my latest passion ... sidemount diving

[Grateful Diver]

I just got back from eight days in Florida learning out to sidemount dive. My trip included a 2-day class and four days of guided dives ... the last of which was a real treat because it was well off the usual tourist itinerary.

The trip started out on a bit of a low note ... I got into Marianna, checked into my motel, and was headed over to make sure I could find Cave Adventurers the next day when a dog ran out at the car, acting like he had a taste for tires. I swerved to miss the dog. The good news I didn't hit the dog ... the bad news is I did hit a mailbox and did some damage to a rental car with less than 300 miles (total) on it. Oh well ... it's only money ... and that was the only bad thing that happened on the trip.

Next morning I met my instructor (Rob Neto) at Cave Adventurers. It was quite the morning ... Texas A&M had a group of 40 young people there along with all their requisite staff and instructors who were going to be doing a cavern class at Jackson Blue ... which also happened to be where we were headed. I watched in amazement as they descended on Edd's little shop like a swarm of hungry locusts. I'm pretty sure Edd made quite a bit of money off this group as they went through purchasing all manner of accessories before heading over to the dive site. But these kids were very well supervised, pretty well trained, and despite the many reels and lines they had criss-crossing the cavern zone throughout the day, silting was minimal and, frankly, spending the day around such an enthusiastic bunch of young people was just plain fun ... it was an added bonus to what I was there for.

I had made arrangements to borrow Edd's sidemount rigs for the day ... so as to get an idea what the differences were and what I might like/dislike about each one. The rigs I borrowed were a Dive Rite Nomad XT, Dive Rite's latest offering ... the JT, and the Hollis SMS100. By the end of the day I'd decided that the XT was the right rig for me, and so I purchased one.

Rob spent quite a bit of time going over the rigs with me, getting me fitted into one, and taking me down to the entry where we went over how to configure the tanks on each side while standing chest deep in water. After spending a few minutes hanging neutral in the pool in front of the cavern getting inspected, detected, infected, neglected and selected, Rob finally decided I was fit to go inside the cavern for a trial run. So in we went. running our own line around and underneath the many reels that the Texas A&M kids had already put down ... looking down at all those lines made me think of a roadmap of downtown Boston the way they meandered, criss-crossed, and pretty much went randomly about the bottom of the cavern. After a couple tours of the cavern, Rob decided I was fit for some overhead, so he signalled for me to continue on down past the sign marking the cave entrance ... and in we went. This first dive was fairly short ... only about 45 minutes ... but by the end of it I'd figured out where everything was on this rig and felt pretty comfortable diving in it.

Second dive we did a simple dive down the gold line. Rob had me do some OOA drills and some valve shutdowns on this dive ... but mostly he just wanted me to get more used to the feel of the rig and work on fine-tuning my buoyancy control. Overall it was a pretty nice dive inside a really pretty cave. This time the dive lasted a bit over an hour, and by the time we came out the last of the Texas A&M kids were removing their lines and heading in. While we were waiting and watching them cleaning up, Rob showed me how to unclip the tanks from the butt rails and swing them around in front of me. I had some difficulties emulating him, so we decided to put that skill off until tomorrow. Overall, day one was a lot of fun and considering I hadn't been inside a cave for a year, I was fairly pleased with how I did.

When we got back to Edd's place, I purchased my own Nomad XT system and Edd spent about a half-hour making some modifications that would make it fit me better.

