Side mount single tank appropriate for recreational Open Water diving?

[JamesK]

JamesK, thanks for the links on the Oxycheq gear. I hadn't come across that company in my BCD searches. I like the color options available. I assume these would be fairly easy to setup for sidemounting a single tank fairly easily?

Thanks

Not a problem at all. Glad I could help

Setting them up for sidemount would require some work. You would need to find a way to keep the wing from tacoing (folding on itself like ELan described). This could be done by placing the wing under the harness, sewing tabs on the sides of the wing for bungees, or anything else you could come up with. Some people sew a tab in the side and then run a bolt snap and bungee setup across their stomach to hold the wing down. However, it would probably not be as stable as a dedicated small lift sidemount specific wing. Something like the Hollis SMS 50, Razor, or UTD setup. I use a UTD 20lb wing. The reason something like that works is because it spreads the lift out low and across your hips, giving you a stable platform. However, with that being said, if you can manage gas trapping of the OxyCheq wing, you can make it work. I can dive an AL80 with just my harness and no wing using lung volume to control buoyancy. You don't need a lot of lift to work with a single tank. I have not tried it without the wing with two AL80's. UTD even markets their setup as usable with a single tank SM setup. Of course the other two I mentioned would work just as good with that.

Hollis SMS 50
Hollis Gear: SMS 50

Razor
Go Side Mount - Steve Bogaerts

And for some reason I can not get the UTD page to load properly but here is a series of videos on their homepage discussing their setup
Z-System Setup - Unified Team Diving

Well the OP was referring to a BC like zeagle express tech or trabspac which does not have those plastic plates spread over

Both could be set up to work with SM, but would take work. I would say going with something SM specific would be a better option if it is decided to go a SM route.

---------- Post added April 17th, 2012 at 09:20 PM ----------

Unless you have something sticking out moving the point of bladder force application it will be disbalanced. The al80 is still heavy - about 5 lb so you will either have to balance it with the air or weights. And you will have to move them along the dive.
Besides you will have to route your second reg somehow unless you are diving solo.
I personally see no benefit.

I don't use air trapping nor do I move weights around before or during the dive. What are you stating you will have to move during the dive?


As for the routing of the second reg, I assume you mean backup. That is easy. Run a long hose down the tank off of a bottom port, through some tank bungees, and then back up around your neck once. Run the backup off a bottom port and then around your neck once and attached to a bungee necklace. Run your SPG off either port depending on where you want it on either a 6" or 9" hose. Run your inflator off a 5th port if you have one and right in to the wing, or off a top port straight in to the wing using a 9-15" hose.

You seeing no benefit does not mean their is not one. Of course, me seeing a benefit, does not make it right either. It's all what you like.

 

[beanojones]

As my whole goal in teaching sidemount is to teach a extensible system to tourists, I have to say one tank sidemounting is worthwhile for those already doing sidemount, but not really worth it to someone who is not already diving sidemount, and it is not really practical for open ended travel by a long shot

While it is certainly true a standard 80 is balances out OK in sidemount for someone used to sidemount, and the balance adjustments needed for sidemount, it is not the case that standard 80s are what you are going to get for sure when traveling. Lots of operators have switched to compact 80's to save on weights, and compact 80's do throw things off significantly (And forget about steel tanks in a single sidemount. You will spend the dive on your side, unless you are willing to massively overweight yourself.)

Compensating with weight does not work the way you might think it will because the lever arm of the weight of the tank is much further out (at least twice as far out) from the center of mass than any weight on the body. That means that to counteract the weight of a sidemounted tank, you have to use something like twice as much weight on a weight belt to counteract the weight of the tank out on the lever arm.

Additionally, there are many cases where sidemounting will not work,

1. Through operators not being set up for it (many operators simply do not want the increased hassle of handing out tanks at the back of the boat and the crowding it causes and the increased risk it incurs, and simply say no to any divers needing tank handed out, because tanks falling on other divers is just not worth it, and in many sea conditions

2. Or because the ballast of the tanks will not make it feasible.

Thus for me the only way to go for traveling is with a convertible system, that can move back and forth between sidemount and backmount. I have my setup completely transparent to back or sidemount (or both together!), and regularly dive sidemount one dive, then backmount the next dive, then sidemount and back mount together on the next dive, or any combination of them. I even have my left reg setup to go between the two without any changes needed.

 

[Jeff_S]

Disclaimer: I'm am one of the founders of UTD, so I'm completely biased.

That said, I have hundreds and hundreds of dives in the UTD Z-System - singles, doubles, and doubles with stages or deco bottles. I was teaching in Florida a few weeks ago, dove a single 80 for most of it, then when we had an opportunity to catch a cave dive during the week, I just added two additional 80's. The system is completely scalable, and in any form it always allows gas to be flowing to all the low pressure places: long hose, necklace, wing, dry suit. Traveling just requires tossing it in a bag...get there, pull it out, grab a stage (or two, or three) and go.

Singles are the best...the cylinder stays tight to your body, the wing is low profile, and it can work with either a harness or a backplate. Balance is easy, as the cylinder stays within a couple pounds of neutral during the dive.

Details: UTD Equipment - Z-Side-Mount System - +1 206 321-0870 or sales@utdequipment.com

Happy to answer any questions.

Jeff

 

[JamesK]

Jeff,

Thanks for chiming in. I love my UTD Z wing! I dealt with you and Andrew when I bought it. Great customer service from both of you.

 

[madstop]

Interesting to read the contrasting experiences and views of the posters. I, and many friends, dive SM recreationally in SE Asia. Most of us use the Helix Sidemount as it's small and lightweight and very travel friendly, or a DIY equivalent. When I first started out I didn't have any balance issues using single tank on my left. What I did notice was that it improved the trim of those friends who did not already have perfect/great trim. My SM is designed for recreational diving and I wouldn't go back to my SeaQuest Unlimited Pro BCD because although super comfortable, it's just too big and bulky to travel with.

Seems to me the OP has two questions. One relating to transition from BM to SM, and the other about a travel-friendly SM harness as an option. I'd say no issues on the first for recreational diving, but get appropriate training if you intend to go more technical. And for the second I'd say check out the FB Page for pics of the Helix. Plenty of people are using it in SE Asia exactly because it's a simple recreational SM ideal for travel.

 

[coldwatercanada]

the hollis SMS100 is a great rig cause you can do single back mount of single/double sides. Very versitile

 

[Pao]

A little bit off topic but what reg do you use for single tank SM and how do you configure it?

 

[FoxHound]

For me personally when I am single tank SMing, I'm using an oceanic first, the 2nd stage is on a 40" hose and goes around the back of my head much in the same manor of a stage bottle, the octo is on a 7ft hose that is bungeed to the side of the tank. SPG pointed up, inflator hoses where they need to be to work.

 

[CWSWine]

When I dive single tank I have Apeks DSV with XTX 40 on a 32" hose that runs around my neck. I use the Apeks Egress for octo on 40 inch hose running down the outside of my tank.

 

[DaleC]

Here's a video I posted in our local section of a single SM dive. Don't know how "appropriate" it is (like that matters to me) but I did it. All I'm missing is an octo which I could easily route like a traditional longhose or bungie if I wanted. I've also done single SM with a small pony on the left which works well too.

[video=youtube;19Ax6Wim4FA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19Ax6Wim4FA&list=UU5zvhnU0XYpf_cadpYJYkhQ& index=1&feature=plcp[/video]