Side mount single tank appropriate for recreational Open Water diving?

[rongoodman]

I like SM(Razor II) and haven't used anything else in the caves since I started with it. That being said, I don't see any point in side mounting a single tank for open water. I find that a back plate and small wing is compact, involves less messing around getting set up to do the dive, and is no issue for travel. If you were committing to side mount for doubles and overhead dives, then making do with one set of equipment might make sense, but I still just pack my BP/W for recreational trips.

 

[DaleC]

I keep wondering what all this additional work is for single sidemount? I'm usually the first one ready to go, don't need help from others to lift or stabilize my BC/tank while donning or doffing, can read my spg and manipulate my valve easier, can protect my valve easier and can climb any ladder (single SM) that a BM diver can. Where exactly is the downside? Is the reg set more complicated, is the wing harder to put on, are the valves harder to manipulate, is the tank harder to carry, is it harder to swim, is floating on the surface harder, is it harder to maintain trim or buoyancy, is it harder to trace hoses or locate regs etc... I could go on all day because I can't see one area where single SM is any harder than single BM given the right sized tanks.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Single tank side mount isn't difficult and in my experience, lateral trim is not an issue with an AL 80 or AL 72 and those, as well as the AL 40, are probably the best choices for a monkey dive.

If your particular rig is really trim sensitive, I suppose you could put a 2 or 3 pound weight in a trim pouch on the opposite side at the start of the dive, then when the tank gets light, move the weight to a pouch on a cam band near the tail of the tank, or just on the left side of your harness.

I have found that a 3442 psi steel 100 or an LP 95 will be on the heavy side when full and will want to roll me to the left. However, adding 5 pounds in a weight pouch on the right side of the harness restores trim enough to make the entire dive comfortable.

As Dale notes, it's ridiculously easy to connect a single side mount tank on a boat, a bench, or in the water. Just clip in the tail, clip in the bolt snap on the neck, pull a bungee over the valve, and route the primary second stage around your neck and you're ready to go. It takes about as long to do it as it takes to read it.

My concession to single tank side mount diving, compared to two tank diving is to add another second stage, leaving it bungeed to the tank.

 

[Pao]

Thanks to all who chimed in regarding single tank SM reg configuration.