Second day was in my new rig, and it was a bit of a "shakedown". We did some more drills in the cavern, and then Rob had me take the lead and do about 1100 feet down the gold line. I had some minor issues ... right tank wasn't sitting quite right, weighting was a little off and I was light toward the end of the dive, and my backup BT went dead because I'd forgotten to change what I knew was a weak battery. At the end of the dive Rob had me doing the tank disconnect drills, but due to the weight issues I wasn't doing them very well. But overall it was an enjoyable dive. We got out, tweaked the rig, rearranged how I'd set up the bungees, and Rob said he wanted us to do some jumps into some tighter parts of the cave. Now, the previous day I'd already told Rob I didn't particularly care for tight caves ... and he told me that everything we'd be doing here was back-mountable ... but considering that I'm just an overweight, "tourist" cave diver I had my doubts. Well, Rob appears to know where every jump, nook, cranny inside this cave system happens to be ... because although he said we never went more than a few hundred feet from the entrance, he sure used up a lot of jump spools. After the second jump, I watched Rob spin sideways and gracefully glide through this tiny crack in the rock. Hmmm ... OK ... here comes the fat guy. Like a bull in a china shop I turned sideways, kicked into the crack, and promptly came to a stop as I'd nicely wedged myself into the crack. Back-mountable my ass ... I bumped a big, wriggled some, and finally grabbed a few handholds and pulled myself through ... and looking up noticed that Rob was aiming a camera at me. Thanks dude ... that's gonna be incriminating. But after a few more jumps I decided that this little stuff really is fun ... in fact, after a 70 minute dive my first words to Rob were "that was GREAT!" I am beginning to understand the attraction.

Anyway, Rob posted some video from that day on his web site, for those who want to see what it looks like when an old bull tries to impersonate a mole ... http://chipoladivers.com/category/sidemount/

Day 3 we went to two different caves ... one of which I had dived before, and up until this trip considered my favorite cave system. The first dive was at a place called Twin. Rob took me back into some fissures that were pretty cool ... at places making it necessary for me to turn sideways to get through. I love how easy it is to just go head down and "fall" into those fissures. Most of the tunnel was rather low and narrow ... and at one point "dusty". Coming out I was rather dismayed at the amount of silt I'd managed to kick up coming through one particular low tunnel, but Rob said in that particular passage it wasn't too bad. Longest dive so far this trip, at 80 minutes. Unfortunately, it was also the dive where my P-valve decided not to work. Oh MAN I was happy to see the cavern. Second dive we did Hole in the Wall ... downstream, I think ... the one with the E shaped rock (I think it looks like a dragon's head, personally). I love that place! Reminds me of south Utah, only underwater, with all those towering, sculpted rock formations and large domes to swim through. We went back about a thousand feet and jumped off the mainline till I hit turn pressure, and then came out.

Day 4 we were back at Jackson Blue, to set up a circuit through a place called King's Canyon. We took one AL80 stage and our 95's for back gas, plus an O2 bottle ... so adding some tanks increased the complexity just a bit. I found myself breathing a bit harder than normal, and we ended up dropping the stages at about the 900 foot mark. We kicked to about the 1900 foot mark, then took a jump off into this narrow, but steep canyon ... sometimes just about as wide as me and my cylinders, but dropping down through what looks almost like layers of openings ... hard to tell where the bottom was, actually. I loved the sections where we had to go head down and turn sideways to get through the opening ... it was just neat. We dropped the cookie about 2200 feet in, and headed back out. Once back on the mainline, Rob signaled for me to head back up the mainline ... deeper into the cave. I still hadn't reached turn pressure yet, so why not. We went maybe 100 feet or so and he showed me the memorial to Richard Mork ... a fellow who had died not too far from here. After that we turned and headed out. Picking up my stage, I forgot to turn it on ... put the reg in my mouth and got nothing. So I switched back to my right side reg till I could sort it out, pushed the purge button, and created an interesting freeflow. Well, now I know I can shut down a post during a real freeflow without any issue. Waited a few seconds, turned it back on, and it worked fine. The rest of the dive was uneventful ... and just 27 seconds shy of 100 minutes.

