I had plan on using for single tank stuff mainly and I dive dry sometimes in the quarry with 2 steel 85'sQuote:
Originally Posted by Akroedge540
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I had plan on using for single tank stuff mainly and I dive dry sometimes in the quarry with 2 steel 85'sQuote:
Originally Posted by Akroedge540
It's gonna be tough with the 85s. I doubt you will be able to get the weighting right without limiting yourself on the amount of gas you can use. Victor is right about an old school bungee kit and a dive rite hose though. Now for aluminums the 50 will work just fine. I prefer the xdeep for that though,
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Akroedge540
Well its paid for and on its way, so i am stuck with it and have to make it work
Where do I find the old school bungee kit?
Only 18lbs of gas is a pair of cave pumped LP85s. Definitely workable. I agree, weighting properly is going to be the problem. You want to have enough lead that you don't float too bad with nearly empty tanks, and still have enough lift to swim with a flooded suit.
Caveadventurers
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What kind of LP85s? Fabers MIGHT allow you to get away with them, but you'd have to be fairly buoyant on your own. That means ZERO warm water diving for you with those tanks. The shop I worked at was a Hollis dealer.....so I've had PLENTY of exposure to the SMS50. They also started getting into cave diving, and Faber LP85s were everywhere. In a drysuit, some divers could get away with them and ZERO lead.....but that also limited them on can lights, reels, spools, O2 bottles, etc. They were also not capable of floating on the surface with those, so ZERO boat or OW dives with them. With just a pair of AL80s, you could float at the surface with two full tanks if your weighting was JUST right.....but not in too big of surf.
Let me mention, I say all of the above as someone who has worked with over a half dozen SMS50 configurations on over a dozen divers in all sorts of conditions (fresh, salt, shore, boat, flat, waves, etc). Seriously, it's just not a good sidemount rig.
As for "bought and paid for".....it doesn't mean you're stuck with it. If I were you, I'd return it....especially trying to dive it with steel tanks? Pick up a Stealth or make your own (lot of work but very cheap), or suck it up and buy a Hog SM rig or a Hollis SMS75 (great rigs, they're just bigger).