Jacket BCD sidemount ???

[ermaclob]

So I was reading over the some of the NSS Cave Diving Manual as a recommended reading from my instructor in preparation for an Naui intro to tech / cavern class i am going to take. i was surprised to read that in the years before the book was written (1992 i think) sidemount divers pretty much dove modified jacket bcds. i don't imagine there where specialized sidemount set ups at that time like today. i was wondering do people still dive this way today, or is that a part of diving that has been left in the pages of old books?

im interested in knowing because. ive been playing around with the idea of side mount for just open water stuff, and have been going at it so far in a monkey diving type of style with only one tank.

i would love to get some buoyancy control in there because its a PITA to swim on the surface to shore with just one tank on. id like to eventually move it to two tanks. i have my old jacket bc in the closet and was looking at it with the tanks strap removed and it seemed pretty low profile on the back

so is art of jacket BCD sidemount no more/ do people just buy stuff like SMS 50 or a Razor if they want to do side mount seriously now a days?

 

[rjack321]

The jacket BC as sidemount rig is pretty much gone. Anyone diving long enough to have used jacket BCs in SM has long ago moved onto something more built for purpose. An for the new 'wave' of sidemounters there's not enough bling in using some adapted handmade jacket for SM!

 

[MSargeant]

I think there's a few people using sidemount harnesses with a gutted Jacket for redundant buoyancy, stubborn buggers

 

[cbairdjr]

What advantage does side-mount have? It looks like it would be awkward

 

[Pullmyfinger]

I am curious about any advantages offered by diving a jacket BC while side mounting (monkey rig) a single tank.
Just for the sake of not having a tank on your back for open water diving.

Aren't sidmount rigs becoming somewhat standardized?

What are the main rigs that are currently in use, that are sort of standard?

 

[DevonDiver]

What advantage does side-mount have? It looks like it would be awkward

Try this: Sidemount Diving | Course Notes | Advanced Scuba

 

[billgraham]

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/188072/title/rigs/cat/500]

[/url]

We made our own sidemount rigs out of Zeagle and Dive Rite jacket BCs years ago, I still have mine and just recently started diving an SMS 100. Standardization -- hmm, ask ten sidemount divers and you'll get at least 12 answers. Monkey diving . . . why? Defeats the purpose of the rig.

 

[beanojones]

Monkey diving . . . why? Defeats the purpose of the rig.

Or it adds a really, really useful tool to the arsenal.

When I have had to spend 6-8 hours in the water building things, I have had to go with S/P style cam bands to change between set up tanks. I would much rather have had a bunch of stage tanks to monkey around with.

 

[Joost Arnold]

For what it's worth: I was thinking about the Hollis SMS100 because it has the possibilities of both back and sidemount and even rebreather.
Then I tried a Hollis SMS50 and was so comfortable using it I decided to go for that. I don't need a dual blatter and I am now so comfortable diving side mount that I won't be diving backmount anyway.
It's all just a matter of opinion. Try and you'll find out.
Good luck and have fun!

 

[billgraham]

Or it adds a really, really useful tool to the arsenal.

When I have had to spend 6-8 hours in the water building things, I have had to go with S/P style cam bands to change between set up tanks. I would much rather have had a bunch of stage tanks to monkey around with.

If you're not swimming and bouyancy, trim and redundancy aren't important, I guess it's fine.