Day 5 we completed the circuit, heading back up the mainline and taking a different jump than the one we'd set up the previous day. We did a second jump and followed that line till we got to the cookie we placed at the end of King's Canyon yesterday. Today felt so much more in control in the tight places, and as we headed back along the canyon I kept looking back to see how much "dust" I was kicking up ... and pretty pleased with what I wasn't seeing. I think as I get more comfortable with how the rig feels and where everything is, making those little adjustments and anticipating buoyancy changes with depth changes is getting more natural. I felt pretty darn good. We came back to the gold line, pulling the last of the spools we put in yesterday and headed back to the jumps we'd placed earlier in the dive. I thought it was just a simple cleanup, but Rob had something else in mind. We traced our route to the second jump ... Rob pulled that spool, and we headed back toward the jump that would take us back to the gold line. But when I got to that spot and circled the line, Rob signaled for me to continue on that line. I had plenty of gas, so figuring he wanted to show me something I shrugged and continued down the line. As I went on, the tunnel flattened out and got smaller ... and smaller ... and smaller ... till I finally found myself in a wiggle with my back against the ceiling and my tummy stirring up a heck of a lot of silt. I realized that I was about to lose sight of the line, so I reached over and zero'd it with one hand, reaching back with the other to signal Rob to turn around before it got so bad he wouldn't see my signal. We backed up a bit and managed a turn without too much more silt-stirring, and within about 20 feet or so I was comfortable letting go of the line. Backtracking to the jump we pulled the spool and continued back along the gold line. By the time we got to the cavern we had about 15 minutes of deco obligation to deal with. I've just about figured out how to velcro myself to the ceiling and relax while blowing some oxygen bubbles, so we sat there letting the bass and perch entertain us while the clock ticked down. Finished the dive at about 108 minutes. I have to say, it was one of the most fun dives I've done yet. After the dive I asked Rob about that restriction. He said he wanted me to find my limit. If I pushed through the hole, the gold line was about 60 feet down the line. If I didn't, we'd backtrack (which we did). I guess what I found out is that I'm not a mole ... yet.

My final cave dive of the trip was really something special ... so I'm gonna give it its own post ... which I'll get to shortly ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[John Rawlings]

Sounds exciting, Bob! Congratulations on your new venture into sidemount!

[spatman]

great write-up, bob! thanks for sharing it here. i'm looking forward to seeing you in that rig.

[CaptnJack]

Sounds like fun, except for the swimming to King's Canyon bits. Too much work for moi!

[Joshua Smith]

Yep! Very cool! If I wasnt totally commited to my Meg, I'd probably be diving sidemount instead of dubs. I find the idea very interesting. I have one question: how often do you switch regs to keep the tanks balanced? Every 200 psi, or something like that?

[Grateful Diver]

Yep! Very cool! If I wasnt totally commited to my Meg, I'd probably be diving sidemount instead of dubs. I find the idea very interesting. I have one question: how often do you switch regs to keep the tanks balanced? Every 200 psi, or something like that?

Initially Rob asked me to switch every 200 psi ... just to start training my body to remember to switch. After a couple days, I found it was easier to set time triggers ... say every 5 to 10 minutes or so, depending on depth and conditions. Over the course of 11 dives I was always within 100 psi ending pressure between the two cylinders.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Geek]

I am curious about the craze that is starting for sidemount diving, I understand the benifits in cave diving, going through restrictions and such but for diving in the sound, and feel free to flame me if I'm wrong. Why would I want to introduce a new level of complexity? What am I gaining over diving doubles in open water?

It seems that a sidemount rig, with deco bottles in open water is just a "grab the wrong hose" from being a very bad idea.

*DISCLAMER* I have never done any sidemount diving... not even on TV

[Joshua Smith]

Lugging dubs around gets old. And having your valves where you can see them and get at them easily is simpler than having them behind your head, imo.

[Grateful Diver]

Friday was my final cave dive for this trip ... and we were joined by another friend, Carl Griffing, for a real treat. Rob took me to a "big boy" cave ... Bozell.

Getting there's half the fun. We met at Edd's and loaded all our stuff into Rob's van, which was also hauling the boat that would get us to the dive site. We headed over to the Caverns State Park, where we launched into a very anemic-looking Chipola River for what would prove to be an eventful ride to the dive site. The river is nearly five feet below normal, and navigation through the snags was an art form ...



I'm glad we had an experienced guide to handle the helm ...



After a slow 20 minute or so ride we approached the spring that flows from Bozell ... at this point we got out to push ...



... and pull ...



... till we got to the dive site.



Somewhere under there's the cave entrance.



