Sidemount BC Styles

[MScorpa]

It's funny how this thread has progressed! ALL of the rigs described above will work, but some work better than others for different types of dives. Warm water, cold water, steel tanks, aluminum tanks, stages, no stages, overhead, open water, etc. There is no one setup that performs ideally for every situation encountered. The point is; Why can't a sidemount system be designed that has interchangable wings/harnesses (similar to that of a backplate system) to suit a variety of diving applications and personal preferences, instead of having to buy a whole new rig to best fit one particular type of dive? It's obvious that no single design thus far is unanimously superior so why not allow for customization?

 

[Crock]

It's funny how this thread has progressed! ALL of the rigs described above will work, but some work better than others for different types of dives. Warm water, cold water, steel tanks, aluminum tanks, stages, no stages, overhead, open water, etc. There is no one setup that performs ideally for every situation encountered. The point is; Why can't a sidemount system be designed that has interchangable wings/harnesses (similar to that of a backplate system) to suit a variety of diving applications and personal preferences, instead of having to buy a whole new rig to best fit one particular type of dive? It's obvious that no single design thus far is unanimously superior so why not allow for customization?

I agree with your statement. With years of research I believe that Xdeep comes the closest but it seems that everyone still has to do mods on "their" setup for SM.

 

[Tug]

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Wrong thread

 

[mulla]

This is where Nick Hollis phones me up to tell me to keep my mouth shut.

The SMS75 is due sometime around DEMA and has some design changes that promise to make it a pretty fine harness.

I still believe the SMS50 is a great travel harness, and the 100 works fine with a few adjustments... but looking forward to the 75 AND the SM harness from HOG.

Thanks for the insider info Definitely looking forward to the 75. Recently got the 50 as a travel rig. Might even sell the 100 for the 75 if it's any good.

 

[JamesK]

This could actually be very easy to accomplish. I have a perfect thought in my head. Now I just need to find a manufacturer to talk to about making it happen. I might even make a prototype myself out of the wings I have.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Lanr33 and flots those are perfect examples of why we should have different size wings. Lanr33 would needed 40 to 50 lbs of lift and having a dual bladder would be a plus but flots only needs about 20 1o 25 lbs lift. Currently Lanr33 would be best suited in SMS100D but if he wanted to travel to Mexico and dive warm water he need to purchase another BC like the SMS50. If Lanr33 could just swap out wings like you do with back plate he wouldn't have to purchase two BC.

Most of my side mount diving is in the XDeep but the XDeep wing was overkill of couple AL80 in warm water diving so my solutions was to come with different wings and here is what I have done.

View attachment 158121

The wing on the far left is the XDeep wing with 37 lbs lift - the one in the middle is 6L MSR bag that I would guess has about 18lbs to 22 lbs lift - the far right is Dive Rite Trim Pillow with about 10 lbs of lift. I have dove all these with my XDeep and the 37lbs works great with small steels but over kill for AL80 - MSR bag is great with a couple AL80 and the Trim Pillow works good for single and little light duty for dual al80. It would be nice if manufactures of sidemount BC would support the concept of using different size wings just like they do in back mount instead of saying that one or two complete different BC to fit all you requirements. Plus BC are expensive and lot cheaper to switch wings. The key is making the harness easy to swap out wings like the XDeep.

Anyone agree?

Have you tried the Trim Pillow with more tanks? I dive my Razor with Trim Pillow in Mexico using 4 AL80s and it provides plenty of lift for that many tanks. This is with a 1mm skin on.