MarkA "Got something that might interest you. Colin Dev and I have just come back from an Oceanic seminar and were given a presentation by a Mr Jeff M Loflin, NSS-CDS Cave instructor. The basics of the presentation were centred around a new Hollis wing system that has been built for side-mounting of all cylinders with nothing on the back at all.
Have a look at his website- http://www.jeffloflin.com

Contrary to what the bandana makes you think he was a bloody top bloke!
He, and Oceanic, are of the opinion that sidemount is the future, even for recreational (two 7s etc under the arm)."


Sidemount is a great system IMHO, for situations where the need to fit through low areas - such as bedding planes. However "the future, even for recreational" hmm, I think that the standard BCD and single cylinder will remain the recreational standard for a loooong time to come

Some great video and pictures of sidemount are at http://gosidemount.com/videos.asp

Sidemount, as with all rigs, has its advantages and disadvantages. I'm sure that I'll get more of a feel of these as I'm building my own sidemount rig as a little project. I'll write up my progress as and when I get around to it.

For those not familiar with the sidemount rig, it consists of a harness which may or may not contain a buoyancy cell. From the harness two cylinders, one on each side, hang just under the arms (see either of the links above).

This means that the cylinders are run as independent cylinders with the diver breathing a certain amount from one cylinder (say 30-50bar) and then swapping regs and breathing the same amount from the other cylinder, thus ensuring that the cylinders are balanced.

The regulators can be run in a variety of ways, though two short hoses are common (from what I've seen).

Often with sidemount rigs a canister torch is mounted on the harness with the diver mounting the torch head and/or smaller torches on a helmet, which leaves the hands free.

Buoyancy cells may be integral, such as in the Armadillo harness, or separately attached as in the Razor. Sometimes a buoyancy cell may be omitted completely, or buoyancy is run on a drysuit.

If anyone is interested in pursuing sidemount diving further, but does not want to travel quite as far Florida or Mexico, you can look you Martyn Farr at Farrworld (http://www.farrworld.co.uk/) who is based in Wales.

Hi mate

I agree on a lot of things you say about the recreational side, a good old single cylinder on the back is a well proven easy way to dive.

The way they pitched part of the seminar however was at recreational divers who wanted a bit of redundancy without having the ball-ache of having to reach behind and 'fumble' about in the event of a shutdown procedure. Not for everybody i know but but it does make a system available and possibly a bit more mainstream than it may have been before.

let me know how you get on with your sidemount system construction.

Cheers

Yes I can see that as a possibility that will work, especially with something like two Ali 207bar 7ltrs.

Though having said that there are several options for redundancy such as pony rigs or twin-sets - and to be honest if you get to the point of twins you are probably out of the "recreational" range anyway.

BTW - if you have to "fumble about" (assuming that you can reach your valves) then it means your not practising. Which will certainly bite you on the backside when you come using a sidemount (or independent twin) rig, as you need good gas monitoring and reg swapping. It's not hard to do (but neither is a shutdown on a manifolded twinset) but it does take discipline.

Also with side mount you need careful consideration over OOG planning. Bearing in mind that the sidemount system was devised for cave systems where you can't turn round and go to your buddy - so you're diving with a solo mentality. This is not an issue if you are trained and competent for this sort of thing but not perhaps ideal for the less experienced.

So how do you deal with an open water OOG issue with sidemount?

1. If you run out of gas then swap regs and thumb the dive, i.e. it's not really an issue.

2. If your buddy hits you for gas ... this is where it gets fun.

If you have one reg off each cylinder you have one in your gob and one under your chin - guess which one the OOG diver is going for Not a problem if your used to primary donate but I'd guess most recreational divers aren't.

You could run one reg off one cylinder and two (main + occy) off the other cylinder but again you need to have thought out how you are going to rig the kit & the procedures that you're then going to follow (e.g. you need to check which cylinder you are breathing off and then potentially switch regs so that the pair of you aren't breathing off the same cylinder).

Of course you could just dive solo in the first place

Well the harness is almost there, here are some links to pics:

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj88/PRD68/Equipment/Image0002.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj88/PRD68/Equipment/Image0003.jpg

http://i270.photobucket.com/albums/jj88/PRD68/Equipment/Image0004.jpg

I've test dived it with a single cylinder and it seems to work quite well. Next step will be to test dive it with two cylinders and then to add a buoyancy cell.

BTW Mark, how did the sidemount course go?

Well today I did a couple of dives with two Ali 80's - and it worked great

The hose routing needs a little tidying up and I had to move the canister light off the waist belt as it fouled the waist clip. For the moment I've mounted it on the side of some of the cylinders.

For the wing I've used a 10ltr MSR Dromedary. I'm not convinced that this really works well but I think that another try is in order. The main problem includes lack of buoyancy as it's difficult to inflate (oral only). However I'm not overly convinced that it's needed anyway - when you are using a sidemount rig in it's native environment a loss of buoyancy you'd just crawl or walk out anyway (in Vobster I'd just make myself completely negative and walk around to the road and then up and out).

Hi Mate

Sorry for the delay in reply, we've been up to our eyeballs with stuff.

Harness looks good.

FYI - The Hollis one we were talking about has a little mounts system for the light canister on the small of the back.

We didn't get to do the course in the end either as just too busy, bit of a shame but we had lots of other prioritie's. Dev has had a good play with the kit and likes it. You never know, he might even get round to writing up how he got on!

Take care

Cheers

M

Sorry to hear that you didn't get to do the course.

I'd be interested to read a write up - go and beat Dev with a wet towel or something until he puts fingers to keyboard

If you or Dev wants to play with the harness just give me a shout & we'll meet up at Vobbie some time.