As fate would have it, we had beautiful weather right up to the point where we tied up the boat and started dressing into our undergarments ... then the heavens opened and it poured for about 15 minutes ... until we were in our suits (with sopping wet undergarments) and in the water putting our tanks on ... then the sun came back out.

We did our checks, slipped below the surface, stashed our O2 bottles on a shelf just inside the (smallish) cavern, and headed down into the cave. The entrance rather quickly becomes sidemount only ... requiring us to turn sideways and go head down till we hit about 45 ffw ... and then contort around a left turn and head back up again, to where it opens up into another spring. The next 1000 feet or so were beautiful and fairly open passage until we hit another place where you really need sidemount to make it through. I was in the middle and mostly I was worried that wriggling through these tight passages I was stirring things up too much for Carl, who was behind me. But I just don't have the finesse to make it through these passages with the grace I was seeing Rob doing it. Oh well ... I think I widened the passage a bit.

This cave is freak'n spectacular ... beautiful formations, obviously not much traffic, and some places that, a week ago, I'd have told you with all sincerity I'd never fit through ... or even be interested in trying to.

Oh my goodness ... this is addictive.

We made it back about 1500 feet, and just as I hit turn pressure and was about to signal Rob, he turned and signaled me ... we were in a very tight, silty passage and he said he knew we were close to turn pressure and it'd be a while before we had a better turn spot than where we were at. Good thought.

Turning around proved a bit ... interesting ... it got silty in a big way. I zeroed the line about a second or two before I zeroed the visibility ... and spent the next 100 feet or so doing a basic blackout drill. I couldn't see a thing except a dull brown glow. As I came out of the tight stuff it cleared right up, and Carl was just outside the passage, waiting for us. He OK'd me and I returned the signal. Actually, I thought experiencing a real siltout was kinda cool. I had the line and there really wasn't anyplace else to go but out anyway ... so it was yet another new experience for me on this trip. Rob came out a few seconds behind me and we proceeded to exit the cave.

Coming back always seems easier. I know there's flow in there, but it's so minimal that you need to be completely still just to notice it. Vis was awesome ... when we weren't making it not-so-awesome. But the cave is fairly deep ... we were diving EAN27 ... and so we'd racked up quite a bit of deco by the time we got back to the cavern zone. Did about 15 minutes on the O2 ... for once I managed to find a completely comfortable niche to velcro myself to the ceiling, and deco was very relaxing. I used the time to replay the dive in my head, and found myself grinning at how much fun it was. Total dive time was 82 minutes, with a max depth of 114 feet. We got out, dressed, packed the boat ... and then it was time to pull the boat back to the river and make our way through the snags back to the boat ramp.

Here's a final pic ... offloading the boat before muscling it back onto the trailer ... with the "low tide" it was quite the effort getting it up there.



Great week, and if anyone's interested in learning sidemount, I can heartily recommend Rob as an excellent person to learn it from ... you can find him at http://chipoladivers.com/. Besides being an awesome instructor, he's a great host and dive buddy ... and he has a boat that can take you to some really interesting places ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Grateful Diver]

I am curious about the craze that is starting for sidemount diving, I understand the benifits in cave diving, going through restrictions and such but for diving in the sound, and feel free to flame me if I'm wrong. Why would I want to introduce a new level of complexity? What am I gaining over diving doubles in open water?

It seems that a sidemount rig, with deco bottles in open water is just a "grab the wrong hose" from being a very bad idea.

*DISCLAMER* I have never done any sidemount diving... not even on TV

Well, your regulators are in exactly the same place they would be in doubles ... the long one's clipped off to your right shoulder D-ring and the short one's bungeed around your neck. So the only "complexity" is remembering which one you're breathing off of if you have to hand one off during an OOA. In this case, even if you grab the wrong one it's not really that big of a deal unless you're dealing with an already panicked diver ... in which case you're gonna let them have whichever one they want until they calm down anyway.

There really isn't any extra complexity ... the hardest thing about the whole process is getting your tanks on and remembering to put the bungee on the tank valve to draw them in close underneath your armpit. After that, it's just diving.

