Sidemount and boat

[MXGratefulDiver]

It varies from boat to boat, and depending on conditions. I've done everything from backrolling off of RIBs to giant striding from the swim step of a 120+ foot liveaboard. I prefer to go in with both tanks clipped, so all I need do is turn around and grab my camera and go ... same as I would for back-mount. The biggest issue is boats with gates that are too narrow to accommodate a side-mount diver. You have to modify the giant-stride entry to more of a side-stride, which requires more care ... particularly if there are waves that affect your balance.

A bigger concern is getting out. Some boats will have ladders that you can just scamper up with all your gear in place. Those are the ideal ... either with or without fins. But boats that require you to unclip and pass up equipment ... such as a RIB ... can be problematic, as it takes longer to remove and pass up tanks ... and in choppy conditions or current that can be a concern. Depending on the type of rig, it may also mean trying to climb onboard with your weights still in place ... since some rigs will have weight pockets on the back, and unless you want to take even more time getting your harness off once you've passed up the tanks, you'll be climbing on board in your harness, with weights still attached. The backmounted diver who's handing up their entire rig before climbing over the rail is going to have a much easier time of it than you will.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Remy B.]

I agree with Bob, about narrow gates, and passing on the bottles in a current, but I will not change sidemount for BPD

Sidemount is a more flexible setup, onshore and off-shore, for transport, for doning and safety wise IMO

with choppy sea in a boat, your center gravity is lower than BPD making it easier to maintain or regain stability with less effort.

 

[Jonn]

I get that there are advantages to sidemount, but I cringe when I see one walking up the dock. They take up all the bench space, and take FOREVER to get off and back on the boat. The snap hooks can't be undone with gloves on, then they sink and have to be recovered by another (already saturated) diver. Even with calm seas and no screwups it takes an age. I suppose just climbing the ladder like everyone else is not a physical impossibility, but I have never observed it.
TLDR: you can make it work but your buddies will hate you.

 

[WarrenZ]

@Jonn one thing I have noticed is a lot of sidemount divers have swapped over to sidemount due to injuries and physical limitations that have after too many years of BM doubles therefor they may not all be playing on a level field. I tried sidemount after getting started in BM doubles and immediately broke down both sets of doubles for sidemount before I got to the bad knees/back crowd.

 

[Wookie]

@Jonn one thing I have noticed is a lot of sidemount divers have swapped over to sidemount due to injuries and physical limitations that have after too many years of BM doubles therefor they may not all be playing on a level field. I tried sidemount after getting started in BM doubles and immediately broke down both sets of doubles for sidemount before I got to the bad knees/back crowd.

Weight on your knees is weight on your knees. Doesn't matter if the weight is slung and hanging from your shoulders or on a backplate and hanging from your shoulders. It may help lower back issues, but the jury is out. I can see it if the lower back issues are exacerbated by being pulled backwards by backmount weight, but sidemount cylinders also pull your upper body backwards.

Where sidemount cylinders help folks with joint/back problems is on beach/shore entry,or backroll boat entry, or hand cylinder down entry, because you don't have to put all that crap on before getting neutral. Get in the water then clip in, no weight on the back or shoulders. But on boat giant stride entries and climbing a ladder with gear on, there really isn't any reduced impact on joints sidemount vs. backmount.

 

[DevonDiver]

They take up all the bench space, and take FOREVER to get off and back on the boat. The snap hooks can't be undone with gloves on, then they sink and have to be recovered by another (already saturated) diver. Even with calm seas and no screwups it takes an age. I suppose just climbing the ladder like everyone else is not a physical impossibility, but I have never observed it.
TLDR: you can make it work but your buddies will hate you.

It sounds like you've observed an under-trained sidemount diver and mistakenly assumed their weaknesses to be flaws applicable to the sidemount approach in general.

There are some pretty weak sidemount courses around... and more than a few divers who attempt to self-train themselves. These are the ones who struggle with basic equipment familiarity and operation...and who make sidemount look like a struggle.

A well-trained, experienced, sidemount diver will have a high degree of equipment familiarity and be deft with its operation and function.

I wouldn't qualify a student whose performance was as dire as you described.

