Need help trimming out sidemount tanks..

[Cantey]

I'm looking for a little feedback here as I don't dive with a lot of sidemount divers that use the nomad, although this probably isn't a nomad specific issue. I have been configuring my gear through mostly trial and error, and with a little input from some people that sidemount often. I am still trying to work out a few kinks though.

What I am having trouble with is that the butts of my tanks are hanging too low below my body, as seen in the pic attached. Right now they are attached with goldine to XL boltsnaps, and threaded through a belt slide on the cam bands. The attachment point is pointing up towards the valves if that makes any difference (check out my awesome artwork). I am thinking about moving the cam bands down, moving my tanks more forward but I fear that it will make me too head heavy.

Any suggestions are much appreciated.

[atedeschi]

make sure you line is as tight as possilbe. take a look at the SM newbie guide I posted, on how I connect my tanks. You should also have the metal buckles on the cam bands against your body. hope this helps.

[Cantey]

tks, I have the cave line attaching the bolt snaps as short as possible. I am thinking maybe smaller boltsnaps but it would probably be a lot harder to clip and unclip.

[chimie007]

I use XL bolt snaps on my 104s and it is not too long.

One thing I notice is that your bolt snap is ridding on the top of the rail which is more off center than the bottom part. My bolt snap is ridding on the bottom part, much more towards the center of my body and therefore keeps the tanks higher. Perhaps you can put the cam band lower on your tank to force the bolt snap in the lower part of the rail. My bands are 1-2 in off the start of the bottom curvature on my 104s (I'm just under 6' tall).

Second thing is that your tank is not flat but at an angle. Again, moving that band lower would help that a lot.

[RN]

First, flip the snap so that it comes down off the cam strap not up. Then you may want to move the cam strap a little higher on your tanks. Those 2 things should adjust the tanks quite a bit. Let me know when you'll be back at JB. I'm there quite a bit.

[SuPrBuGmAn]

I'd definately try moving those bands back, you've got plenty of slack there before there's any tension pulling the tanks themselves up, so you might as well tighten it a bit.

[Bermujan]

I struggled with this issue too for quite a while. I think some of us on the slim side find the rails sit right at the outer edge of our torso and hence leave the tanks hanging lower.


Moving the cam strap, using a smaller bolt-snap and forcing the connection further inboard on the rail are all good ideas and the best place to start. I did all this and still felt the tanks hung too low below my body.

With no other options, I experimented with repositioning the rails on the butt-pad itself, moving them both directly inboard towards my centerline about an inch and a half. It's just a matter of removing the machine screws, washers etc and burning new holes with a soldering iron.This did the trick for me and now the tanks sit in just the right spot in line with my body.

Hope this is of some use.

[scblade27]

I second the comment about flipping your cam bands upside down. I am betting if the snap came off the bottom of the bands instead of the top, your tanks would sit a lot nicer. You also may need to slide the cam bands down a little as well. On my 119's (aka 95) the cam band is about 2-3" from the bottom of the tank where it starts to curve. The short, fat tanks seem to give me a harder time than the longer, skinnier tanks like a lp 85.

[Webmaster]

It looks like you do need to bring your tanks forward just a bit, but that is really more of a personal preference and trim issue.

Like Bermujan said, your real problem is that the rails are just too far outboard for you. You should either reposition them farther in, or try the carabiner attachment like Jason Richards uses with the carabiner on the cam band. That is about the smallest distance between the tank and the attachement point that I think you can reasonably get.

Maybe Chrissy has some pics she can post if she reads this.

Marbry

[SuPrBuGmAn]

Gregg Stanton sells a neat little attachement, like a 3-way D ring you can use instead of the buttplate. The D rings are further centered on your back and should pull the tanks further up.

[Cleavitt]

If you aren't able to get the bolt snap connections short enough, you could also try moving the rails in towards the middle of the buttplate. I haven't tried doing this myself, but it looks like all you would have to do is unscrew the rails and drill a couple holes to remount them closer together. An inch or so might make all the difference.

If you're not into drilling holes in your new equipment then you might want to check with Dive Rite and see if they have a more narrow buttplate. I think they do, but I might just be imagining that. :smt102 Good luck.

[FW]

Several people have said this in several ways, but your cam bands are too high on the tanks. Move them nearer the bottom, and the tanks will come forward, and not hang so low.

[Cantey]

moved the cam bands lower on my tanks and dove them this afternoon, looking much better but they still hang a bit low. I'm gonna try some smaller bolt snaps then if all else fails I'll try moving the rails in. Bugman, I saw someone with the d-ring you are talking about today, if I end up doing that I might as well just take the rails off, but that will be last resort. Thanks all for the advice!

[tflaris]

http://www.advanceddivermagazine.com/armadillomanual.pdf

I found the owner's manual to the armadillo to be very helpful.

Good Luck

[cmufieldhockey8]

I second the comment about flipping your cam bands upside down. I am betting if the snap came off the bottom of the bands instead of the top, your tanks would sit a lot nicer.

What's the difference between sliding the bands down instead of flipping them upside down? It seems to me either way will move the attachment point down the tank.

[tflaris]

What's the difference between sliding the bands down instead of flipping them upside down? It seems to me either way will move the attachment point down the tank.

From my understanding by sliding the cam bands down it changes the position of the tanks so they ride in a more parallel position with your body.

Hope this helps

[SuPrBuGmAn]

From my understanding by sliding the cam bands down it changes the position of the tanks so they ride in a more parallel position with your body.

Hope this helps

In what way would flipping the bands be different from just changing the band positioning? The end result is the clip is in a lower spot, what else changes?

[tflaris]

In what way would flipping the bands be different from just changing the band positioning? The end result is the clip is in a lower spot, what else changes?

I guess I did not understand the question. Flipping sounded like changing the position of the buckle. Whether it was near or away from the body. It did not register to me that the position of the band was being lowered. My bad.

Safe Diving

[ardhill]

What's the difference between sliding the bands down instead of flipping them upside down? It seems to me either way will move the attachment point down the tank.

Sliding the band down gives you more than 50mm of movement if you require it. Whereas just turning the bolt snap to come from the other side of the band, only moves it 50mm way from it's current position.