Sidemounting Bailouts
With the modifications to the harness a pair of sidemount bungee loops were added. Alternative sidemounting methods include the Dive Rite bungee + ring system plus many others.
The point of this is to get the bailouts under control so they're pulled back under the armpits and thus streamlined and not hanging vertically.
This means less effort to fin than if the stages are swinging free and they don't go vertical if using a light gas -- there's lots of examples posted around. Most importantly if going inside a wreck, cavern, overhang, swimthrough those stages won't clout the roof or worse still jam you inside.
The bailout cylinders are 'handed', meaning they're modular valves with the valves on the outside such that the bungees will pull the "horns" inside and backwards along your torso and under your armpits.
Traditionally sidemounters only use a single stage clip on the bottom, relying only on the bungees on the top to hold them in place. This is a royal PITA when you're kitting up on a boat or attempting to carry the cylinders. Sidemounters have their reasons, but they're not appropriate for bailout cylinders (IMHO).
The bailout cylinders with the modular valves have normal stage rigging attached to them. These are twisted 45 degrees towards the valve 'horn' -- stage rigging normally runs down the middle.
Ali80s and ali7's (50cf?) are shown here. The ones on the left are bailout, the ones on the right are deco.
The harness, as shown in the post above, has two chest D-rings on each side. The top D-ring is used for clipping off your general 'stuff', the lower D-rings are for clipping off your bailout stages.
You clip the stages to the lower chest D-ring. The bottom stage clip is clipped to the waist belt on a sidemount dropped D-ring (pictured on the right) or a standard D-ring (slidable Billy ring, pictured on left). The drop D-ring will move the stage lower to fit under your armpit when bungeed.
Kitting up:
On the boat I just clip the stages on as any normal person would. When in the water, probably on the bottom, I'll check everything out and attach the bungee(s).
When ascending, about 5 mins before surfacing I'll undo the bungees and let the stages dangle. This makes it easier to unclip on the boat as the bungees can be an embuggerance to any helpers.
A tiny bit of practice and minimal adjustment required -- unlike sidemount! Because the bungees are knotted with a tail (see above), you can easily adjust the length. Once set, that's it.
With the modifications to the harness a pair of sidemount bungee loops were added. Alternative sidemounting methods include the Dive Rite bungee + ring system plus many others.
The point of this is to get the bailouts under control so they're pulled back under the armpits and thus streamlined and not hanging vertically.
This means less effort to fin than if the stages are swinging free and they don't go vertical if using a light gas -- there's lots of examples posted around. Most importantly if going inside a wreck, cavern, overhang, swimthrough those stages won't clout the roof or worse still jam you inside.
The bailout cylinders are 'handed', meaning they're modular valves with the valves on the outside such that the bungees will pull the "horns" inside and backwards along your torso and under your armpits.
Traditionally sidemounters only use a single stage clip on the bottom, relying only on the bungees on the top to hold them in place. This is a royal PITA when you're kitting up on a boat or attempting to carry the cylinders. Sidemounters have their reasons, but they're not appropriate for bailout cylinders (IMHO).
The bailout cylinders with the modular valves have normal stage rigging attached to them. These are twisted 45 degrees towards the valve 'horn' -- stage rigging normally runs down the middle.
Ali80s and ali7's (50cf?) are shown here. The ones on the left are bailout, the ones on the right are deco.
The harness, as shown in the post above, has two chest D-rings on each side. The top D-ring is used for clipping off your general 'stuff', the lower D-rings are for clipping off your bailout stages.
You clip the stages to the lower chest D-ring. The bottom stage clip is clipped to the waist belt on a sidemount dropped D-ring (pictured on the right) or a standard D-ring (slidable Billy ring, pictured on left). The drop D-ring will move the stage lower to fit under your armpit when bungeed.
Kitting up:
On the boat I just clip the stages on as any normal person would. When in the water, probably on the bottom, I'll check everything out and attach the bungee(s).
When ascending, about 5 mins before surfacing I'll undo the bungees and let the stages dangle. This makes it easier to unclip on the boat as the bungees can be an embuggerance to any helpers.
A tiny bit of practice and minimal adjustment required -- unlike sidemount! Because the bungees are knotted with a tail (see above), you can easily adjust the length. Once set, that's it.
