... an "aww haw" moment...
There are two simultaneaous discussions going on here. One is agility and the other is safety.
My key issue is would I have "fun" in a SM rig and the most critical issue for fun, is if SM has the enough agility and response so that I would enjoy it. In a PM with Jax I realized I should have described my "tight opening" question as:
how would a sidemount diver maneuver thru a small hula hoop, during an underwater obstacle course competition? The technical solution to this problem is the answer I was looking for - and I learned that clipping off a tank is possible, but problematic; however, unclipping the back sides allows a diver to follow their tanks thru the tight spot, a solution I didn't imagine due to my "non" experience with SM. This is the sort of thing I need to find out, in order to decide if I should spend the time and resources to learn SM.
The manway scenario I used was the best illustrative example I could come up with, at the time, to express the hula hoop question. Unfortunately, the safety issues of my imaginary scenario highjacked the train of questioning.
Still it was a constructive comment on handling a tec penetration. I agree that in the situations described, dropping a tank is a "really" bad idea. Truth is, diving that is that confined doesn't really interest me. I enjoy crystal clarity and cave features, but, pushing my way thru a cave, like a cork in a bottle, would cause me to leave nasty deposits in my suit ... :shocked2:
In my scenario, however, I was actually imagining a 20' x 35' ships bridge, very open, with out any danglies or obstructions, and only a rooftop access hatch to get thru, in order to do a simple look about that single space. It was just a simple and fun peek into a clearly open space - not a blind push thru an unexplored cave system.
None-the-less, SM is clearly a cave divers dream, and if I had your experiences I would probably have made similar responses. I always emphasize care and planning in my more extreme efforts, and I think its a good idea.
Clearly so do you.... Enjoy all the good times you can find... and thanks for the help... Don
ps... And thanks BabyDuck for sharing your insight. This is exactly the info I am curious about. It is the sort of engineering challenge I enjoy developing a solution for. I use about a half dozen customizations (out of twenty experiments), to minimize clutter and make my current rigs more Hermit friendly.