the positioning of SPG of sidemount regulator configurations?

[victorzamora]

I agree if your bottles are hung well then spgs pointing up don't come in contact with the floor, but also I think it depends whether some people like the 1st stage facing toward them, or away from them, because that will allow it to be positioned such that it is close to your body. I prefer spgs angled in 45 degrees because both of them are touching each other, and in close proximity to my midline, so there is no interference with stages/deco, but having them close to each other means one swipe of the light illuminates both spgs. When I first started sidemounting I used to have the gauge down the side of the tank, frequent flexing/unflexing is not real good on the hose,but in a dry suit having to contort your head down to see the gauge sometimes meant a squirt of water down your back.

You're right, Kelly. I think SPG position is directly correlated to 1st Stage position, and I've said it before. People that like their SPGs down their tanks need to run 1st Stages "up" where lollipopped SPGs requires 1st stages down. I know I'm speaking too generally, but I think it's a fair rule of thumb. As for the 45* angle, I've tried that before but couldn't work out the rest of my hose routing to accomodate that cleanly. I'm not diving mix (yet?) but my staged cave diving hasn't interfered with my lollipopped SPGs as I only check the SPG that I'm breathing off of (usually), and I never breathe from backgas with stages on. I have checked "backgas" pressure with stages on, which wasn't an issue even with front-mounted stages or deco bottles. My SPGs come up JUST in front of my arm pits and really stay out of everything's way. I nearly switched my setup to SPGs the other way before I did my first scooter dive and lost interest in having to contort to look back.

This shouldn't have to hold true, and may point to something regarding set up that needs a tweek.

This is what I've seen to be true.

 

[TracyN]

Mine was set up by the master himself so everything should be tweaked. That set up is perfect for angled valves if there were any to be found. Also I noted that my Worthington tanks when filled push my gauges right up where they should be. It's on the faber tanks that the SPG's get jacked down as the butt of the tanks start to get floaty

 

[karstdvr]

. Also I noted that my Worthington tanks when filled push my gauges right up where they should be. It's on the faber tanks that the SPG's get jacked down as the butt of the tanks start to get floaty

This occurred to me as well after I posted. One of the failures to the rails/leash mounting method is there is a lot of play that occurs at the bottom of the tank, and that can be transmitted to the top. I prefer the side attach method using a carrabiner that is on the tank, this takes away a lot of the excessive play that occurs at the bottom. Unfortunately commercial sidemount rig manufactuers make nothing but the rails on the bottom of the rig, so using a different attachment method is not available. I use mostly Faber and have my spgs up, and my spgs stay tight against my body during the whole dive, this would apply even if I used AL 80s.

 

[bamafan]

From my experience with the lollipoped spg's the orientation of the valves make a big difference. If the valves are facing down which is popular by some the spg's have a tendency to stick down like curb feelers because of the angle of the hp hose coming out of the first stage. This has a tendency to cause the spg's to drag. I was able to correct some of this by using Phantom hoses instead of rubber ones because they would stay molded to be radiused back up towards my body. I still had some issues but I have since gone to the valves facing up. The spg's now point up more towards my chest and don't get dammaged / do as much damage as when the valves were facing the other way. It took a little adjusting to get everything where it worked correctly. The biggest thing is I had to lengthen my bungees slightly. If you are in the Marianna area and look at pretty much any low area where numerous sidemount divers are going through you can see plenty of examples of these curb feelers dragging. In my opinion angled valves such as the old Genesis valves are nice but finding rh and lf valves is really hard. I feel that unless you are lucky to have a set of these angled valves that the next best thing is to have the valves facing up. Like everything else in sidemount nothing is standardized.

 

[karstdvr]

From my experience with the lollipoped spg's the orientation of the valves make a big difference. If the valves are facing down which is popular by some the spg's have a tendency to stick down like curb feelers because of the angle of the hp hose coming out of the first stage. This has a tendency to cause the spg's to drag. I was able to correct some of this by using Phantom hoses instead of rubber ones because they would stay molded to be radiused back up towards my body. I still had some issues but I have since gone to the valves facing up. The spg's now point up more towards my chest and don't get dammaged / do as much damage as when the valves were facing the other way. It took a little adjusting to get everything where it worked correctly. The biggest thing is I had to lengthen my bungees slightly. If you are in the Marianna area and look at pretty much any low area where numerous sidemount divers are going through you can see plenty of examples of these curb feelers dragging. In my opinion angled valves such as the old Genesis valves are nice but finding rh and lf valves is really hard. I feel that unless you are lucky to have a set of these angled valves that the next best thing is to have the valves facing up. Like everything else in sidemount nothing is standardized.

Good comments. I really don't understand a cave diver having the valve facing down versus facing up. I consider my first stage being life support equipment, and prefer to have it close to my body versus being exposed to rocky areas.

I understand as Victor comments that 1st stage shape can make spg positioning very limited. I prefer the Sherwood regulators because HP and LP ports are configured around a 360 degree body, which allows me a lot of options. I bet one day we will see a manufacturer come out with a line of sidemount regulators for optimal placement, we see it with primary lights.