Sidemount "evaluation"?

[Jai Bar]

After diving a while BackMounted with an additional stage bottle (mounted on a Halcyon BP/wing), I'd like to try SideMounting my cylinders, mainly for the sake of being able to see the first stages while soloing

It seems that recently there are two popular off the shelf options: Armadillo Harness and something based on Dive Rite's Trans Pac II harness.

However, I am not sure about the whole issue, and I don't have anywhere access to one of the above rigs for "just trying". I can't even discuss it with local LDS as the whole concept of solo diving is forbidden by local law, and never seen anyone here diving SM so mentoring is also probably out of the question. It has to do with own experimenting and trying in shallow confined waters.

So, I was thinking on doing something of my own, but not sure where to start.

I want to use my current rig with as little changes- just for a few sidemounted dives for "evaluation" of the concept and its suitability for me.

I do understand that a BackPlate is a NO-NO for confined places, but I do only open water solo dives- nowhere to squeeze even if I wanted.

My idea was on "reversing" the wing- putting it *under* the backplate, and mounting two cylinders using bungee cord from their necks to the shoulder D-rings on my harness.

Any ideas/suggestions on how to connect the bottoms of the tanks? I saw that people connect the tank's bottom to a cam band w/clip and use a "butt plate" which connects the tanks from both sides? Will it work fine if I just use some piece of webbing attached to the BackPlate?

I have enough regulators to spare, so no problem with re-routing all the second stages, inflator, reversing second stage directions, etc. etc.

Any suggestions about the whole concept? Does it seem idiotic?

Is it real different from hanging two cylinders like stage bottles one on each side?

 

[Standingbear56]

Hi Jai Bar,
There is nothing idiotic about the concept at all. I started side mounting awhile ago because a back injury made it impossible for me to take the weight of even a single Al 80 on my back. Personally I use a Dive Rite Trans Pac II which I converted into a Nomad by 1) placing my Rec Wing on the inside of the back plate, so it is between my back and the back plate. I use a Nomad Butt Plate with the "Towel Racks" to clip off the lower part of my tanks (LP Steel 95's) and Dive Rite 13" Bungees for the valve end.
For me at least, it isn't much different than using stage bottles. The bungees however hold the tank valves in close to your arm pits so they are out of the way, yet available if you need to reach them.
I don't know what BCD you are using, but I'm sure most of the adaptions needed can be easily accomplished. Personally, I got a lot of my information from the Cave Diver's Forum, the IANTD sidemount manual, the Armadillo Harness Manual, Dive Rite Nomad Harness Manual and the Dive Rite Website. While having a mentor is the best way to go, it's NOT impossible to teach yourself - I'm proof of this. The concept does work, and works well. Plus I don't kill myself walking with twins. I now place them in a cart and wheel them to the site.
Hope this helps,
George

 

[shoredivr]

What George said. You're on the right track.

I spent a couple of pool sessions and shallow dives playing around with my transPak, cam bands, the Nomad butt plate and bungies. Right now I'm working on the hose routing with my drysuit.

Next time I go to a warm water location, I'm taking a couple of cam bands along with the rest of the gear.

 

[FishDiver]

Not to hijack, but I too am curious about this.

Is it real different from hanging two cylinders like stage bottles one on each side?

 

[NorthWoodsDiver]

I was in your position a few months ago and since I didn't want to drop big bucks on a nomad right off the bat I did the following mods:

everything below is for open water use only!!!

I didn't like the feeling of having the wing squished between me and the plate so I made a plate otta 3/16" aluminum and sandwiched the wing between this aluminum plate and my back plate.

my wing is a 32lb OMS donut so I just made that aluminum plate the same shape as the flat center of the wing but made the whole thing about 1.5-2" larger all the way around so the wing wouldn't taco at all.

I got the butt plate from Golem and mounted that on my backplate.

The golem plate comes with bungee and a length of nylon strap. Toss aside the strap, and cut the bungee in half or more. I took 2 quick links and 2 bolt snaps to make my bungees. a quick link on one end and a snap on the other. the total length of bungee is 15 inches for me, this is a personal adjustment you just have to play with. Yhe quick links go through the top hole on the side of the plate then the bungee is run under the valve handle and the snap is clipped to the top D-ring.

