Trim/Hovering on side

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Thanks for all the thoughtful replies - especially the mechanics discussions of centers of mass/bouyancy.

That all makes sense, and does point to the fact that it's a difficult/unlikely position to be stable in. I kinda thought that might be the case, but wondered if it was a skill issue or an equipment/physics issue. Sounds like it's probably the latter. I'll still mess around with it, but at least I'll know it is normal to expect to be able to do it with standard backmount gear.

Thanks again, all!
 
If you're rolling onto your back, it is because your center of mass is behind your center of buoyancy

You can try moving some weight forward. Maybe instead of weights bolted to your backplate, you can place some lead on a waist belt, or on your shoulder straps

You can also try moving some buoyancy backward. Filling your wing with more air will make the back of you more buoyant. If half a lungful does the trick, then you don't need any gear config change. Or you could nudge this a bit more by adding a bit more lead, so that you can have more air in your wing... don't overdo it though, being too overweighted for this small upside is probably not worthwhile

By the way, this is a lot easier with a thinner wetsuit, because you will be a lot less buoyant overall. So if that place you have in mind with the pretty fishies and visibility over 6 feet also happens to be 80 degrees, well, you'll probably be in a 3mm wetsuit instead of 7mm. A lot of stuff is easier in a 3mm than a 7mm, and holding sideways trim is one of them
 
I am sure that with practice almost everything is possible. In my case, I have been able to get good buoyancy control in most trim positions only after moving to a dry suit and training on it for about 200 h.

Any challenge like foot/fins buoyancy, different buoyancy of tanks and stages left to right can be easily solved by moving air around in the suit.

Btw, the exercises you are practicing are not theoretical. I spent significant time on the side while penetrating wrecks with sidemount thanks and stages. Probably overkill for most open water fish watching though.
 
Ha yeah man wearing the gear above I can shave around my belly button on staghorn coral

I can hover just off a silty bottom

It's a bit glitchy and gloopy though man, don't need no shaving cream



Good luck with your ventures!
 
IMHO you should focus more on trim and holding a specific depth than "hovering on your side".

If I need to see something on the left, I'll rotate my head to that side, not the whole body.

Just back from Roatan, and the numerous wall dives were made far more pleasurable by being able to occasionally kick along while rotated to face the wall while looking for critters.
What rsingler said.
I was diving outside of big wreck. My choice was normal horizontal trim and crane my head to the right the whole time or just roll onto my left side and watch in a much more comfortable positon.
Guess which one I chose?
 

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