jsnorman
Registered
I am relatively new to SM having about 30 dives in SM over the past year. Diving steels or neutral AL tanks though I feel very good and have got my trim near perfect.
Until recently I really struggled with AL. My Apeks WSX sliding D rings just didn't hold and I had to continually pull the tanks down.
I recently hired an SM instructor to help me out with AL trim. He suggested that I add a second lower attachment point. Basically a short extra Paracord leash from an extra d ring on the lower band that clicks on to a front waist D ring (while also keeping the rear waist / butt D ring and clip). With 2 lower attachment points, the tank cannot move up or down. I modified this slightly using a shorter bungeed leash (with clip on end) so it pulls in even tighter to my waist.
I did about 15 dives in like this and my trim was unbelievably good - so good that the DMs all commented on how good the trim looked underwater.
It is admittedly a cheat to get around my inexperience with repositioning the lower attachment point throughout the dive on rental AL tanks, but it works so well that I wonder why it isn't considered as a standard mounting method.
Any reason not to do it this way, other than the obvious that you need an extra clip?
Until recently I really struggled with AL. My Apeks WSX sliding D rings just didn't hold and I had to continually pull the tanks down.
I recently hired an SM instructor to help me out with AL trim. He suggested that I add a second lower attachment point. Basically a short extra Paracord leash from an extra d ring on the lower band that clicks on to a front waist D ring (while also keeping the rear waist / butt D ring and clip). With 2 lower attachment points, the tank cannot move up or down. I modified this slightly using a shorter bungeed leash (with clip on end) so it pulls in even tighter to my waist.
I did about 15 dives in like this and my trim was unbelievably good - so good that the DMs all commented on how good the trim looked underwater.
It is admittedly a cheat to get around my inexperience with repositioning the lower attachment point throughout the dive on rental AL tanks, but it works so well that I wonder why it isn't considered as a standard mounting method.
Any reason not to do it this way, other than the obvious that you need an extra clip?