Bungeeing stage cylinders on Backmount / CCR

[Liquidity]

Dived this weekend with the new stage control bungees and relocated bottom D-ring. Was amazing, the stage is pulled back under my armpit and was streamlined, especially on the second dive where it contained 140 bar, so would normally get floaty. The stage never got in the way when inside the wreck and felt snugly tucked away. Was easy to get to when needed at deco; just grab it, pull forwards and disconnect the bungee.

I saw, on a small monitor, a video of me with the stage and it appeared to be typical sidemount. I’m hoping to get a screenshot/print of that vid for reference.

So a massive success raising the question of why doesn’t everyone do this!

Is the new D ring one of Andy Gorrings creations?

I've just done my ADP and the stage getting in the way is a pain. A couple of CCR divers in my club have some bungee off the backplate that comes under their armpit and connects to the shoulder D ring.

From this is a large SS split ring which the stage is clipped to so it is further back than a usual setup and leaves good access to pockets etc.

It seems to work well and I'm gon a give it a try. Will also have a play with this too. Glad to know it's not just us stage handling newbies that are getting frustrated.

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

[Wibs]

I believe the angled D-rings are these - https://www.divingproducts.co.uk/sho...product_id=354

[Wibs]

I've modified my backplate and added a Left-hand bungee. Also some annotations and pictures...

I dived the bungee system the other weekend for a couple of dives and found it to work well. Sure, a couple of dives isn't a lot to tell, but it's one hell of a lot better than some floating abomination that results in diving half-filled tins. I've added this to the RHS of my backmount harness as I need to control a bottom stage I'll be using next weekend. This will be emptied about half way into the bottom phase, so will be exceedingly floaty. Thus I've added a forward sliding D-ring (actually it's an O-ring) which is on the waist belt. The same thing could be added to the LHS

Will report back on how it all goes.



Bungee size - first knot
I found 25cm of 6mm bungee worked for me. It will obviously need adjusting for different sized people, hence the use of a (modified) fisherman's bend which will allow for the length of the loop to be adjusted. This is why I've wrapped some tape around the ends for now. Once I know the optimum length, I'll replace that with some binding.

The purpose of the tail is to grab the bungee and pull it on to the stage. When wearing dry gloves, you don't want anything to snag (=pinch, cut, rip) your gloves. Again, with time, the length may be shortened.



Bungee second knot


Bungee knots closeup
The first knot is a double overhand knot. This will tighten up on the 'free' end - strangle it. The second knot is a single overhand knot which acts as a stopper. It's not a proper fishermen's bend in that the tension's only on one end, not both ends as in the true fishermen's bend.


Bungee complete
Quick link shown.


Harness chest strap
This shows the quick-link used to attach the bungee. It's finger tight, so can be easily removed when not needed (e.g. the RHS).

There's a second bungee tied to keep the stage bungee in place. This means that when you put it on, the bungee will always be in the right place, not trapped behind your harness.



Harness waist belt (RHS)
This uses a descending D-ring. This is the main difference between the backmount and Sidemount camps: the sidemounters like to have things streamlined and have discovered that the waist belt should actually be a hip belt to have the stages lower on the body, i.e. under the armpits. With backmount, the backplates are relatively short and have a waist belt that's too high to mount stages. Also, as the bungee puts tension on the stage, pulling it backwards, the traditional D-ring will be twisted. Thus the descending D-ring; both lowers the bottom mount to the hip and acts along the line of tension.



Complete harness configuration
Have fitted a traditional (albeit smaller) umbilical battery on the RHS.
Yes, fitting a stage here may (will) interfere with longhose deployment. However, one will need to deploy the longhose in two phases: 1 - into the gob of the OOG diver; 2 - deploy the rest of the hose once everyone lives.

[Wibs]

Sone experience gained whilst diving this rig....

The good news is it works well to control the stages. The bungees are pretty easy to use: locating them on the shoulder straps in the water; attaching them to the stages using the tail; how they pull the stages close to the torso. All good.

The bad thing is he stage top bolt snap pulls on the chest D-ring, flattening it and making it hard to clip off other stuff. The solution to this, which I’ve implemented on my sidemount rig is to add a second D-ring under the existing one which is used only to clip off stages.

I was diving this weekend on some deeper wrecks and using an ali80 bottom stage on the RHS. This is pretty much empty at the end and becomes very floaty — re-stowing the hose is quite a challenge to hold the cylinder down. The bungee system worked really well to keep this streamlined and in trim. Similarly, the LHS deco stages worked well being pulled up under the armpit.

If the stages don’t have modular valves, the bungee can fall off the valve handle. I need to work out a better way of clipping of, possibly reversing the threading around the inside and out over the valve handle.

