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Then you've got folks like Steve Martin diving a Mexico/Razor/Stealth rig using loop bungees with fifth port inflators. And you've got folks using two 7' hoses, both right handed seconds. Basically what it boils down to is that sidemount is all about being mission and user specific as...

To directly answer your question Marie, your reg with the turret is the DST first stage, same one that comes in the Apeks sidemount package, but likely without the fifth port upgrade. If you want matching regs with the flexibility of turret and fifth port routing options, I would second what...

Does it have a rotating turret (are the lp ports free to rotate?)

See if your instructor/ mentor will do a few dives with you to observe and work on kicks alone. A improper frog kick can put some bad torque on the knees, and is for sure one of the more difficult aspects to learn won your own. There isn't much in the way of feedback you you can work on in terms...

IIRC, you mentioned in another thread your Atomic Split Fins. My favorite fins for single tank rec diving hands down, but you'll find yourself struggling to perform more 'tech-oriented' kicks and skills with those, especially back kick and efficient frog kicks when carrying 2 or more large...

Another thing to consider: feeing like you are being pulled into the seahorse posture by your weight distribution is often (not always) a sign of being overweighted. What process did you use to determine your weighting needs? A lot of classes only pay lip service to actually teaching students...

Yes, switching to an HP steel and a short one is going to help your weight distribution and hopefully trim. The Center of gravity of your tank will be higher up. The extra ballast provided by your tank will be centered higher so take the 4lb off the waist if you struggle with being too head-up...

Great trim in that pic! Curious, can you please elaborate a bit more on feeling both 'head heavy' as well as 'seahorse posture' which I'm assuming means feet/knees dropped out of trim? I'm having trouble understanding how you can be experiencing both simultaneously, I think I must be missing...

Marie13, what fins are you using? I recall you mentioning you had a drysuit as well. Was the head-heaviness present with the suit?

Shedding 4lbs from an AL80 to HP80 is about right. I like to remove as much weight from the waist as possible while maintaining a balanced rig (still able to swim up given a wing failure). With a single tank, even an HP80 in a wetsuit, you should hopefully not need more than a few lbs...

In true sidemounting and no-mount conditions you want to be weighted neutrally independently of your cylinders (unlike with BM) so that removal and manipulation doesn't affect your buoyancy. Alis (and light steels) are your friends here. For cold water diving in thick wetsuit/drysuit where a...

You can dive twin HP100s in sidemount with a cold water/ heavy steel tanks rig no problem. HP100s are pretty versatile cylinders, BM singles, doubles, and SM. Just don't expect to pull off all the Steve Martin/Boegarts SM ballet tricks gracefully with those tanks.

Standard AL80 is 11.1L For scientific accuracy, very fair point. An AL80 holds 77cuft at 3000psi, 80cuft is nominal. And that's where actual internal volume of a cylinder and pressure expressed in bar make gas planning something you can do on a napkin. 11L cylinder at 200(ish) bar gives...

Telling the fill station what pressure you need in PSI results in fewer strange looks! To the OP: What cylinder type does the rule apply to? One of my favorite things about metric: calculating remaining gas volume is as simple as (bar)x(tank volume e.g. 11L). If you know min gas (adjusted for...

Its one of the most crucial and one of the most delicate parts of the suit/zipper unfortunately, only takes one unfortunate tug to compromise, and it doesn't always happen during donning/doffing. Using the dress zipper to take the stress off it for the remainder of the zipper life will go a long...

The tiny row of black rubber triangles (looks kind of like a toboerone chocolate bar) between the teeth at the docking end is what makes the end of the zipper watertight. The zipper sits on top of these. The little triangles are set on a piece of fabric that is glued/sealed behind both sides of...