My venture into Sidemount.

[Jax]

Wahhhhoooo!!!

I actually unclipped each cylinder and held them in front of me with some slight semblance of control!

No, not up to that "both of them" part, yet.

 

[irishsquid]

Wahhhhoooo!!!

I actually unclipped each cylinder and held them in front of me with some slight semblance of control!

No, not up to that "both of them" part, yet.

Where's the video?

 

[Jax]

Didn't bring it, darn it!

This was just to be a good ol' back to all the basics drill session. Swapped masks a couple of times, clipped off my primary ten times each time I swapped gas, and I swapped gas about every 50 psi. Valve drills . . . still haven't learned to turn them on each time, if I am in the slightest distracted. :blush: Everything went so well I decided to try the tank outreach, and I didn't face plant.

It's a lot harder in the 8' pool. I'll be so glad when the 11' indoor pool is open again.

 

[Jax]

Here's my problem -- the Quick Disconnect (QD) buckles on the lower of the shoulder straps of the XT.

I put a rubber band around my lights, and it wants to slide off the QD. I have my straps tightened about as far as they can go, but are up against the QD buckles.

Do they really have any use? I'm thinking I could do a saddle cinch knot on the ring.

 

[BKP]

It's a lot harder in the 8' pool. I'll be so glad when the 11' indoor pool is open again.

Hey... at least you *have* a pool... any pool...

Doing my sidemount class in two weeks in Lake Lanier... Not ideal, although, I hear the viz is much better these days...
*Really* looking forward to it... and thanks to all the contributors to this thread... feel I'm ahead of the curve prior to the class.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Here's my problem -- the Quick Disconnect (QD) buckles on the lower of the shoulder straps of the XT.

I put a rubber band around my lights, and it wants to slide off the QD. I have my straps tightened about as far as they can go, but are up against the QD buckles.

Do they really have any use? I'm thinking I could do a saddle cinch knot on the ring.

The QDs are not necessary. Cut the webbing at the connection on both sides. Preserve as much of the longer webbing from the bottom. Take that piece with your Nomad to one of the shops in town that has a commercial sewing machine. The shoe repair shop on Fry Blvd should be able to accommodate (if he's still there). Have him sew the webbing onto the d-ring at the bottom of the shoulder strap. You can also have him sew the other end to the waist hardware. However, if you want to be able to replace the inner tube there, I recommend just using a 1.5 inch belt slide to keep that in place.

 

[denisegg]

While in Marianna earlier this week Frank at Cave Adventurers helped me do some modifications to my butt plate on the Nomad Exp. The problem I was having is that I couldn't reach the D ring for my reels. My arms are too short and no matter how I tried I couldn't do it. I was also having trouble reaching the handle bars to clip off my tanks. He took the longer handle bars off and put shorter ones up higher. Then he used one of the longer handle bars and mounted it higher, right below where my light is mounted, for my reels. Where my light is mounted, he made a bungee loop to hold the light down so it wouldn't flop around. It worked amazingly well. I had to slightly adjust the cam bands on my tanks to offset the little higher clip offs but I found that my legs were not bumping against the tanks at all like they were before when I was doing frog kicks. My RMV improved because I wasn't working as hard to kick and move the tanks at the same time.

 

[Jax]

Where's the video?

Right Here!!!!

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In case in embed does not work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4syYWxVkEY

 

[Jax]

And, the other tank:

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In case the embed doesn't work, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-oa4plZdDs

 

[Jax]

Not so good here - a tank landed. :depressed: I sure wish the 12-foot pool would open!

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In case the embed doesn't work, [url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZBBY3hGbBI[/URL]