As for what you're gaining ... well, I guess you'd just have to experience how natural it feels diving that way to understand. I found it a simple thing to orient myself in literally any position I wanted to ... on my final day I did two open-water dives in the Gulf on a charter out of Panama City, and found myself turning every which-a-way looking at critters ... and amazed at how easy it was to flip over and lay face-up watching a pair of goliath grouper hanging out about 20 feet above me. I can't get that sort of control in doubles.

The major reason I decided to go this route is because my left shoulder has been giving me problems for years ... and at my age it's never going to get any better. Valve drills have become increasingly problematic, and if you can't do valve drills you don't belong in doubles. So if I want to keep doing the kind of dives that require more than a single cylinder, I needed another approach. Sidemount offers me one, and as I discovered on the dive with the freeflow, shutting down a cylinder even in very tight quarters is simple in sidemount. That advantage alone is enough to sell me on diving this way.

Everyone else's mileage will vary ... but in the end it boils down to every other equipment choice you make in scuba diving ... you choose what works for you.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[spatman]

. Why would I want to introduce a new level of complexity? What am I gaining over diving doubles in open water?

aren't you looking into buying a rebreather? lol.

this is why i'm interested in sidemount;

- every time i dive in doubles, my back is unhappy for the next day or two. i'm not getting any younger, and although i stretch and exercise (usually), it's never going to get any easier. the ability to stage the bottles down at the water will save me a lot of discomfort, especially if i do multiple dives over several days. it will also spare me a lot of wear and tear on my back and knees over the years as well.

- like bob said, reaching your valves is very important in doubles. i have been struggling with my valves for quite a while now. i'm not the most flexible guy and although i can reach them for drills, it's still not comfortable or easy for me to do. i question my ability to get to and shut down my valves quickly when under duress and stressed. having the valves in an easily accessible spot is less stressful for me, knowing i can not only reach them but can also look at them and see what the problem may be, instead of trying to listen to where the bubbles may be coming from, reaching around blindly behind me, and running through a sequence of "what-ifs" to hopefully isolate the failure.

- lastly, traveling with a sidemount rig is really attractive to me. the ability to use whatever single cylinders are available instead of having to arrange for renting or borrowing doubles opens up a wide variety of dives while traveling.

[oldsalt]

Bob: Wonderful write-up. When you real divers post your adventures for we cyberdivers to enjoy vicariously it is a blessing. To someone like me who will never dive an honest-to-God cave, or own a CCR or scooter, these narratives give us insight to what the rest of the world does.
-Thanks, Curt (I actually looked like this when I had my beard.)

[eliseaboo]

Bob -- you didn't happen to meet a guy in a pirate hat, did you? He's one of my good friends, and would have been mixed in with the Texas A&M crowd (though not as a student, he learned in much murky-er waters...)

I work for the talented lady who was instructing them all, so I'm glad to hear they were well behaved. I'm betting that "organized chaos" would be the term that came to mind if I saw it :P

[Grateful Diver]

Didn't see anyone in a pirate hat ... but "organized chaos" is an apt description.

Anyone who can manage a group of college kids that large is to be commended, though ... it was very well done ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[LCF]

Why would I want to introduce a new level of complexity? What am I gaining over diving doubles in open water?

Well, there IS the thing of climbing boat ladders with nothing on but the harness. (Although I have learned that lugging two Al80s down three sets of stairs -- and back up -- is actually not as easy as carrying them on your back.)

But the biggest thing about sidemount, the magic that makes you not want to go back, is the physics of it. All of us who dive doubles have played with exactly where to put the tanks and how to arrange our weight, to try to get horizontal trim in a setup that naturally wants to push us head down. After a great deal of fussing, you get it just right -- but it's only right if you're horizontal. Go head down 45 degrees, like you need to do on same cave slopes, and the tanks want to take you right on over. Lie on your side, and the tanks are going to take you over onto your back.

