Sidemount tank attachment

[MORGAN]

Cam bands. I only have 27 dives in sidemount, but have not had any slippage. When I first put them on I wet them and got them as tight as I could. Then I put an EDPM rubber hose retainer over them to make it less likely that they'll open.

I went with cam bands initially because I thought they'd be quicker and easier to adjust than hose clamps, and I anticipated a lot of tweaking their position as I played with my SM configuration. Now that I know where I want my attachment point to end up on the tank, if I have to replace them I'll go with hose clamps because they're cheaper.

Mike

[Sludge]

Dive Rite made a knockoff of Scubapro's Super-Cinch, which is WAY better than cams. But they quit selling them and I bought a bunch. When I used to sidemount that was what I used.

[Jay]

Statistically, I am a genius, but I am no statistical genius . So can someone please explain how a dead even poll would end up in a 52.94% tie?
Attachment 4112

Cheers,
Jeff

Ha! Yeah, 34 voters and 36 votes. Someone must be from Chicago!

[Greenwood_60]

Ha! Yeah, 34 voters and 36 votes. Someone must be from Chicago!

Notice, they are check boxes rather than radio buttons.

[Skorpiov]

Ha! Yeah, 34 voters and 36 votes. Someone must be from Chicago!

Maybe they voted where they actually live, and then voted at their out-of-state workplace as well... Its happened before... just sayin...

[Wizard]

Cam bands for steel and hose clamps for AL.

[Scott]

I haven't had any issues with cam bands. I do have hose clamps on some of my smaller cylinders. Both systems work well for me. Because I'm regularly loaning out my larger cylinders, though, the easily adjustable cam bands make more sense for me.

I do the same thing. Small bottles have 2 hose clamps each and large bottles have cam bands so I can use several different sets of tanks and just swap out the camband.

[RN]

I started using cam bands but recently switched to hose clamps because the velcro on the bands seemed to have lost some of its adherence ability I have saved the cam bands for travel to be aided by a piece of inner tube. For the time being, the hose clamps are permanent additions to my tanks.

The velcro on one of my cam bands has come unstitched from the webbing. I use inner tube around all my cam bands to keep them in place.

[cavermatt]

I also use inner tube on all of my cam bands to eliminate the line trap.
I have had more issues with the worm gear wearing out on hose clams than slipping cam bands. If you know how to properly tighten a cam band it will not move.

[flyczek]

I will use hose clamps on aluminum but stopped using them on my steel tanks after seeing how much the tanks swell with a good cave fill. The stainless in the hose clamps isn't as flexible as the tanks are. I heard of a failure deep in JB of a hose clamp and the subsequent nuisance of getting the tank out. I suppose having two would give you a decent backup, but would really slow down switching out tanks on out of town trips.

I also agree with Sludge that the scubapro style cam bands are a far superior design. Much easier to use, simple to rethread and they hold so much tighter. The shop I used to work out of in Texas sold them for a great price, I just wish I had bought more before I left.