Considering Sidemount...looking for folks in Puget Sound and info :)

[Andrew Dawson]

@rjack321....do you have a pic of the 90deg 2nd stage elbow, please? Is it on the 2nd stage end or at the 1st stage end?

I am only doing open water dives, no wreck or cave...but...want both tanks to be very much identical...hence the two 40" hoses...I have dove 7' long hose before...during tec dives...but do not see it benefiting in this scenario. I am not a fan of stowing the long hose along the side of the cylinder...just personal preference...

 

[rjack321]

@rjack321....do you have a pic of the 90deg 2nd stage elbow, please? Is it on the 2nd stage end or at the 1st stage end?

2nd stage end
90 Degree Elbow

I am only doing open water dives, no wreck or cave...but...want both tanks to be very much identical...hence the two 40" hoses...I have dove 7' long hose before...during tec dives...but do not see it benefiting in this scenario. I am not a fan of stowing the long hose along the side of the cylinder...just personal preference...

You are wasting your time and money trying to make them "identical" for no rationale reason. You have 0 sidemount dives and there's a wealth of information here from the collective wisdom of 1,000s of SM dives. Why ask if you just want to trial-by-error?

A 40" hose on the left is way too long and going to be sloppy. The 40" hose right is too short to go around your neck so you will have to tuck part it in somehow anyway. Not tucking in hoses is pretty much contrary to the entire concept of SM.​

 

[Andrew Dawson]

I love seeing pics of SM gear setups, BTW!

Well, all setups, really...but SM especially, these days!

 

[Andrew Dawson]

Alright, good info!!

So, I get it about the hoses

Now, would the flex hoses be a good idea? I have never used them but hear they are more durable than basic LP rubber hoses...

Im looking at these:

Nylon Double Braided Low Pressure Hoses Piranha Dive Shop |

 

[rjack321]

I love seeing pics of SM gear setups, BTW!

Well, all setups, really...but SM especially, these days!

Well you won't find any in that BC - since it's not a SM BC.

Braided hoses are less durable and require more frequent replacement. As the outer cover frays over time they will abrade your neck seal.

 

[RVBldr]

My right side cylinder rigged and laying in position as it attaches to my SMS75. The tank is a hp130, notice that the valve to lower attachment point matches the distance between the neck bungie and the buttplate rail.

You may want to also swap left and right assuming your tanks are from a matched doubles set. You'll find that you want the 1st stage valve on top (tank valve knob outboard, DIN receptacle up) , not down as the valve will interfere with a bungee as you wrap that around the valve.

 

[rjack321]

You may want to also swap left and right assuming your tanks are from a matched doubles set. You'll find that you want the 1st stage valve on top (tank valve knob outboard, DIN receptacle up) , not down as the valve will interfere with a bungee as you wrap that around the valve.

The old school bungies do not wrap all the way around to the post. They just go over the knob - as shown.

With drygloves on, accessing the bungie loop is hard enough as it is. I ran regs up for awhile when I was on OC, doesn't really make a difference except in a drysuit with a massively thick undergarment there's ton more fabric in my armpit already and have the reg up makes pulling it forwards for inspection (like if there's a leak) almost impossible. Edd suggested I switch to reg down in my crossover class so I changed once I added the CCR on top of this. With the sidewinder CCR on top of the OC SM rig, I actually have 2 sets of bungies connected. One to hold the scrubber cans down and the loop bungie to hold the cylinder up.

 

[rjack321]

You can see the scrubber cans in this pic. At the time I didn't realize the scrubber can bungie had loosened ~2" so they are riding up a little bit.

 

[Andrew Dawson]

So...how necessary are left/right valves? I mean, if I go travelling...then I would probably get only right hand valves...so, would it make sense to have that setup as my daily?

Or just run the best setup on my daily, then on the rare dive trips with dual right hand valve tanks, just be careful on those dives as it is a non-standard setup?

 

[rjack321]

So...how necessary are left/right valves? I mean, if I go travelling...then I would probably get only right hand valves...so, would it make sense to have that setup as my daily?

Or just run the best setup on my daily, then on the rare dive trips with dual right hand valve tanks, just be careful on those dives as it is a non-standard setup?

entirely depends on your neck bungies

there's at least 3 common ways of doing that