For me it was super uncomfortable to have 2 right post valves so I had to buy the left post valves for the tank on the left.

the system has been in the water a handful of times and each time involves adjustment and a few minor changes but overall it has worked great. Hose routing and whatnot is another story. it still feels kinda cluttered in the chest. one step I have yet to try is putting the inflator on the bottom and the dump on the top. That is supposed to make routing easier and everything cleaner.

I could try and get some pics up but I dont own a camera so it could be a few days.

 

[sskasser]

I second the mention of the CDF (cavediver.net) as a great resource. There are a lot of us SM'ers there, and you'll find several pictures of various set-ups and good discussion on the hows and whys.

For me, my rig is always evolving. There's no one way that's right for every diver, or even for every dive. Try stuff, reconfigure, try it again, repeat.

Enjoy!

 

[Dive-aholic]

Just buy the Nomad. You'll end up doing it anyway! I converted my bp/w into a sidemount rig for a few dives and instantly fell in love with it. I just moved my waist d-rings as far back as I could to clip the bottoms of the tanks. You will want to keep the straps about a foot above the bottoms of the tanks so they sit right. No, it didn't feel like slinging a stage. The tanks should be much closer than that. I've been sidemounting for a year in my Nomad now and love it. It is the ideal set up for solo diving. I've been in several different tanks, including both sides with RH valves (you just need to know how to set it up) in Mexico.

Cave Adventurers is having a great sale on the Nomad right now, too.

 

[Standingbear56]

We have great deals also. Give us a call!

 

[hudson]

Hi,

I don't know if you have tried anything yet, but as a new Nomad sidemount diver who has tried rigging a DSS rig to do the same, there are two problems:

1-Trimming is difficult with steel tanks and it makes the problem worse if you have the wing up high on your back.

2-More importantly, backplate is too high to properly attach the tanks so that they'd ride tight on the sides..

Ideally you could move the wing down a bit and either get a butt plate or use a $40 ring-gizmo from DSS that goes on the crotch strap..then it would work fine.

 

[Jai Bar]

It took me some time to make the plunge, but finally I gave it a try. Here's an update:

Since I am not going to really squeeze myself into tight passages or crevasses, I decided to start with my traditional Back Plate and see how it goes.

As there ain't any tanks on the back, I added a small Aluminum plate that I found with the purpose that the traditional wing doesn't "fold" too much upwards. It looks that it did the job and the wing was well streamlined.

I added an 8mm Bungee cord loops under armpits/chest D-rings.

Tanks setup: I started with two 10L Al tanks. Added a CAM band at about 3/4 length and a small Dog clip tied to it. I also added a 2 pound weigh on each, to balance them a little when air is consumed.

Left tank: SPG, 2nd stage with necklace.

Right tank: SPG, inflator connected to wing, 2nd stage long-hosed around the neck.

And went to dive . Here is a movie clip from my first dive with this exploratory rig. It was easier than I thought and I LOVED it, didn't have any trimming or buoyancy issues. The link is to a Hebrew page, but it should play the video clip anyway:
http://www.flix.co.il/tapuz/showVideo.asp?m=3427010

In the first try I thought to skip the Buttplate issue, and told myself it is easier to clip the tank's bottom to the waist D-rings on harness. It proved a pain in the A*s and during the dive I just improvised a "Butt Plate": I took a piece of 8mm bungee which I had in my pocket, made a loop and passed it through the crotch strap D-ring, the clipped the tanks to it- What a DIFFERENCE. The video is with this improvised loop, but now I am sure going to make a DIY subsitute based on D-rings like this idea which I found in the net: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-3/137021/sidemountclip.jpg

Below are some photos from my first sidemounted dive.

What next? I am going to do some optimization of this rig, and when feel secure I' will try doing a RAZOR harness, add a DIY bladder based on a tube tire (with OPV and Inflator), but that's a topic for the DIY forum

Oh, and of course- it was a solo dive, photos were taken by my wife while snorkeling from above...