Chest mount larger cylinders?

[Aspidochelone]

I'm new to scuba has anyone diagonally chest mounted a larger cylinder like a catalina al53 since it is shorter. The al53 is 25lb so i'd assume you'd be dead before you got into the water with a 31lb 80 on your back with maybe 15-20lb's of lead too(didn't calculate, don't know yet anyway.) I also wonder how much gear it would obstruct it is 19.2" while an al30 is 19.9".

 

[Nick_Radov]

What are you trying to accomplish here? It's generally not a good idea to have extra gear on your chest because it increases drag, hangs down in the sand, gets snagged on obstructions, and interferes with the long hose.

If you need extra gas then just put two tanks on your back with an isolation manifold. That's not very heavy unless you use ridiculously oversized steel tanks. And if you need even more gas beyond that then sling a stage tank to the left side of your harness where it's out of the way.

If you're new to scuba then stick to using a single tank until you get more comfort and experience. Adding extra gear just increases task loading and can get you in over your head. Beyond that, a more advanced training course like GUE Recreational Diver 3 or Doubles Primer can give you the right training on how to safely and efficiently carry extra tanks.

 

[rjack321]

It's a 7.25 diameter tank? Forget this huge mess of an idea

 

[Aspidochelone]

I see lots of sidemount pictures with lots of stages and they have like 6+ tanks on them. I more asked this question for entertaining the idea. Here are some pics I found. I wouldn't think one al53 would be as bad as some of these. I'd assume maybe one or so of these are jokes but idk.

 

[Nick_Radov]

I see lots of sidemount pictures with lots of stages and they have like 6+ tanks on them. I more asked this question for entertaining the idea. Here are some pics I found. I wouldn't think one al53 would be as bad as some of these. I'd assume maybe one or so of these are jokes but idk.

Those pictures basically are jokes. You're looking at ridiculous rigs assembled by morons in ill-conceived attempts to set open-circuit depth records. Some of them died. There's nothing to be gained or proven by hitting extreme depths on OC.

Regular sidemount rigs have no more than two tanks on each side, not on the chest. And that's for specialized applications, like cave diving through tight restrictions. There's no real benefit for regular recreational open water diving.

 

[happy-diver]

There's a brother

 

[clownfishsydney]

The last thing you should be thinking about if you are new to scuba is mounting any size tank on your chest. You need to get far more experience before you start getting more complicated. KISS principle applies.