Stages and sidemounting

Hey all,

I'm trying to figure out how to best carry a couple of stages when sidemounting. My current strategy is to carry two stages over my sidemount cylinders. This rides really well when the tanks are full but as I breathe them down, they begin to float up. This causes two issues - 1) they tend to bash the ceiling of the passage, and 2) they increase my swimming resistance.

There seem to be two cures that I can think of. On a thread on TDS, Steve Bogaerts suggests slinging below is an option. He doesn't go so far as to suggest swapping over in the middle of a dive, but would this work, i.e. has anyone tried moving the stage from above to below their sidemount cylinders as they start floating up?

The other is to set up some sort of system to pull them down. I've been racking my brain on this one - some sort of bungie system, an extra clip somewhere, etc. Problem is, these clips are in a location where you're working by feel so I haven't come up with anything simple to do just by feel.

I've already tightened up my attachment to the point that the riding up i just a function of the length of the clip, .e. 3 inches or so. So really what I need is something that really pulls the whole tank down. I'd love to replicate how nicely everything sits on the swim out, during the swim back.

So - what are you sidemounters out there doing?

Andrew,

I ride mine like you stated, but I clip them off to the same spot as my SM bottles. I am diving a transpac with the long push in holders on the plate. My stages do not tend to float up. Do you have a spot lower on your waist/hips to connect them?

Hey Jay,

I stretch them as much as possible. I'm fairly tall (6'1"), and I connect to the same point as my SM cylinders as you describe. I also use the high D-rngs on my transpac shoulders for the top clip.

Perhaps I should shorten the strap so the lower clip is closer to he upper one, to stretch the tank down more. But I worry that at some point it's going to be almost impossible to put on and off.

Andrew,

I carry my stages in front, on D rings, like I would if I were backmounting. The sidemount bottles are attached via innertube on the side (under the armpit) and down low near my SI joint. The bottles ride the same in as out. It also makes it easy if I need to push them out in front.

Ward Beecher

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI9BzDxgKWk

any questions?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by billyf

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mI9BzDxgKWk

any questions?

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Nice shot!

OK, that's what mine look like full. How do yours look empty? And if they stay flat, how do you keep them there?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ward Beecher

Andrew,

I carry my stages in front, on D rings, like I would if I were backmounting. The sidemount bottles are attached via innertube on the side (under the armpit) and down low near my SI joint. The bottles ride the same in as out. It also makes it easy if I need to push them out in front.

Ward Beecher

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Ditto,
I have carried four stages on the front left while scootering without an issue in this fashion. Simply move your left waist D-Ring a little closer (about 1-2 inches) towards your crotch ring, and it makes it real easy to attach the stages there. Two stages in this fashion is very easy. Three not so bad, four begins to get a little crowded. After four throw the remainder on your back or sidemount tanks. This allows up to six stages, but make sure you have enough flotation to float that much weight. If you are diving mix then weight with the 80's is not really a problem. Also if you are in big enough cave to allow it you can clip the stages off to your rear attachment point and drag the empties behind you like that, but in smaller cave this will cause them to hit the ceiling.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aainslie

Nice shot!

OK, that's what mine look like full. How do yours look empty? And if they stay flat, how do you keep them there?

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I took that video of him AFTER the dive. Those stages are "used".

He keeps them flat by having the bungee on the clip be pretty tight and they clip in on the same spot as his primary bottles clip in. It may also be where you mount the attachment on the stage. Farther down the stage will help keep the rear down while attached.

Just how we do it, no expert advice here.

Looks beautiful! I have roughly that setup but haven't tried to mount stages on top like that. I hope it looks as nice when I try it.

Short clips on the bottom and extended rings - but what is the attachment at the top? Just the bungee?

Thanks

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gary

Looks beautiful! I have roughly that setup but haven't tried to mount stages on top like that. I hope it looks as nice when I try it.

Short clips on the bottom and extended rings - but what is the attachment at the top? Just the bungee?

Thanks

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Billy uses bungee and a brass clip that is attached to the stage, as do I.

He mounts his in a slightly different way then I do.

I'll let him explain it to you.

I personally clip the top brass clip to a D ring on the front of my shoulder running the bungee under my armpit.

This is what works for me, and YMMV. Again, I am no expert by any means, I just dive my gear in a manner that works best for me. Others may have better ways to do it.

Looks really sweet.

Billy, could you explain exactly how your connections work?

Thanks all. This is really useful to me. Thanks a lot for the advice on carrying them under. I'm going to give both methods a try - both changing the upper connections and slinging on the bottom.

Photo’s are worth a thousand words :-D
http://cavediver.net/photopost/showp...cat=502&page=1
http://cavediver.net/photopost/showp...cat=502&page=1
I use Large SS clips, cam bands (not those crappy pipe clamps)

When clipping the stage on; I clip it on the 2nd d-ring on my shoulder (the top one) then swing the back of the tank around and clip to the d rings used for my sidemount tanks.

I have 2lb weights on my rig so I slip the bungee between the weight and my neck, kind holds it in place

well be at the CDS social at JB if you want to see

Thanks! Very helpful. And very different to my setup.

Regards,

Andrew.

Andrew, you can always add 3# weights to the cam band...or use Walter Kiddie tanks :)

Yeah, but that means swimming in with waaaay too much air in my BC. I like the relatively neutral AL's.

Billy's method looks great. I'd been using a "cheater" bolt snap, i.e. 2 snaps in series, which helped on the way into the cave and then took one snap out on the way back to tighten up a bit. Billy's method of using a bit of bungee adjusts this automatically. He also stretches out the tank more than a conventional stage - the lower snap is very low. I'm going to try these adjustments and see what happens.