Stage Rigging Methods

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Late to the party here. I've never been a fan of bottom mounting stages, even in backmount. The stages hang too low. Even with them properly trimmed out and tucked up they still hang a bit low and I also don't like the clutter in front of me. We spend all this time trying to declutter our chest area then we throw a couple of large cylinders right there. That being said, some people prefer front mounting and that's just fine. It's not for everyone though.
I totally get the lack of love for bottom-mounted stages. I struggled for a while (and subsequently created this thread, before struggling more) to get a clean top-mounted stage method I liked. I had the need to carry a stage on one dive where I had it top-mounted (poorly, early stages of trials) in, but even at 2000psi it started floating (Luxfer). On the way out, I didn't want to worry about the tail being messed up and hitting the ceiling....so I just front-mounted it and swam out. It floated right into my main bottle, but wasn't cleanly mounted (not as bad as most doubles-divers, but not as neat as I wanted).

Since then, I've gotten my stage to ride up and in.....to the point where my bottles look like the way the Razor guys do it. Bottles are touching, parallel, and on my sides.....but my main is in the "right spot" and the stage is just below it. Not my favorite (I'd still prefer top-mounted if I could find a cleaner solution)....but it rides mostly out of the way and causes me little hassle. Even pull-and-glide isn't an issue because of where the tank rides. My method is to throw my elbow inside of my main tank valve, push that tank over a smidge, clip off the bottom leash (super short bungee), and then wrap the long bungee around the valve and clip it off to my chest. The bungee pulls the valve up against the bottom leash, and twists the bottle up and into the other one. I don't mind the chest-clutter too badly, but could totally see how many would. I don't feel like my stage contributed much at all to that.

Victor, what kind of clip were you using on the bottom when you tried my method? Smaller clips will not work well because they don't have the weight required to get the clip where you need it. You can't do my method using one hand. One hand drops the clip where it needs to go and the other grabs it and attaches it to the D-ring. I've yet to run into a circumstance where I can't use both hands to do this though. Even when I take along 4 stages I top mount all 4 stages. It keeps me decluttered in the front and the stages all ride nicely behind me without any concern of them hitting the ceiling.
I was using a butterfly clip (the "standard" sized ones). I have some (like 12) of the XXL bolt snaps (like the ones included with the Hollis SMS100)....but I've gotten butterfly-spoiled. My requirement of doing it one-handed is more as proof of convenience than my actual belief that I'll be using my other hand out of dire necessity.....like sword-fighting the JB eels or spearing the Maddachalk catfish. I have found it useful, however, to have my right-pointer finger on the floor in JB to help me from going with the flow too hard. I've managed to coast out while putting on my stage, but I always find myself too distracted for my liking. I am too distracted to trust myself (for now, I'm sure muscle memory will help) to follow the line, especially if decisions are required.....so I try and don/doff stationary (prep and finalize while moving, but the main don/doff while stationary).

Having said all of that, I've only got like 18 total stage dives.....so I'm still young&dumb about all of this. I'm also FAR too stubborn to not keep trying top-mounting solutions. I'm a big fan of this wrap-bungie-around-the-valve thing, and I think it's got some merit to it. I'm still trying to visualize a way of getting that on the top. I'm also worried about stages 3&4 (I haven't done even a 2-stage dive yet, so we'll see when/if I need them) in terms of where to put them. My other big consideration is I want to dive AL80s the "Razor" way (whenever I do go back to the salty stuff) and want hip d-rings to accommodate that no matter what.

If you want to stick with a mainly DIR configuration, this might work for you.

It sounds like you've come across a good solution for sidemounting your stages. One option you might want to consider is unsnapping your top snap. Check out the way the Razor guys mount their primary AL80s. Then modify it to accept your GUE stage rigging. It shouldn't be that hard. Clip off both clips like normal, hop in, undo top clip and then throw your bungee on the tank. Undoing the top clip should get you enough leeway. To get on the boat, undo your bungee and clip it off up top. Another option would be to keep a loop of cord with you and clip off your DIR top clip to that loop of cord, the loop of cord being looped around your shoulder d-ring. Then use the bungee to keep it in place.

Only problem with your stage rigging method for most of the people on this thread is that we have our main ("backgas") cylinders where you're putting your stages :wink:
 
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