We're a liveaboard. One tank is all you get. Over and over and over again.![]()
Aha. Now it's making sense

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We're a liveaboard. One tank is all you get. Over and over and over again.![]()
I think if you are proficient the boat will let you do whatever you want. I've not heard of anybody not doing whatever they wanted on Franks boat without due cause.
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Thanks, all, for your detailed, informative, and even occasionally witty responses. I feel much better informed about the relative merits of sidemount gear as opposed to conventional backmount now. I've even seen answers to questions I hadn't thought to ask.
I guess what I'm left wondering, at the end of the day, is why my particular LDS seems to be pushing SM at this stage. As I said, I'm just a newbie: I've got fewer than 50 dives under my belt, and I'm only gearing up for the first time. I've been working with a conventional jacket-style BCD and a lovely BP/W that I borrowed from a gearhead friend, so at this point I'm still looking to acquire my first BCD. I'm about to complete my Rescue certification, and from what I understand, dive ops prefer you to be wearing the same gear the students are using, so if there's an interpretation that differs from the cynical suggestions that "they just want to sell you more stuff," I'd like to know what that is.
Perhaps I'm just misreading my instructor. It's been known to happen ... :eyes:
Sorry, a question out of ignorance, I've never been on a boat with SM divers. Do most divers enter and exit the water with both cylinders attached or are they attached and unattached in the water? In very heavy seas I'm not sure I would want to deal with the cylinders in the water and seems like one would want at least one cylinder available in case one was thrown back into the water from the ladder. Likewise, when a rapid descent is needed, seems like one would really like to enter the water with cylinders already attached and ready to go. Maybe I'm wrong, but manueveing around the boat with 2 side mounted cylinders would seem to be more difficult than a single back mounted cylinder, perhaps more like regular doubles, certainly, the weight is about the same.
Thanks, Craig
Thanks, all, for your detailed, informative, and even occasionally witty responses. I feel much better informed about the relative merits of sidemount gear as opposed to conventional backmount now. I've even seen answers to questions I hadn't thought to ask.
I guess what I'm left wondering, at the end of the day, is why my particular LDS seems to be pushing SM at this stage. As I said, I'm just a newbie: I've got fewer than 50 dives under my belt, and I'm only gearing up for the first time. I've been working with a conventional jacket-style BCD and a lovely BP/W that I borrowed from a gearhead friend, so at this point I'm still looking to acquire my first BCD. I'm about to complete my Rescue certification, and from what I understand, dive ops prefer you to be wearing the same gear the students are using, so if there's an interpretation that differs from the cynical suggestions that "they just want to sell you more stuff," I'd like to know what that is.
Perhaps I'm just misreading my instructor. It's been known to happen ... :eyes:
Yes,but........... with sidemount you have to make twice as many trips to the water. Often it's easier to make one trip with doubles on your back rather than two carrying a heavy steel tank in your arms.
Putting the tanks in the water first is great when diving a calm lake with with convenient shallows to gear up in. It's not so much fun in six foot waves!
4. I may be all wrong, but the weight is the weight. I don't see trekkers carrying their kit on their hips with shoulder rigs, I see them with back packs on. I'm 50, and I just can't see how (on land) low and out to the sides is any easier than high and on the back.
We're a liveaboard. One tank is all you get. Over and over and over again.
I guess what I'm left wondering, at the end of the day, is why my particular LDS seems to be pushing SM at this stage.
Do most divers enter and exit the water with both cylinders attached or are they attached and unattached in the water?
$$$$ Let me count the ways: New ...New...Possibly new... stuff they can sell
Just for the record... I put together a very effective sidemount rig using existing components from back mounted diving. It cost less than $150. Purchases were a BP&W adapter, some bungee cord and a few bolt-snaps...I had everything else.
Awesome! Could you tell some more about it?