So some tweaks required, but a great success.

[Liquidity]

Sone experience gained whilst diving this rig....

The good news is it works well to control the stages. The bungees are pretty easy to use: locating them on the shoulder straps in the water; attaching them to the stages using the tail; how they pull the stages close to the torso. All good.

The bad thing is he stage top bolt snap pulls on the chest D-ring, flattening it and making it hard to clip off other stuff. The solution to this, which I’ve implemented on my sidemount rig is to add a second D-ring under the existing one which is used only to clip off stages.

I was diving this weekend on some deeper wrecks and using an ali80 bottom stage on the RHS. This is pretty much empty at the end and becomes very floaty — re-stowing the hose is quite a challenge to hold the cylinder down. The bungee system worked really well to keep this streamlined and in trim. Similarly, the LHS deco stages worked well being pulled up under the armpit.

If the stages don’t have modular valves, the bungee can fall off the valve handle. I need to work out a better way of clipping of, possibly reversing the threading around the inside and out over the valve handle.

So some tweaks required, but a great success.

I thought the bungee held the top of the stage instead of the clip to the chest D ring? That's how side mount is connected up isn't it with bungee rather than clips to D rings?

On another note with the issues you're having with the chest D rings being pulled flat, I've experienced the same already. I was thinking of getting some fixed angled D rings for the shoulder straps rather than the cranked D rings and the sliders, like the one in the picture.

Do you think these would over come the issue without the additional clutter of another set of D rings on the shoulder straps?

Regards

Andy W

Sent from my CLT-L29 using Tapatalk

[Wibs]

Personally, I think I'd prefer to have a couple of D-rings close together. The top one (on the RHS) would be used for stashing all the crap (torches, camera, regulator, double ender...), but the lower one would be for the stage nose clip. I've recently added a camera to that collection and the top RHS D-ring is getting exceedingly crowded. When the stage is clipped to it and bungeed back, it's a sod to clip anything off to it as it's flat.

In sidemount you normally doesn't connect the nose clip (or even have a nose-clip on the stage). In my sidemount rig I've added the second D-ring which I have placed lower so that it doesn't pull when the (steel) cylinder's bungeed. (I use top/nose clips on my steel sidemount cylinders so I can carry them clipped to my harness -- most sidemounters don't do this). Have found that the second chest D-rings don't get in the way or make the chest area "busy".

I'm going to have another harness tweaking session soon to add the second D-rings

Hogarth, eat yer heart out!

[IainC]

I have a similar setup with my CCR, which a cave diving buddy of mine helped me get right. Siedmount style/bungied stages work just fine with a CCR or twins, you just need some sot of fish-tail to you BCD/harness to get the bottom clip in the right place.

[Wibs]

Following on from the last few dives, my RH chest D-ring's been exceedingly busy with the added camera bolt-snap. When the RH stage is added, this D-ring flattens and becomes very difficult to use.

So time for a little modification; addition of a second D-ring. This is something I've had on my Sidemount harness for some time. This is added just above the existing RH D-ring position. The 'existing' D-ring's replaced with a slightly smaller D-ring and is used for attaching the spare torch and the RH stage. This will remove two boltsnaps from the RH D-ring and prevents it from being pulled flat when the bungee's attached to the cylinder and it's pulled back under the armpit.

The new clip-off D-ring position is slightly higher. In my experience with the sidemount harness, makes clipping off more simple.

[t0by]

On my sidemout kit, I rig a stage with a short (2-3 inches) bungee around the neck of the cylinder that clips to a chest d-ring. Mid way down the tank I have a much longer bungee that I can pull tight and clip off onto a d-ring just above my butt. It holds really snug and when I move the primary (aluminium) cylinders down as they get floaty, the bungee keeps it all snug.

[Wibs]

What size cylinder is that and can you walk with the cylinder attached?

[t0by]

What size cylinder is that and can you walk with the cylinder attached?

Auminium 80s. I kit up in the water.

[graham_hk]

...

[t0by]

In the UK Sea I use a steel twinset. With side mount I've only carried 4 tanks. But it should work with a fifth - and a longer bungee.

[Wibs]

How do you do that on a real sea dive?

SM sounds great - how does it work for 5 80s?

Kitting up with two either side is hard but doable — not much different to putting two left on backmount. The third (or fourth) would be better added in the water. So maybe jump in with a leash - common(?) for diving with three stage cylinders if diving all left.

Jumping in with backmount is a doddle when spreading the cylinders between left and right. Actually it’s not a doddle, it’s hard work and very heavy, but two left and one or two right is very doable.

[graham_hk]

...