Carrying a stage when sidemounting?

[MDiver429]

Can anyone give me any words of advice on this? I did it yesterday and felt lopsided. I was using a neutrally buoyant aluminum 80 which I've really liked for backmount staging, but I never felt the weight of it like I did last night. How do you rig your bottles? What have you found worked best?
Thanks

[FW]

There are different ideas. Some people like to put them under sidemount tanks, but some think it is easier to put them on top. Either way, an elastic/bungee stage rig makes them ride better. As for the tendency to roll, a good sidemount rig will take care of that.

[whodunit68]

I was diving with a buddy yesterday where we were both sidemount and each carrying a stage - he had it on top and I had mine on the bottom. I find it rides a little nicer on top (and is a little more out of the way) but easier to access on bottom. I agree with Forrest with 2 Rs that a good rig will help stop the roll (although he has slightly more experience than I ). Mine was rigged like a "regular" stage and really the only issue I had was the weight of my entire kit. My wing wasn't happy.

[sandy]

We dove SM with a stage on Saturday. I dove with a regular stage kit which is just a PITA for me to attach to my gear. My buddy had one of Edd's SM stage kits(maybe like Forrest described) attached to his stage while we were at Edd's. John said it made all the difference in the world and that he hardly knew it was there. It rode on top of his tank. I will switch before my next SM stage dive.

[MDiver429]

I saw the video lamar did of edd's method im definitely going to try that next time ... thanks!

[Ben M]

I haven't used a NB 80 in the water, but I've heard they dive like a brick. Try out a plain old Luxfer 80 also while you are at it and see if that makes a difference.

You could also put another NB 80 on the other side.

[MDiver429]

Yea someone else told me they were like anchors... i never noticed it with backmount but definitely did with sidemount... im gonna try a good old aluminum 80 and then play with the way i mount it to see what feels more comfortable

[ianr33]

I'm pretty new at sidemount with a stage. For what it's worth I tried staging on top with a home made kit. Never could get it to work,was always rolling to the side.
Tried one of Edds kits. Worked like a charm. He said it only took him about 200 dives to get it right! the exact setup seems to be critical

Have started staging on top going in and putting the stage underneath on the way out (same setup as backmount). My thinking is going in the stage is full so will hang down low out of the way.On the exit it's lighter so will float up out of the way. I've found it's much easier to attach the stage underneath when my waist D rings are further forward than they would be in backmount.

[DA Aquamaster]

I second the comment on the neutral 80 being a poor choice for a stage. In this case "neutral" means it's 2 pounds too heavy compared to a normal Luxfer AL 80.

I usually top clip a full stage but will also bottom clip it on the way out. I use the Edd S. bungee set up I have yet to be able to get a near empty stage to not get slightly tail high if top clipped. Marius and I concluded that perhpas it requires a longer torso than he or I have.

Putting the stage on the bottom on the way out would solve the issue, but you then have to juggle things when picking up the O2 bottle on the way out. Personally, I'd rather deal with a slghtly tail high stage bottle.

I also have found placing the waist D-ring a bit farther forward helps as it prevents you from having to dig around between you and the left tank when bottom clipping the O2 bottle for the short ride to where you'll drop it in the cavern. It then makes it ewasier to clip on the way out as well.

I have found the new/recent AL72s to be very handy for stage bottles. You only lose 5 cf (only 1.6 cf from a "third") compared to an AL 80 but they are 6.9" diameter tanks compared to 7.25" for an AL 80. The difference does not sound like much, but it feels much slimmer in the water. Cyl-Tec, at the behest of divers wanting a neutral tank at 500 psi with a reg on it, started milling some aluminum out of the bottom which puts it back closer to the AL 80 tail high when empty category, but they are still very nice stages for sidemount.

[Tegg]

This is how I do it... not like it matters... but it's here anyways...