Struggling with clips, dropping equipment, being inefficient in set-up, entry and exit... these would all be performance standards fails on a sidemount course... and issues that are easily resolved with decent quality training.

 

[Jonn]

It sounds like you've observed an under-trained sidemount diver and mistakenly assumed their weaknesses to be flaws applicable to the sidemount approach in general.

Your right, the sidemount divers I've shared a boat with do tend to be older, less fit, and not really familiar with their gear. I suspect this is because I don't do many dives where the 'legitimate' advantages of sidemount are applicable. Talking more 'cattle boat' and less 'heliox' here. As Wookie mentions they are reducing the weight they carry over the side in favor of having tanks handed to them while floating, then gearing up in the water. I sympathize with their spines but it all takes (the whole boat) quite a while to happen, even in ideal conditions. If they gear up on board they take at least twice as much bench space, with those big tanks flopping all over. I'm sure the setup meets their needs very well. But not ours.

 

[Remy B.]

I get that there are advantages to sidemount, but I cringe when I see one walking up the dock. They take up all the bench space, and take FOREVER to get off and back on the boat. The snap hooks can't be undone with gloves on, then they sink and have to be recovered by another (already saturated) diver. Even with calm seas and no screwups it takes an age. I suppose just climbing the ladder like everyone else is not a physical impossibility, but I have never observed it.
TLDR: you can make it work but your buddies will hate you.

Beside what Andy already mention, crapy designed equipment ( the majority out there ) and the wrong clips is the fault of the diver selection not the system.

I use 7mm gloves and I can detach each tank with one hand, because I have the right clips and the right D-rings on the harness, I can attach them as easy as well, I can see what your mention with the majority of the equipment sold out there, but it is as well a question of practice in knowing your harness and D-rings and buying the correct clips/snap hooks.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I get that there are advantages to sidemount, but I cringe when I see one walking up the dock. They take up all the bench space, and take FOREVER to get off and back on the boat. The snap hooks can't be undone with gloves on, then they sink and have to be recovered by another (already saturated) diver. Even with calm seas and no screwups it takes an age. I suppose just climbing the ladder like everyone else is not a physical impossibility, but I have never observed it.
TLDR: you can make it work but your buddies will hate you.

Oh my goodness ... you need to find some better trained divers to dive with. Most of what you just put out there as "can't do" are things I do regularly.

• A sidemount diver does not need any more bench space than someone in backmounted doubles. If they're taking up more than that, then they need to acquire better techniques (or just give a crap) for managing their gear on a boat.
• Under most circumstances I can gear up and get in the water ... and out of the water ... as quickly as a backmounted diver. Again, it's a matter of technique and preparation. So it's not that it CAN'T be done ... it's that people either haven't learned how, or don't care, to do it.
• What do you mean snap hooks can't be undone with gloves on? I wear dry gloves, usually with rather heavy liners, and routinely manage my tanks while wearing them. Like everything else, all it takes is some practice.
• If someone's dropping gear, that's not due to the configuration but rather the incompetence of the diver. And FWIW, I've recovered plenty of equipment from the bottom at some point or another, including in one case a complete backmounted singles rig which the diver dropped because he had so overstuffed his integrated weight pockets that he couldn't release them. Again, that's not due to the rig, but rather the lack of competent skillset of the diver.
• Even with my steel 100's I can and do regularly climb a ladder with my tanks in place. If I release anything before exiting the water, it's just the bungees ... and that's only because they're easier to release in the water and make getting out of the tanks once back to the bench a bit easier and quicker.
• I guess I'm lucky, other than one cranky dive boat captain who shared your attitude about a rig he didn't understand, I've never had anyone complain about my use of sidemount. In fact, my biggest issue with it is on boats where the crew insists on helping me into my gear ... since they rarely understand how the rig goes together I have to keep telling them to just leave me alone and let me do it. Things go much more easily and quickly that way.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[KNDiver]

TLDR: you can make it work but your buddies will hate you.

Is it from your experience? Is it that bad to wait a little bit? You can use a whole day with packing, driving to the site, gearing up etc. but not wait five minuts for a dive body?