Sidemount for Kayak

[absaav]

I am interested in getting a sidemount rig for close to shore kayak diving only.

No caves, wrecks, overhead environment or major deep dives. ie recreational dives only usually of depths between 45-85 ft and for 60 minutes max duration on average.

Sole intention is to make it easier to get the tanks in and out of the water from the tankwell of my kayak without breaking my back.

Likely single tank only w a smaller pony or stage bottle on the other side.

I dive solely in the cold waters of Monterey Bay 48-55f degrees. 7 mil wetsuit.

I'd like to keep the setup as slim and trim as possible.

Does any one out there have experience, advice, suggestions for an ideal setup??

eg. Hollis SMS 50 or 75 w alum 80 or LP85 ??. UTD z system as a single tank setup?

I would like to hear other peoples experience, advice.

Thanks,

Brian

 

[DevonDiver]

I'd suggest a really lightweight, minimalist rig.

Off-the-shelf.... UTD Z-Trim, Razor, Aquamundo or Stealth 2.0. Or build your own minimalist (see mine HERE)

See my full list of sidemount rigs available here: A List of Modern Sidemount BCDs

For shallow dives, go for a couple of 40cuft / 6L cylinders. Lovely for on/off the kayak...

 

[absaav]

Good advice, i was worried about small lift of some of the minimalist rigs but its probably all i need given what Im using it for.

I was thinking of diving w 2 steel 50's for shallow dives, decent bouyancy characteristics easy to manipulate.

 

[decompression]

The guys at UTD do a fair amount of sidemount/kayak dives in SoCal, the 50's aren't too neg, so any one of the 3 different lift UTD wings would work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Johanan]

No caves, wrecks, overhead environment or major deep dives...

- IMHO a sidemount is a sidemount in any environment. I don't know of any SM systems which are dedicated to open water, shallow dives. The only specific thing I can think of is the possibility to ditch the weights. Some systems do not allow it to be done easily because they were designed by cave divers who would not consider doing this.

The Diamond sidemount system is very good. I just fitted it with a continuous bungee loop. The T weights system is a must, however, preferably with inner pockets.

 

[mddolson]

I second the 2x 40's idea. Adds redundancy over single 80.

Mike D

 

[absaav]

The new Apeks WSX-25 sidemount rig looks pretty clean for of the type kayak diving I'm considering.
Anyone had a chance to demo it??
B

 

[Rich Keller]

The smaller tanks seems like your best choice, 50s or less should due fine. Another option would be to use 1 large tank, leave it in the kayak and dive off an umbilical carrying only your bail-out bottle. I use a 50' umbilical when kayak diving in waters to about 30', for the depths you are looking at a longer one would be needed. What kayak are you diving from?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I am playing with this now. I have a sit on top Pelican 10 ft. Nice little boat for our local lakes and smooth rivers. One thing to consider is how you carry the tanks to the dive site with the boat. I made special cleats that allow the use of 1 inch webbing to make hang straps that each tank would be attached to while paddling out to the site. I have a Dive Rite LT Tech SM unit. You can find them for around 399.00 from Leisure Pro.

With a couple 40's hung over the sides the difference is minimal. You have to consider with this method that once you get off the boat and clip one tank on the other is going to be pulling on the side it is attached to. Too heavy of a tank even in the water, depending on the boat, could flip it up enough to capsize. The other option is to tow the tanks behind you with some type of float. This way you just wear the harness out or don it in the boat, drop in the water, clip the tanks on and go.

 

[Razorista]

Sorry for the admittedly stupid question, but how does kayak diving work without an umbilical anyway?

I mean even in absolutely still water it will drift off and carrying enough anchor line even for only 20-30 meters of water must be heavy and cumbersome on a kayak.

I always thought I would want to try that, but I cannot find solutions for all the problems I could think of.