Congratulations Jax, and thanks for the reports. You've gotten me bouncing off the walls waiting for my SM class in Florida in May.
My venture into Sidemount.
- Thread starter noreastDIVER84
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So sorry, Jax! Can't let you post that last one without posting this one too! 
Watch for the look on her face at about 20 seconds! :shocked2:
Watch for the look on her face at about 20 seconds! :shocked2:
In backmount, after we shut a post down we breathe down or purge the secondary so as to eliminate any residual bubbling which might confuse our analysis of what's going on behind our head. Is there any reason to do this in SM, where we can see which post is failing?
No need. In SM, we still breathe the regs down to take advantage of every last breath available, but it's not necessary as a diagnostic tool. In SM you simply look at your valves and regs and see where the compromise is. Even if the compromise is at the 2nd stage, as long as you are aware of which 2nd stage you are breathing from, you will have no issues. This is one of the reasons Jax is so sore today. She did lots of valve drills and OOAs throughout this course. Like I told her yesterday, if my SM, Twinset, and AN/DP through trimix students don't come out of their classes at least a little sore, then I didn't do my job.
Thank you both for the reports! I may well be following in your footsteps, Jax, once I decide which SM rig works best for me . . .
So sorry, Jax! Can't let you post that last one without posting this one too!
Watch for the look on her face at about 20 seconds! :shocked2:
:spit: You found it! I haven't looked at them all . . . you were right, I was too tired!
Please note that I had the grace to drop my head in shame . . .
:shocked2: OMG, you can sort-of make out what I was saying . . . :blush:
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Some of the changes made to my Nomad XT:
Loops: First, I had a lot of problems with the bungees. The 4" dog clip coupled with the 2" fold-over that attached the bungee to the snap would hold the tanks away from me by that 6". Even though Rob (Dive-aholic) had me in perfect trim the first day, with the bungees, there was (for me) still a god-awful struggle to get those 3/8" bungees around the valves. This led to a slow gear-up, smashed thumb-nails, and fatigue right off the bat. So, I was pretty happy to try the loops.
The first two pictures show the loop coming off the attachment point. The black 3/16" bungee loops are what goes over the valve. The yellow cord serves simply as a "locator" for the loop, so you do not have to fish for them. The 2nd picture is me holding the extra loop out of the way -- Rob shortened the loop in the water. It works well for me for two reasons: one, I can flip it on the valve pretty darn quick, without hurting my thumb, and two, it doesn't "dam" across my wing so I can balance the bubble better.
The second two pictures are my weight pouches on the harness. While I hated giving up the 'turf', Rob was delighted that they flattened out the wing (it holds the wing attachment band out on the shoulder) and removed any chance it could bunch up and block bubble movement. I am happy because it makes the rig better for air travel, and I won't have to take the weight off before travel.
So, more data for those of you considering sidemount.
Loops: First, I had a lot of problems with the bungees. The 4" dog clip coupled with the 2" fold-over that attached the bungee to the snap would hold the tanks away from me by that 6". Even though Rob (Dive-aholic) had me in perfect trim the first day, with the bungees, there was (for me) still a god-awful struggle to get those 3/8" bungees around the valves. This led to a slow gear-up, smashed thumb-nails, and fatigue right off the bat. So, I was pretty happy to try the loops.
The first two pictures show the loop coming off the attachment point. The black 3/16" bungee loops are what goes over the valve. The yellow cord serves simply as a "locator" for the loop, so you do not have to fish for them. The 2nd picture is me holding the extra loop out of the way -- Rob shortened the loop in the water. It works well for me for two reasons: one, I can flip it on the valve pretty darn quick, without hurting my thumb, and two, it doesn't "dam" across my wing so I can balance the bubble better.
The second two pictures are my weight pouches on the harness. While I hated giving up the 'turf', Rob was delighted that they flattened out the wing (it holds the wing attachment band out on the shoulder) and removed any chance it could bunch up and block bubble movement. I am happy because it makes the rig better for air travel, and I won't have to take the weight off before travel.
So, more data for those of you considering sidemount.
Attachments
OP
The changes look good Jax, I may have to add some weight pouches to mine to get the weight I need in salt water.Some of the changes made to my Nomad XT:
Loops: First, I had a lot of problems with the bungees. The 4" dog clip coupled with the 2" fold-over that attached the bungee to the snap would hold the tanks away from me by that 6". Even though Rob (Dive-aholic) had me in perfect trim the first day, with the bungees, there was (for me) still a god-awful struggle to get those 3/8" bungees around the valves. This led to a slow gear-up, smashed thumb-nails, and fatigue right off the bat. So, I was pretty happy to try the loops.
The first two pictures show the loop coming off the attachment point. The black 3/16" bungee loops are what goes over the valve. The yellow cord serves simply as a "locator" for the loop, so you do not have to fish for them. The 2nd picture is me holding the extra loop out of the way -- Rob shortened the loop in the water. It works well for me for two reasons: one, I can flip it on the valve pretty darn quick, without hurting my thumb, and two, it doesn't "dam" across my wing so I can balance the bubble better.
The second two pictures are my weight pouches on the harness. While I hated giving up the 'turf', Rob was delighted that they flattened out the wing (it holds the wing attachment band out on the shoulder) and removed any chance it could bunch up and block bubble movement. I am happy because it makes the rig better for air travel, and I won't have to take the weight off before travel.
So, more data for those of you considering sidemount.
Hee . . . . here's one in which I did a bit of a chest / face plant . . . but I got that #$%^& tank clipped on, by golly!!!!
Don't know why there is an error, Edit: Error resolved. 
Don't know why there is an error, Edit: Error resolved.
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