helped). So I'm not particularly frightened by the threat of falling.

IMG_2796 by John Ratliff, on Flickr
The Dacor Nautilus CVS

IMG_2795 by John Ratliff, on Flickr
This photo of the top of the Dacor Nautilus CVS shows how far away the tank is from the back, and the location of the weights between the tank and the diver's back.

I am not a sidemount diver at all. I dive currents, and having one or two cylinders at my side, dangling in the current, is not a pleasant thought for me. So I will continue to dive my small doubles, or my single steel 72, for my diving.

SeaRat

 

[rx7diver]

Okay, I'll chime in here, as I have been a BM diver for decades, and at 79 years old, qualify for being an old fart (both, the old and the fart thing). I have in the past routinely walked down at High Rocks on the Clackamas River some rather steep terraine, and walked out downstream too. I normally have smaller doubles (either AL 50s or steel 45s). I also dive double hose regulators routinely. But I haven't dived much since loosing my front tooth last summer (long, but interesting, story).

... I am not a sidemount diver at all. I dive currents, and having one or two cylinders at my side, dangling in the current, is not a pleasant thought for me. So I will continue to dive my small doubles, or my single steel 72, for my diving.

@John C. Ratliff,

I was hoping you would chime in. Thanks. I thought about your Clackamas River walk-in dives when I wrote the OP. Sorry to hear about your tooth injury that has kept you out of the water.

All,

I think I've already shared the attached photo of moi attempting to walk out of a shallow quarry a couple of hours away from me. My first dive with my then-college student daughter who had just become a certified diver! (She took the photo.) I was wearing my little OMS/Faber 66 (since my daughter was wearing my '72). Benign quarry--except, the sandy walk in/out is a bit steeper than it appears in the photo. I kept slipping--which amused us both. My titanium hips were less than two years old at the time (July 2022), so I was still being extremely careful and a bit of a wimp.

I'm thinking now that if I had been diving sidemount, using either my LP46's or LP50's, I could have easily taken them off and, holding each by its valve and using them as "canes" or "trekking poles", easily walked up the slippery slope without so much drama (and laughter).

rx7diver

 

[grantmac]

It's interesting whenever a sidemount thread gets posted watching the people who don't dive it say it won't something well, while the people who do both but prefer SM fully explain why it does a variety of things far better than BM.

 

[happy-diver]

Yeah sidemount is magnificent diving a wreck resting on its side the few times a year conditions are benign

 

[Mobulai]

Someday I hope I’ll be able to fully decipher what you say (and intend to say in subtext) @happy-diver ; you would’ve had a brilliant career in political satire
All I know is I can never take it for just face value, and it always cracks me up

variety of things far better than BM.

Horses for courses right?

 

[Marie13]

I'm only in my 40s and fairly fit, but our shore entries can but rugged and I'd much rather dive them in sidemount.
Lp50s make for brilliant recreational tanks.

Yes, I save the 85s for cave diving. The 50s are much nicer for shallow fun stuff. With severe osteoarthritis in both knees, I won’t even dive a single backmounted tank anymore.

 

[BoltSnap]

With severe osteoarthritis in both knees

Is there a cure for that? Knee replacement?

 

[hilljo88]

I dove sidemount several years ago as an alternative to back mounted doubles. It was different, but fine. It seems like a good alternative where a low profile is important, as in cave or wreck applications. Or for a shore dive where you could put first one tank, then the other in the water as a way to lessen the lifting load. But if you don't need the second tank for your dive, I think there are more efficient ways to lessen the stress. For friends with knee, etc issues, we will just put the rigged BCD in the shallows and they will kit up in the water, sometimes with our help.