PADI Tec Sidemount Materials (oh no... not another 'bad pictures' issue!)

[loquat149]

I'm curious why you'd mount any stage or deco bottle on top of your SM tanks rather than underneath where they don't float butt up.

Also, why does Jeff need TWO O2 bottles for that pool dive?

Dave

 

[JamesK]

I'm curious why you'd mount any stage or deco bottle on top of your SM tanks rather than underneath where they don't float butt up.

Also, why does Jeff need TWO O2 bottles for that pool dive?

Dave

Well in Jeff's defense he was just in a pool to demonstrate the skill.

As for mounting a stage on top, you can do it without the butts floating up if done correctly.

 

[beanojones]

I'm curious why you'd mount any stage or deco bottle on top of your SM tanks rather than underneath where they don't float butt up.

Also, why does Jeff need TWO O2 bottles for that pool dive?

Dave

You are thinking of that backwards. Why does he need anything but 100% O2 for a pool dive?

 

[JamesK]

You are thinking of that backwards. Why does he need anything but 100% O2 for a pool dive?

LOL!!! Maybe it's a deep pool?

 

[Cadwgawn]

I know for a fact those aren't Jeff's tanks, and I can't tell from the picture, but they seem awfully aluminum to me which would explain the bottoms up position of them. I know I don't like caming down straps with 5 pounds of lead on them. Especially when you can float them back like that when you are just putting around in open water. The only person I've ever seen with better trim and bouyancy control than Jeff, is Edd.

 

[JamesK]

I know for a fact those aren't Jeff's tanks, and I can't tell from the picture, but they seem awfully aluminum to me which would explain the bottoms up position of them. I know I don't like caming down straps with 5 pounds of lead on them. Especially when you can float them back like that when you are just putting around in open water. The only person I've ever seen with better trim and bouyancy control than Jeff, is Edd.

They may not be Jeff's tanks, but he is using them. Yes, they are Aluminum. However, rigged differently you can bring those butts down, even when they are empty and floaty, without using weights. In open water it really makes no difference as far as getting stuck somewhere. However, if one of the benefits you tote of side mount is streamlining, then that is not the way to show it. Besides, deco tanks should be mounted below where you can easily verify the MOD. That added benefit of that is that the tank butts would be held down by the steel main tanks.

I do not doubt his trim or buoyancy. It's his tank trim that is out of whack IMO.

 

[beanojones]

They may not be Jeff's tanks, but he is using them. Yes, they are Aluminum. However, rigged differently you can bring those butts down, even when they are empty and floaty, without using weights.

Go on. I am listening.

I don't care about butt floaty so much because open water, but how do you bring the butts down without weights?

 

[JamesK]

What I do is clip them off to a dring that I have near the front of my waist harness. While the tanks are still heavy they get clipped to a butt plate. When they get floaty, I move the clips. Deco bottles can ride under the main tanks and that keeps the bottoms down.

 

[beanojones]

What I do is clip them off to a dring that I have near the front of my waist harness. While the tanks are still heavy they get clipped to a butt plate. When they get floaty, I move the clips. Deco bottles can ride under the main tanks and that keeps the bottoms down.

Yeah, I knew about that one. I was hoping for some magic way to do it, that did not involve front mounted clips.

How long is the lead on the lower clip? I have found that if I make it too short (because shorter is better for locking into place), I sometimes can make it so that the length makes either the butt clip off, or the front D-Ring clip off more difficult.

 

[JamesK]

Yeah, I knew about that one. I was hoping for some magic way to do it, that did not involve front mounted clips.

How long is the lead on the lower clip? I have found that if I make it too short (because shorter is better for locking into place), I sometimes can make it so that the length makes either the butt clip off, or the front D-Ring clip off more difficult.

On my main tanks it is about 2-3 inches long. I got the length for the buttplate first, and then moved my front drings based off of that. My front drings are just about an inch from my crotch strap now. When I was not using a butt plate I had no tails/leads at all. I have not decided what I like more. What I did use when I had no butt plate though was bungee for the leads. That way they stretched slightly as I put my hand in to unclip the tank.

---------- Post added ----------

I wish that I could find a better way to do it with AL, but I have no ideas. With my diving being in salt water at the moment, the tanks get floaty very quick.