"Answers to your most asked questions..?"   Back to Homepage

If you have a question that is not covered below; please email me with it...  

What are the basics of correct weighting for a sidemount diver..?

Don your exposure suit with mask and fins. Go into the water you will be diving in, find out what weight you need to make that suit float when you hold a breath but sink when you exhale and you have your weight you need for sidemount. You could do this weight check again with while wearing your sidemount harness and your “empty” trim/BCD device, it should be the same or similar weight needed.

Now add your cylinders either steel or aluminum, remember with steel cylinders they will be negative but will go to neutral. So your BCD should be a suitable size needed to compensate for that, when cylinders become near empty then your BCD will also be near empty – meaning you are correctly weighted.

The main difference with aluminum cylinders are that they will become positively buoyant when near empty. Work out this difference and add that amount of extra weight needed prior to starting the dive. Again your BCD would need to offer sufficient lift at the start and should be empty when cylinders are near empty. This again means you’re now correctly weighted and your lung volume is controlling you.

These are just the basics; during training we will go over correct weighting in much more detail, as well as discuss emergency procedures, redundant BCDs and go through exact placement of weight etc…

I am thinking of getting a razor harness, what lift does my buoyancy device need..?

If you read the above question that goes through basic weighting needed, you will see that a buoyancy device may not require that much lift. If you require heads up floatation then know that most BCD’s that are designed for sidemount will not offer that to you. Please contact me for more information on what options are available...

Can you provide all sidemount equipment during training..?

Yes - I travel with x3 complete sets of sidemount equipment, for students use during training courses. This includes: x3 Razor Side Mount Harnesses, with the 45 LBS (20 kilos) Sidemount BAT Wing and x3 sets of the Apeks sidemount regulator package.

All you need have is adequate exposure protection and your mask/fins. I can also work with you to customise any other sidemount equipment you have already, plus make up what you are short of; just mention this when you contact me.

Where do you offer sidemount training courses..?

Worldwide – recently I have been offering training around various countries in Europe and Asia Pacific. Right now I am not fixed to any location which means it is possible for me to travel to your location and offer customised training that fits in with your working schedules. Places I am thinking of traveling to sometime in 2011/2012 – Western Australia, South America, West coast of Mexico. 

Please note: If you are just one person and think that because you don't have others who will join a course with you, I won't run a course! Then you would be wrong, please contact me asap as most of my requests are from people just like yourself. I am sure I can arrange something to work for everyone and a bonus is that after training you get a new buddy or two to go diving with. I will also run 1 on 1 training if you would prefer that.

Why should I take sidemount training with you..?

Well first I would ask you to look at the types of diving I do, then ask yourself do I have the necessary experience in the field of diving that you want to get into? Am I a good educator and worth your time and investment? Could I get you to a level in sidemount that might take you 50  dives in as short as a 4 day course?

What are the most common problems that you see when divers do not take sidemount training..?

Well I would ask every sidemount diver to have a buddy video them whilst they swim around, try moving through 360* vertical and horizontal. Look closely at how much your cylinders move around and if your cylinder valves stay orientated to you body. My bet is they do not and the cylinders move around quite a lot when you and swimming. Look at your hoses are they too long, is everything easy to find..?

A diver signals “out of air” to you... how easily can you donate the correct regulator, did you have to look for the reg, move something out of the way so you could deploy it..? When you removing and replacing either cylinder, how much time does it take you and do you keep getting the hoses mixed up or find the clips hard to undo..? If you completely relax your whole body in a horizontal position, do you still stay horizontal and trimmed in the water or do you fall to the front, back or sides?  Ask yourself is there always a piece of equipment that I am constantly thinking about during the dive?

Can you sidemount with steel tanks..?

Yes - in fact steel tanks actually make better tanks for sidemounting due to the fact they either stay negatively buoyant or go to neutral when the air is breathed from the cylinder, whereas aluminum tanks almost always become positively buoyant. Means with steels you don’t have to start your dive with extra weight that you would need to keep the cylinder neutral for later.

Steel tanks are always preferred when diving in a thick wetsuit 5mm or a drysuit, if available I would always opt for them as they have a smaller profile and they account for some of the weight you require to sink your exposure suit. Meaning you can carry less actual lead weight on your harness.

Can you sidemount in a drysuit..?

