I was apprehensive about boat diving with sidemount.

[niavlys]

anyone here have experience hanging tanks on a line in the water and clipping on the tanks in the water ?? the boat we use here would not be easy to don tanks on board let alone getting back on the boat in side mount doubles. so using a line may be a better solution. i have found a few descriptions of some peoples methods but would love to hear others.

it's what I do.
Before the dive I ask the boat captain for a good anchorage point. I have a rope with carabiner on both end. I clip a bottle to each end.
I enter and exit the water without my bottle (on hard boat or inflatable one).

 

[beanojones]

Use a tank equalizer (a $2.50 contraption is discussed by couv in DIY from a while back) which is what I do.

I read about that, back then, and lost the bookmark, and search gets me nowhere.

Have a link to that by any chance?

 

[bada3003]

Sorry, it's been a while and my searching prowess on SB is pretty bad. I'd send a PM to couv who's the originator of the idea, if memory serves me correctly. I ordered the item

Hose Adapter, SAE to JIC, Straight

from amazon.com; it cost more to ship but I believe some local hardware stores carry them. You connect the adapter to an HP port of a 1st stage attached to a cylinder that's at a lower pressure than the donating cylinder. A HP hose connects the two HP ports (one with the adapter) of the two 1st stages.

I read about that, back then, and lost the bookmark, and search gets me nowhere.

Have a link to that by any chance?

---------- Post added July 21st, 2014 at 06:57 PM ----------

I think this might go with my question.

When the seas are 4-6 foot swells and the boat is pitching and rolling how does a SM diver get back on the boat?
Also think private boats with less than ideal ladders.

Clip the tanks off on a line?

Only when the drop line hangs low (at least 10+ feet). Otherwise, I'd strongly recommend against it. A few weeks back, the swells were in the 3-4 feet range. The deepest clip was around 10 feet. I just climbed up the ladder with both cylinders. It's not any different than with backmount doubles. Usually the crew is ready to help unclip them once you're up the ladder. But it's important that you have bolt snaps that attach to your BC's D-rings so that it's load bearing. Some divers just use a bungee which is fine under water but no good when lugging the cylinders around.

 

[00wabbit]

Only when the drop line hangs low (at least 10+ feet). Otherwise, I'd strongly recommend against it. A few weeks back, the swells were in the 3-4 feet range. The deepest clip was around 10 feet. I just climbed up the ladder with both cylinders. It's not any different than with backmount doubles. Usually the crew is ready to help unclip them once you're up the ladder. But it's important that you have bolt snaps that attach to your BC's D-rings so that it's load bearing. Some divers just use a bungee which is fine under water but no good when lugging the cylinders around.

This is where the ring bungie is a huge plus. It transitions from bungee to metal on metal connection automatically without you having to do anything so you can focus on getting up the ladder.