SlugLife
Contributor
A lot of people go into SideMount because of similar reasons (back/knee/etc problems). Some even dive with 2x AL50s.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.
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.