Hybrid Sidemount - with a standard Wing or BCD

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Thank you for the reply. Most of my diving I don't have the luxury of sitting on the surface to gear up it is either in current/swell or punching through kelp and our shore diving usually has some surf as well. I hate to admit it but I'm getting older and my back and hips aren't what they used to be so looking at options but I like to hear the good and bad before I make a decision.
A lot of people go into SideMount because of similar reasons (back/knee/etc problems). Some even dive with 2x AL50s.

If the waves are particularly bad when boarding my friend's boat, I'll usually clip both tanks to a "drop line" of some sort. Clipped to the bottom of my rigging is usually a bolt-snap attached to about a loop of paracord, which measures about 15-inches stretched straight. (You can also stash them in a pouch) I can unclip that, loop it around a ladder or other device, and then clip my tank to the loop. When I'm ready, I'll pull up each tank one at a time.

If I know the waves will definitely be bad before jumping in, I'll use these much longer ones shown below, and attach them to a boat-cleat before jumping on. I think these orange ones are about 3-feet, but after using them, I'd suggest 5-feet long (which is 10ft of cord per loop) The main reason is you have to compensate for the distance from the boat-cleat to the water and wave-height. You also want the tanks to not bang into eachother, and make it easier to pull up each tank 1-at-a-time..

edit: You could do something similar in backmount. Remove your BCD/Harness/Tank in the water (BCD inflated), clip it to the boat, climb up the ladder, then pull up the whole package.
 

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Think of LP50s SM as the equivalent for a HP100 single tank. Anything you’d do single tank can be done with two 50s. Anything else requires bigger tanks.
 
Think of LP50s SM as the equivalent for a HP100 single tank. Anything you’d do single tank can be done with two 50s. Anything else requires bigger tanks.
Right. In context of the original thread wanting more air, plus back/knee/etc problems, you could also do other sizes like AL63, which would give you about the equivalent of 1.5x AL80s (or a HP120)

Another option if you're simply lazy (like me) and already have AL80s and don't need more air, is to "monkey-mount." I'll often dive an AL80 left, and AL19 right-side (for redundancy).
 
Right. In context of the original thread wanting more air, plus back/knee/etc problems, you could also do other sizes like AL63, which would give you about the equivalent of 1.5x AL80s (or a HP120)

Another option if you're simply lazy (like me) and already have AL80s and don't need more air, is to "monkey-mount." I'll often dive an AL80 left, and AL19 right-side (for redundancy).

That’s wacky mount! 😂🤣
 

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