In sidemount, you have put the center of mass of the tanks right alongside YOUR center of gravity, and they no longer run your life. Want to go head down? Cool. Want to lie on your side, or your back? That's cool, too. Whatever position you assume, you are stable in THAT position, without sculling. It's the closest I have come to being a dolphin -- even a single tank has more say in your options underwater than a sidemount setup, if it's properly adjusted. The grace you see in the photographs of sidemount divers is an innate part of the configuration, because your body just relaxes into a beautiful, flat shape, because it's COMFORTABLE to be there.

One dive -- that's all it took. I know why people dive sidemount. It's because they CAN.

[BASSMAN]

Hmmmm? this side mount thing has me interested. Because of my past back surgeries, I would consider side mounting a couple of 119s or 130's, where I would not attempt to double them up, on my back. Or even 100's for that matter. Bob, are you going to switch to side mount, exclusively, for your recreational diving now? I would like to see your rig. Thanks for this post , Bob, it has been very interesting and educational, Are you going to be giving any training on this?

Keith.

[Grateful Diver]

As usual, Lynne summed it up eloquently and precisely ... the most difficult part of the learning curve is simply figuring out how to get into and out of the tanks, which isn't really all that difficult, and getting the bungees that hold them in close to your body adjusted properly.

Yes, I do plan to dive this way as much as possible ... I'll still need to be doing classes in backmount, and possibly other dives where two tanks just don't make sense. And I'll be happy to show and explain the rig to whomever wants to know.

But for now I don't see myself teaching sidemount ... I have to get enough experience in it first to truly feel like I'm qualified to teach it. Maybe in six months or a year I'll consider it ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Dusty2]

. Why would I want to introduce a new level of complexity? What am I gaining over diving doubles in open water?

aren't you looking into buying a rebreather? lol.

this is why i'm interested in sidemount;

- every time i dive in doubles, my back is unhappy for the next day or two. i'm not getting any younger, and although i stretch and exercise (usually), it's never going to get any easier. the ability to stage the bottles down at the water will save me a lot of discomfort, especially if i do multiple dives over several days. it will also spare me a lot of wear and tear on my back and knees over the years as well.

- like bob said, reaching your valves very important in doubles. i have been struggling with my valves for quite a while now. i'm not the most flexible guy and although i can reach them for drills, it's still not comfortable or easy for me to do. i question my ability to get to and shut down my valves quickly when under duress and stressed. having the valves in an easily accessible spot is less stressful for me, knowing i can not only reach them but can also look at them and see what the problem may be, instead of trying to listen to where the bubbles may be coming from, reaching around blindly behind me, and running through a sequence of "what-ifs" to hopefully isolate the failure.

- lastly, traveling with a sidemount rig is really attractive to me. the ability to use whatever single cylinders are available instead of having to arrange for renting or borrowing doubles opens up a wide variety of dives while traveling.

Good points, my question is if you have a meg why would you dive doubles??

Bob, I have to admit you have tweaked my interest even further in the side mount idea. I have looked at several videos and admired the ease and grace those guys exhibit but couldn't see the point for rec diving in cold water. Thanks to the points expressed by Lynn and spats I now see allot of possibilities I missed which might work well with underwater photography.

[Grateful Diver]

Did my first sidemount dive in Puget Sound this evening. It was a short dive ... only about 30 minutes. I had gone to the dive site hoping to hook up with one of my usual Thursday evening buddies ... but they were all planning a long, multiple-scooter deco dive, and for my "shakedown" dive I decided that was a bit too aggressive for me ... so I decided to go solo.

As expected, some of the way I had my setup rigged didn't work as well in the heavier exposure gear and drygloves, but I got it all sorted out and scootered out a ways to where I could do a weight check while descending. I was at least two and maybe four lbs light, which I'll fix on the next dive ... and so decided to keep it short so I still had some weight in my cylinders on the return.

