just finished SM course

[KentB]

42lbs. of lead that is way too much drag- go steel.....

I’m fat and I float
With a single back mount 117 I had 32 lbs and if the tank was less than 700 psi my drysuit was in the brink of leaving bruises it was so tight to hold a stop.
I’m a floaty individual
Negative ballast is negative ballast no?
Regardless of tank weight or lead weight it’s s the same amount of weight

 

[RainPilot]

I’m fat and I float
With a single back mount 117 I had 32 lbs and if the tank was less than 700 psi my drysuit was in the brink of leaving bruises it was so tight to hold a stop.
I’m a floaty individual
Negative ballast is negative ballast no?
Regardless of tank weight or lead weight it’s s the same amount of weight

Not really. If your tanks weigh 100lbs but you need another 50 to sink them then you are dragging 150 lbs of mass around in the water with all the relevant inertia.

If your tanks weigh 101 lbs but no lead required you will be a LOT better off gas consumption wise.

My steel tanks have the same gas as AL80, pretty much (7L 300 bar) but they weigh around 5 lbs less on land and require 15 lbs less lead in my dry suit. It’s a 30-40lb saving on what I have to slog around on the boat.

 

[Jon Fountain]

this past weekend I did my sidemount course, most people locally seem to be tec divers and the vast majority seem to dive SM over backmount doubles so I thought Id give it a try. i used an Xdeep stealth tec 2.0 with RB and a pair of al 80s......... wow all I can say is im sold! feels so much more stable in the water I liked everything about it. I wasnt as task loaded as I thought i was going to be. I had some trouble in the confined water dives rehooking lower bolt snaps on tank back up, was taking 20-30 seconds but today in the ocean i got both sides down to 5-10 seconds in trim so I think some more practice and Ill have it down pat.

Im defiantly going to be switching over to SM.
theres no point to this thread but im happy and hooked!!!! and soon to be probably $4000 poorer haha

Congrats. I've just done my first sidemount course as well and couldn't agree more...I'll certainly be sticking to sidemount as far as possible moving forward.

I'm pleased to hear that you got on so well with the AL80s. I did my course in a drysuit and with steel 12l cylinders. That was a challenge for my instructor who'd only taught sidemount with AL80s and wetsuits before...suffice to say that the first days diving largely consisted of me bobbing about inverted. After an evening of research on the internet the problem was resolved. Some may criticise the teaching but I reckon I learnt a lot more by having to sort that.

After the course I did a couple more days recreational diving and thoroughly enjoyed doing so sidemount; not so much having to carting full steel 12Ls over rocky terrain in a drysuit and under a blazing sun though. Anyway surfacing from my last dive I had a huge grin on my face and not just because it had clouded over and was raining.