Project 'Frankenstein' - My DIY Sidemount Trial

[MSargeant]

I use these, low profile and great for adjusting the trim of an ali80/other floaty cylinder mid dive in a cinch.

Sidemount diving variable sliding D-ring - YouTube

 

[JamesK]

Looking nice Andy.

MSergeant, those sliding drings look nice. Do the slide as easy when your webbing is tight against you?

 

[MSargeant]

JamesK yes, just need to grab them by the base and they slide quite simply, but lock when the D ring is pulled.

 

[DevonDiver]

It'd be nicer if they could further that concept, without the use of fixed d-rings - which I'd consider a liability in tight spaces or when entanglement/entrapment were a significant hazard.

 

[MSargeant]

I know a few people who just use a thick loop of bungee/shock cord instead, works well as far as i'm aware.

 

[CamG]

The bungee loop interests me I am going to have to play with that one.
Nice evolution of a rig.
That is one thing about SM with smaller tanks and cleaner rigs makes tight holes doable.
I to am not in favor of rigid d-rings.
The few squeezes I have made in wrecks it does not take much to stick you!

I have been working with a Razor clone without a wing / Al 80's drysuit or 7mm wetsuit.
New ideas are always welcome to play with.
I like the bungee loop have to give it a go and see.
Nice thread very fun to read!

CamG

 

[DevonDiver]

Because I made myself a few 'Razor-clone' rigs (home-made harness and DiveRite Trim Pillow), I decided to "upgrade" the Frankenstein to fill the requirement for technical lift redundancy and more buoyancy capacity. It's primary use will be teaching (PADI tech standards require redundancy) for 4+ cylinder dives.

A couple of hours and some sore fingers later, the Frankenstein is now fitted to a Customer Divers dual-bladder 60lb BCD.

1) I routed the primary inflator from underneath (left), with the corresponding OPV/Pull-Dump accessible on the top right shoulder.
2) Secondary/redundant inflator still routes from the top left - able to use the existing left-side LP inflator hose (if reqd). The corresponding OPV is lower left.
3) Continuous 6mm bungee, routed behind the soft-plate.
4) Wing bungeed into the OMS Profile adapter, using the 6 d-rings along the adapters sides, to "shape" the wing and streamline.

 

[rongoodman]

I know a few people who just use a thick loop of bungee/shock cord instead, works well as far as i'm aware.

The Stealth uses these heavy rubber rings. They slide easily enough, especially if you pinch them from the sides.

 

[victorzamora]

Andy, I was diving foot-heavy initially on my rig (Edd-modded SMS100)......but they fixed that pretty easily. I think you could try something VERY similar on yours (it seems like you're half way to an SMS100 as it is). Their fix is just scrunching the crap out of the top of the wing. If you tighten the bungee up drastically (they've even started routing it through non-stock locations now)....you can crunch the entire top of the wing up and still allow slack in the bottom of the wing. I instantly went from feet-heavy to almost feet-light, and it took them two minutes to change it. Maybe something like that would work?

Another question: I know that "theoretically" the welded d-rings aren't as safe....but Edd installs nothing but welded d-rings on all of his modded harnesses, and he squeezes through some tight and tiny stuff. Maybe it's easier to clip in the tropics, or smaller restrictions in the tropics....it's just interesting to note that Edd is pushing hard in SM and is going purely welded while everyone on here is against welded (and in some cases, any) d-rings.