Sidemount Gear Set Advice

[tbone1004]

@Arioc I have seen the angle adapters explode without warning and when they do, they are beyond repair. With the ball swivels, so long as they are properly maintained, they won't fail on you. If they do, it is usually from someone failing to put loc-tite on the screw that holds the two halves together, and that is easily fixed at the surface.
The Kirby Morgan elbows are welded together, so if you want to minimize failure points, they do that, but I don't find them as comfortable to dive.
The Cave Adventurers swivels are built quite well and at less than a third of the price of the Omni's are what I would buy if I had to pay new prices on everything. Again, the important part here is to rebuild the swivels properly when you rebuild your regulators, otherwise you run the risk of failure. Most of the swivel failures you hear about are from those that are improperly maintained

 

[bamafan]

I use to dive these swivels and had numerous issues with them leaking. Brian Kakuk feels so strongly about them being a hazard he has banned them from his classes. Certainly dive what you want but there are others who strongly disagree who are world renowned cave divers.

On a side note I probably have about a dozen of the el cheapo fluid swivels from Tiawan that you are recommending and if someone wants them let me know I will make you a good deal.

@Arioc I have seen the angle adapters explode without warning and when they do, they are beyond repair. With the ball swivels, so long as they are properly maintained, they won't fail on you. If they do, it is usually from someone failing to put loc-tite on the screw that holds the two halves together, and that is easily fixed at the surface.
The Kirby Morgan elbows are welded together, so if you want to minimize failure points, they do that, but I don't find them as comfortable to dive.
The Cave Adventurers swivels are built quite well and at less than a third of the price of the Omni's are what I would buy if I had to pay new prices on everything. Again, the important part here is to rebuild the swivels properly when you rebuild your regulators, otherwise you run the risk of failure. Most of the swivel failures you hear about are from those that are improperly maintained

om I'm

 

[Arioc]

Excuse for my ignorance, but why could he not teach if he use sidemount ?, I think that he can as well show his students the safety advantages of the system as well, so may they get interested he can sell the sidemount course as well.

Is it a requirement, that an instructor have to teach in the same rig than the student ?

@Arioc I have seen the angle adapters explode without warning and when they do, they are beyond repair. With the ball swivels, so long as they are properly maintained, they won't fail on you. If they do, it is usually from someone failing to put loc-tite on the screw that holds the two halves together, and that is easily fixed at the surface.
The Kirby Morgan elbows are welded together, so if you want to minimize failure points, they do that, but I don't find them as comfortable to dive.
The Cave Adventurers swivels are built quite well and at less than a third of the price of the Omni's are what I would buy if I had to pay new prices on everything. Again, the important part here is to rebuild the swivels properly when you rebuild your regulators, otherwise you run the risk of failure. Most of the swivel failures you hear about are from those that are improperly maintained

Alright maybe I will try without the swivels first, might actually be okay on the Poseidon regs since it doesnt matter what side the reg comes from. Otherwise I'll get some of the cheaper omniswivels, but it feels a little weird having so many "adapters". Maybe its smarter just pulling out the credit card and getting the same one you have.

 

[tbone1004]

Alright maybe I will try without the swivels first, might actually be okay on the Poseidon regs since it doesnt matter what side the reg comes from. Otherwise I'll get some of the cheaper omniswivels, but it feels a little weird having so many "adapters". Maybe its smarter just pulling out the credit card and getting the same one you have.

it's not that many adapters actually, and I do have quite a few of the cheap Dive Gear Express adapters and use them without issue. They don't add any extra o-rings to the mix which is nice, so I would at least recommend getting those so you can use normal hoses. The 3960 first stages have the OPV in the bottom, so no need to have one on the second stage. Unless you are using the braided hoses which I'm not a huge fan of, I would highly recommend getting some sort of angle adapter for use in sidemount, it's really a huge comfort difference

 

[Arioc]

it's not that many adapters actually, and I do have quite a few of the cheap Dive Gear Express adapters and use them without issue. They don't add any extra o-rings to the mix which is nice, so I would at least recommend getting those so you can use normal hoses. The 3960 first stages have the OPV in the bottom, so no need to have one on the second stage. Unless you are using the braided hoses which I'm not a huge fan of, I would highly recommend getting some sort of angle adapter for use in sidemount, it's really a huge comfort difference

I'll get some 90 degree once from DGX them, thanks for all the help!

 

[tbone1004]

I'll get some 90 degree once from DGX them, thanks for all the help!

those are the ones that I really am not a fan of because I've seen them explode.... If you go with elbows, the Kirby Morgans are worth hunting down, or get the ball swivels from Cave Adventurers, both are much better than the cheap elbows

 

[Frod]

Does anyone have PDF and/or scan on high res of Apeks Sidemount Kit schematics?!

I lost mine and on Apeks official download page there is nothing. googling also pops up only low res pix , which are hard to read especially if printed out.

 

[Magnus Lundstedt]

there really isn't a bc out there that does single tank backmount and sidemount well at the same time. you can try sandwiching a wing between two plates like some of the european guys seem to do for sidemount, but not sure how well that ends up really working.

It works quite well. I have friends that use this setup.

But the prefered way is to make a smaller plate, adapted to the wing, to place instead of the tank.
It only need to be a flat plate kind of rectangular with big radius corners, and 2 holes for the bolts.

 

[Stunni]

@tbone1004

Hi tbone,


greetings from the.Bavarian Forest
tipped over your ancient thread, hope youre still active

Sidemount Gear Set Advice

I dive with my Sidemount with single AL-80 for rec dives in tropical waters, not a problem it all, I take my system everywhere I possibly can. That is one of the much advantages and flexibility of the Sidemount system

scubaboard.com

about side mount rigging.
Am on the SM side of the world since 2014, Aonce with Oceanic Delta4, then ApeksTX50, and thank poseidon lately on Holly LX200DCX.

But actually i got for good money Poseidon Xstream. Better invest in brass than fonds
Now iam looking for of how to rig my Poseidon xstream, found the same way like yours in the pic.
Now, in your picture with the 2 Poseidons rigged, it shows on the left 1st Stage a green box next to the orange bungee.
whats that box for?

kind regards,

Jonny

 

[L13]

@Stunni
Jonny,
if you want a particular member to get notified you are talking to them use "@" followed by their handle for example "@"tbone1004" without the quotes. shows up as : @tbone1004 .