Upon descending, vis was in the maybe (generously) five foot range. After the crystal clear water in the caves last week, yuk! It cleared up to about 10-12 feet once I got down below about 70. I scootered down to Olive's den ... the octo that was on eggs at the end of the pilings has gone AWOL ... a sad remnant of eggs is left, but momma is gone. Then I scootered over to the I-beams. As I started heading up ... about halfway up the I-beams ... something large crossed underneath me. It looked like a five-foot long swimming dinosaur ... yup ... a sturgeon! This is only the second time I've ever seen one ... and the first time was also at Cove 2 a few years ago while diving with Uncle Pug. I turned around and followed it down past the end of the I-beams, swimming with it for a few moments ... then headed back upslope.

My whole dive was only about 30 minutes. I also had a reg that was bubbling ... probably got a bit of cave dust in there that has to get cleaned out. But it was enough to know that the sidemount thing is gonna work for me in cold water.

This week-end, I'm gonna put some doubles, regs, backplate and wing(s) up for sale ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Dusty2]

Being totally ignorant of side mount technology... Maybe a dumb question?? For open water side mount diving couldn't a person use a backplate and wing with a butt plate attached if you have the OMS/diverite type harness? It wouldn't be as low profile but then you wouldn't be squeezing through cracks anyway and once headed down I never use the wing anyway. Also, How much weighting change have you experienced between the SM and your standard doubles?

[Grateful Diver]

Being totally ignorant of side mount technology... Maybe a dumb question?? For open water side mount diving couldn't a person use a backplate and wing with a butt plate attached if you have the OMS/diverite type harness? It wouldn't be as low profile but then you wouldn't be squeezing through cracks anyway and once headed down I never use the wing anyway. Also, How much weighting change have you experienced between the SM and your standard doubles?

Yes, this is how people were doing it long before anyone started manufacturing a commercially available sidemount rig. The problem you have to overcome is rigging the wing to not taco, since it was designed to function with a tank in the middle (you really don't want to do this with a doubles wing). The problem was that anything that would hold down the wing would also tend to make it trap air as you were trying to deflate it.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

[Tom Nic]

Thanks for sharing your journey with this.

I have also considered this for all the reasons mentioned above.

I am especially interested from the travel standpoint... i.e. the ability to carry two Al 80's on some deeper dives in warm water. Where larger steel tanks are not readily available at some destinations it's nice to be able to pack some extra gas around... I've slung a bottle in warm water just for an extra margin of safety, and it would be nice to have that 155 cu ft or so of gas on deep dives even if they aren't beyond recreational depths.

It will be fun to hear from all the soon-toi-be-sidemount divers in the PNW!

[ArcticDiver]

Thanks for sharing your journey with this.

I have also considered this for all the reasons mentioned above.

I am especially interested from the travel standpoint... i.e. the ability to carry two Al 80's on some deeper dives in warm water. Where larger steel tanks are not readily available at some destinations it's nice to be able to pack some extra gas around... I've slung a bottle in warm water just for an extra margin of safety, and it would be nice to have that 155 cu ft or so of gas on deep dives even if they aren't beyond recreational depths.

It will be fun to hear from all the soon-toi-be-sidemount divers in the PNW!

I tried a double sling mount in a way similar to what you mention. But, the on board logistics of a tourist dive boat and wing positioning were something I couldn't readily overcome. So, I bought a set of brackets that let me set up twin tanks (AL80s) usually on my back as independent doubles. That seems to work pretty well. Most dive boats can accomodate the setup and on those dives where I need the extra gas I can swap out either one of both tanks between dives. Plus, occasionally I run into an operation that has manifolded cylinders and I'm set for that.

Sometiimes I get strange looks at independent back mounted doubles the same as the sling mounted side tanks. But, with rare exception no actual static; especially when I point out that I've already signed the liability release and they are aboutg to invalidate it by telling me I can't be responsible for the safety of my own dive.

[ArcticDiver]

Bob

Just curious. Where did you fly into? Airline?

We had an unscheduled stop there in December when we had flown into Miami for a Keys trip and the weather did us in so we played tourist. I learned to fly there but on this trip never thought about diving in Marianna since about the only thing there now is the prison.

[rjarnold]

All those pictures, Bob, and none of you actually in your new side-mount! I think we need a picture for those of us just hearing about this side-mount phenomenon