Equipment Trends: The BCD

[KevinNM]

Sidemount is beginning to get a toehold in recreational diving primarily by older divers who find the ability to get into and out of the water without having all that weight on their back attractive. That's, by a wide margin, the reason I hear most frequently articulated by OW divers looking to go sidemount.

The only person I've personally seen doing sidemount had a nasty scar over her spine from surgery. She said couldn't handle the weight of a backmount any more. I can't remember how she got in the water, if the crew handed her the tank in the water or what.

 

[BDSC]

I have never worn a harness with sidemount tanks so I have no idea how that feels but when I wear my back inflate BC with a single tank, I don't really feel a lot of weight on my back. The weight of the tank seems to pull more on my shoulders because the tank hangs down unless I walk with it bent over but I don't walk that way.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I have never worn a harness with sidemount tanks so I have no idea how that feels but when I wear my back inflate BC with a single tank, I don't really feel a lot of weight on my back. The weight of the tank seems to pull more on my shoulders because the tank hangs down unless I walk with it bent over but I don't walk that way.

If I'm not mistaken you dive warm water, AL80 and jacket-style BCD. How your rig affects you will depend a great deal on the type of equipment you're using. The majority of people looking at sidemount aren't looking to use it for typical tropical applications.

I'm currently setting up a workshop for a woman who can't handle the weight of a typical cold-water rig anymore, but doesn't want to quit diving here. So we're investigating sidemount with twin 40's or 50's as a way to keep her actively diving ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[boulderjohn]

IMO, the attraction of side mount for people who are concerned about back mount weight is not the weight in the water--where it is neutral. It is the weight on land.

I first became seriously interested side mount diving in Marianna, FL. I was using my back mounted steel 108s--huge mamas that weigh a ton. I had to gear up on shore under the pavilion at Jackson Blue, walk with the rig on my back to the water's edge, etc, etc. etc. etc. Getting out of the water was just the reverse, but it entailed a whole lot of carrying a whole lot of gear on my back when not in the water and achieving neutral buoyancy. I had recently been diagnosed with spinal stenosis, with bone spurs blocking the nerve entries into my right arm. I assumed that was why I could not sleep at night after diving with the strange combination of pain and numbness in my arm. I dived there a few weeks ago, using the same methods my side mounted buddies had used when I decided it was time to check this out. I walked each of my tanks down to the water's edge, one by one. I got my side mount rig on and got into the water. Standing chest deep, I pulled the tanks off the wall one by one, including the deco tanks, and clipped them on.

Now, this afternoon I was diving off a boat. I don't see a real side mount advantage there. In fact, I think doubles are better. I had my anvil-heavy 108s on again, and I had my deco bottles rigged, too. I had to get help standing up. In this case, though, I was only walking about 10 feet to the back of the boat before jumping in.

 

[BDSC]

If I'm not mistaken you dive warm water, AL80 and jacket-style BCD. ... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Close. Warm water but back inflate BC.

i guess I don't get the concept of how sidemount can save your back on land which is supposed to be a benefit over a traditional BC. Take the example John uses. You carry your tank/tanks down to the water, wade out, grab the tanks and clip them on. Couldn't the very same thing be done with a standard BC. Carry the tank down to the waters edge, strap it to your BC, float it out waist deep, put on the BC. The final result seems to be the same with no strain on your back.

 

[rhwestfall]

look at two trips with smaller tanks vs a big single tank (I'm seeing steel 50's being used, lp85's, etc.). Look at two independent tanks vs. a heavy set of doubles.... have you tried to carry a twinset of HP120's?

 

[boulderjohn]

Close. Warm water but back inflate BC.

i guess I don't get the concept of how sidemount can save your back on land which is supposed to be a benefit over a traditional BC. Take the example John uses. You carry your tank/tanks down to the water, wade out, grab the tanks and clip them on. Couldn't the very same thing be done with a standard BC. Carry the tank down to the waters edge, strap it to your BC, float it out waist deep, put on the BC. The final result seems to be the same with no strain on your back.

Not if they are double steel tanks, believe me. If you don't have them on your back, it takes two people to carry the full rig, and they are struggling.

 

[BDSC]

Now that I can see. Would certainly be easier to carry two tanks one at a time than doubles like the size John was speaking of.

 

[gcarter]

Good to hear. What I was trying to convey was the thrust of why I don't think BP/W market share has grown as fast as some would've expected or many would've liked. I don't mean to come off that they don't offer value; just that the value proposition isn't clear to much of the potential BCD-seeking/using market, and even if you make the case for it, the road to get there (e.g.: modular gear selection, assembly & tweaking) looks far from straight, clear & short.

I'm thinking in terms of some discussions we've had on some of the threads about marketing & scuba. In those, a big issue is identifying your target audience to market to. Since much of the diving public consists of occasional vacation divers and other 'dabblers,' at some point we must ask how much of the diving public are potential candidates for BP/W.

Put another way, if you personally were going to try to 'sell' (literally or figuratively) BP/W, having limited resources and wanting best return on investment, who would you target?

Richard.

Heck, I would be targeting the rental and instruction shops - smack in the middle of the bulls eye. One to many in terms of sizing, used with cinch harnesses so adjustments are quick and easy, significantly less investment required in the rental fleet due to sizing, significantly lower upkeep over time as it is easy and cheap to renew a wing or a harness without replacing the whole unit.

I really don't get why shops are not picking up on this. Actually, I do. Nobody is actually marketing them this way.

 

[rhwestfall]

because you can sell 3 or 4 BC's to someone with a glimmer of hope one might fit them correctly... or sell the next years model with a different (useless) pocket or wiz-bang [non]improvement...