Going tech, backmount or sidemount doubles?

[rongoodman]

As much as I like diving sidemount in the caves, if I was only doing boat/shore based dives, I would stick to a standard Hog/GUE style rig.

 

[elan]

Thanks for the quick replies. Just to add a little info on why I am considering sidemount...

1. Valve drills in a compressed neoprene drysuit with limited mobility do not sound like fun in backmount.
2. Twin 130's will be REALLY heavy on land.
3. Sidemount will give me an easy option to convert back to single tank backmount for recreational dives.
4. Sidemount will be significantly easier when travelling.

Living in a location that is not conducive to accumulating significant numbers of dives, I will try to focus on skills for either backmount or sidemount initially, even if I do eventually require both.

1 not true. Depends upon the fit. My friend does it just fine
2.not necessarily have you dive 130s
3. Just like will backmount
4. You can dive a single and sling a stage. This is what I do sometimes.

 

[PfcAJ]

Do it in back mount.

Sm has some serious drawbacks that people don't like to talk about.

Tanks are heavy? Hit the gym.
Neoprene suit sucks? Get a better suit.
Cant afford doubles? Save your nickels.
Cant get doubles were you're going? Color me skeptical.

The loss of half your gas supply due to a reg failure is a big problem, as is donations, frequent switching, and general lack of consistency between divers.

There is a reason technical divers of yesterday spent considerable time and energy creating the manifold.

 

[Adobo]

2. Twin 130's will be REALLY heavy on land.

Weird thing is, I haven't heard women cave divers complain about how heavy double 130s are.

Personally, I think it is easier to carry double 130s on my back with a backplate than carrying one al80 in each hand by the tank valve.

 

[Centrals]

You(OP) are the only one who can answer the question. Try both of them as already suggested and draw your own conclusion. It won't be cheap though.

Nothing is perfect!

Horses for courses.

 

[JamesK]

Both have their place. It all depends on the dive you are doing IMO. If it will work in BM doubles, then do it in BM. If you need to get in some small stuff where doubles just will not fit, get SM.

My last 50 dives have been SM, only because I want to become as proficient in it as I am in BM. They are both tools. Although I am really loving SM, I mean I really love it, I know that some dives BM is just better. I don't plan on getting rid of any of my BM gear.

I would suggest becoming proficient in BM doubles first, then down the road decide if you need to go in to SM.

That is just my opinion, and it could be wrong, but opinions are not facts, so they can not be wrong. So I am always right.

 

[lonebrave]

Sm has some serious drawbacks that people don't like to talk about.

Such as? (from another curious newbie looking towards tech training in the future)

 

[PfcAJ]

i listed a few

 

[FoxHound]

I first started diving sidemount due to a shoulder injury....an AC joint separation has made reaching my right post and isolator very difficult and in some cases painful, I can still do it but its not pretty and id prefer not to. So because of this I've made the switch to sidemount. For me SM is the best viable option to technical level dives.

It was kind of a kick in the junk to have to switch kit after putting in a lot of work on skills and drills with BM doubles but if you already have a some BM double dives under your belt, SM converting is not that difficult.

A few things I have noticed with SM:
Hose routing: Depending on the individuals set up, I think the hose routing is more neat and tidy. (obv this point can be argued from anothers post but this is only my opinion )
Gearing up and down for shore dives: Its been mentioned you dont have to carry the tanks on your back any distance.
Valve Shutdowns: the are right there under your arms, easy to reach, not straining your arms in my case with the shoulder injury
Gas management: Others have mention that the gas management is more difficult.....in reality you are monitoring 2 tanks and switching regs after a given period of time......this is not a difficult thing to accomplish at all and if this is where your trouble lies then tech diving may not be for you just yet.
If you have a free flowing reg, you don't necessarily lose all the gas in that tank.....one of the nice things about having valves in such an easy place to get at is that you can feather the valve very easy and still breathe from that tank. Not as nice as shutting down a valve and still having gas from both tanks in a manifold situation but it still can get you out of a bind.

Like everything else in this world, these are all personal opinions....if I didn't hurt my shoulder I may not have switched to SM.....Im glad I have as i really do like diving without tanks on my back. You mileage may vary, so try em both out....weigh the pros and cons, make a decision....both will work

 

[Wookie]

I keep seeing gear solutions to lack of skills problems, but haven't seen anything convincing enough to give up that redundancy that a isolator manifold gives you. YMMV.