Rigging a tank for sidemount!

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FiddlerOnTheRoof

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Location
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Hi everyone,
I'm in the process of rigging a tank for sidemount diving... What do you guys prefer? Bungee cord or para-cord for the attachments at the neck and button hip SS clamp? Why?
Could you share some up close photos of your tanks for some ideas?

Thank you in advance for your help!

Peter
 
What rig are you using? The sidemount rig should have bungee attachment points for the neck, and you should be using some sort of braided line for the bottom. Lots and lots of articles on the web about this.

Advance Diver Magazine used to have an article on the armadillo with some great pictures, but the pics are down for some reason.

You really need to indicate which rig you are using because that will determine what kind of attachment point you're going to be using as well as what kind of top bungee attachment you're going to need.

None of this is a replacement for proper training or mentorship. It is worth considering a long weekend in cave country to get instruction from some of the best instructors in the world.
 
small issues Peter, but parachord on primary tanks.

firstly, the length of the "chord" on rear clip needs to be adjusted to help cylinder sit/lay in correct position (parallel to diver's lateral line), but once determined, one does not want it to move as it would with bungee. secondly, the neck clip simply backs up the bungee loop attached to your harness. using much thinner bungee on the nose clip is not a big deal... ALSO, I rig stage and deco bottles differently.
 
NOT bungee cord for the tank attachments on main sidemount tanks. Static line for sure.

My tanks get two kinds of rigging: 1) "Bottom" rigging is a loop of paracord around a butterfly snap that's held to the tank by worm screws or a camband. 2) a loop of paracord around a butterfly snap that slips over my tank's valve.
 
I use bungee, purely because I had some left over from my neck attachment bungees. Cord works too, just depends what you have available :)
 
I believe this is rig-dependent. Here's my setup in Stealth.

Bungee for valve attachment (coming from the harness)
cord (simple 5mm grunt cord, didn't find anything else) for the bottom attachment.

I believe this is different with the DR ring bungee things. And also different when people use the DR stage strap as a sidemount rigging.

Personally, I leave it as small as possible, a very small loop at the tank neck for carrying the tanks when walking, a simple stainless steel band at the bottom.

Again, this is dependent on your rig, as for me during the dive the bungee holding the valve does not come from the tank but from my harness.


Doppler: Does your last sentence mean "I rig stages in a different way than I rig my deco" or "I rig stages and deco in a different way compared to the main tanks" ?
 
Hello,

Thank you for the quick replies... I am using a scubapro xtek 45 sidemount harness and yes it does have the bungee on for the neck of the tank. I am trying to figure out the best way to attach the snap-hook on the bottom of the tank (AL80)and the snap-hook on the neck of the tank. I have done a lot of reading and videos but I found a lot of information with many people doing all kinds of different setups. I have a lot of diving experience but all my diving has been with back mount doubles, etc... I have decided this winter to look into sidemount diving.
scubapro-x-tec-sidemount.jpg
 
I use several options depending on the tank, the rig and the type of dive.

some rigs have simple bungee for the neck, some double bungee
some have bungee and bolt snaps for the neck
sometime I use cord with a bolt snap around the neck

for the bottom...
some have hose clamp with cord and a bolt snap
some have a cam band with a tri glide, cord and a bolt snap
some have simple cord rigged like a deco bottle with bolt snaps
 
ok, for the top you want some sort of static line to clip them in so when you walk they don't bounce or fail. Paracord works fine for this, but I prefer small braided line.

Bottom I run static line there as well, I use gold line, but paracord could work. 1/4" ish braided nylon line also works.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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