I'm interested in ways to attach 2 seven litre ali deco cylinders on my left hand side, avoiding the use of more D rings than my shoulder and hip rings. Is it reasonable to clip both cylinders to the harness shoulder and hip rings? Is there a better way?
You can typically clip 2 cylinders to those rings at the same time. If you wanted more space you could either nose clip 1 cylinder to the hip ring and leave the back end of it free or use a leash and have the cylinders behind you. I think the 2nd 2 suggestions will only really work well with aluminium cylinders though
I dive with 2 ali stages left and clipping them both to the existing D-rings is fine. Trim and buoyancy generally isn't affected unless you are trying to hover perfectly still, then they have a tendency to try and pull you over sideways if you don't compensate with your body position. I think steels would be a nightmare!
Ellie on the TDI trimix course what skills did you do with them? Was it taking one or both off and replacing from kneeling and hover? Do you have rich on top or below? Thanks
gary, whats this kneeling business?!!! its always hover and lean left rich right so if there both on the left lean on top as this would be the first used and can be disgarded if needed after use
TDI instructor want to answer this? Si, my before to Ellie was a query about course content progression. Single deco cylinder removal/replacement skills on the TDI AN/DC course started off from the kneel and progressed to the hover. Is it the same on TDI trimix course but with two deco cylinders? After the course, I know it's all done on the hover.
There is no kneeling on the TDI Trimix course at all! Skills with stages, besides actually using them were hovering remove and replace, and blind maskless ascent up DSMB line with 2 gas switches on the way up. The biggest skill you need for this course is to be able to comfortably use two cylinders, doing the reg swap and restowing the other one without losing buoyancy. Its a big part of the course. It was personal choice as to wether you wanted to put the stages left and right, but with me being all GUE'esque I went with both stages left. I used an ali40 with 100% and an ali 7 with 50%. I had the ali40 nearest to my body and the 7 on the outside. The reason for this is that at 6m I'll have to restow the 50% cylinder reg, and when it is on the outside it is far easier to do than if the cylinder is on the inside, trapped by the other one. You generally never have to restow the 2nd reg so its not a problem. On our first dive on the course I'd accidentally got the 100% on the outside, and the 50% on the inside, and restowing that reg was an absolute pig!
Ellie, thanks for the thorough response, very useful. Mala, there's more chance of me being knighted than switching to a rebreather.
You'd still be faced with the same question, i.e. where to wear your bail out stages.... and you'd also need to get used to a whole new world of buggering about Don't get me wrong, I love diving with my rebreather, just hardly something I would phrase as being simpler then OC diving...
'Always'...NOT always. (The LL and RR bit) Major, Ellie gave a good answer, although a donut wing will allow gas to compensate for any rolling tendencies, well that's what I found. What cylinders have you got Major? p.s. No kneeling
Ah yes, it says in your first post. As with anything, you need to do a few dives in the same set-up before you decide you do or do not like a particular configuration. More important than positioning is cylinder identification and positioning of a cylinder shouldn't (IMHO) be an aid in identification of said cylinder.
What's the view on using the left hip D and a D ring on the left cylinder to attach the deco cylinder/s? I'd prefer to use the shoulder and hip Ds, but getting different advice.
Major, These clips may help you with some of the skills Ellie posted about http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POZPYjALvCo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hgg9z2V3PY&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc1o-_HagSM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qsaQkjuElo&feature=related
Lean left, Rich right Nice and stable in the water (and less unstable above water on a rolling boat).