Yes - drysuits actually make trimming your body easy than with a wetsuit. As you can change your orientation to migrate air around different parts of your drysuit this helps balance out heavy fins or heavy bases of your cylinders. When you’re weighted correctly you will find that on shallow recreational dives, you can easily use the air in your drysuit as your main buoyancy control and your BCD/trim device will just act as your backup.

Is the Steve Bogaerts “Razor Harness” only for warm water diving..?

No - this sidemount harness can be used for cold water diving with any exposure suit (including a drysuit). It's a custom fit harness you just need to correctly adjust it to each exposure suit. Download my razor harness measurement form (click here), that way you can keep accurate sizes of your harness once you have fitted it to each different exposure suit. It makes changing your harness hardware placements easy. You just need the form and a flexible tape measure (or flexible line and tape measure).

Can I use any cylinder valves for sidemount..?

Yes - most valves you see around the world are usually right handed. You have to wrap around the neck of the cylinder with your bungee. This is possible but not ideal as it does not help you with the correct orientation of your cylinder valves and 1st stages. Plus you have to remove your bungee from your sidemount harness to enable cylinder donning and doffing which is more difficult than using handed valves.

Left and right “handed valves” (like shown in picture) have an extension piece to secure your sidemount bungee around, they are the preferred valves for sidemount with. This means you do not have to unclip your bungee from your harness. They make donning and doffing your sidemount cylinders a much easier and more efficient process. 

Do I really need an instructor to go and try sidemount diving..?

No - some people would argue that after your initial entry level open water diver course you just pick things up as you go… While that may be true, I think any training is all about how much time you have to invest in your learning. It is simple; learning by yourself may take 50 dives to possibly learn what you would have with a structured 3/4 day training course by an experienced sidemount instructor. Plus think not only about your own time investment but also your safety, comfort and enjoyment levels.

I advise anyone to do their research on which instructor they choose for any level of training, you have started doing yours on me now just by reading this page. Sidemount is becoming increasing popular, we are now seeing sidemount being taught to others and some of these “open water” sidemount instructors have no personal technical diving experience. In my opinion this is the minimum experience every sidemount instructor should have as well as regularly diving in sidemount configuration.

What equipment do you recommend for sidemount..?

When you take a training course with me, I can provide you with full sidemount equipment. That way you will get to try something which I believe will be the best for training you. After the training you can go out and make a more informed decision on what you need to buy based on the types of dive environments you will spend most of your time diving.

Is sidemount diving recreational or technical..?

This is an interesting question. My answer is sidemount diving itself can either be recreational or technical as in the types of dives you are making i.e. a shallow recreational dive to 18m for 30 mins or a deep technical dive to 50m for 30 mins. Each type of diving has different skills sets and procedures to follow. The sidemount equipment you use for both of these dives may be very similar with the difference being larger main cylinders and possibly an additional stage cylinder.

So sidemount equipment must be classed as technical equipment. Recreational dives that use sidemount may now have more air than normal (additional cylinder) which means they should pay extra attention to their computers NDL as a divers air consumption may no longer be the limiting factor but now it’s about the max depth and bottom times.

Why do you teach sidemount diving..?

Simply because since learning to sidemount dive myself back in 2008, I have not donned a backmounted twinset and cannot see a reason why I would again. Sidemount diving has become my key focus; to say I eat, sleep and breathe sidemount could be a close statement right now. I am very enthusiastic and passionate about all aspects of sidemount diving and want to see it develop in the right ways.

In (November 2010) I revised my distinctive PADI sidemount course I was offering, the main reason for this was that after 1.5 years of me gaining experience in both diving sidemount and through teaching sidemount to others, I found that sidemount equipment configuration was the “missing piece” in teaching a diver the essential skill set (buoyancy, trim, fin techniques and awareness). The structured course I now offer is called “Sidemount Essentials” this training now not only addresses the skills needed to plan and dive with sidemount equipment configuration safely but also included training on wearing the correct weight, crucial weight placement, SMB deployment and works on developing a divers essentials skills like advanced buoyancy control and finning techniques.

What fins are suitable for sidemount diving..?

Well if you look at most sidemount divers, who dive in caves today. They are wearing something like a jetfin or a pair of Mares Quattro’s, these are both what well call full blade fins. Not to be confused with a fin called the split fin which you see a lot of recreational divers wearing these days. Please see an article I put together (click here), it shows the key differences in the types of fins.

Simply put I advise anyone who is taking training with me to not use split fins unless they have an injury that means they need to use them. That same person would most likely limit the dive sites they choose to avoid advanced conditions like currents or long swims etc. Split fins are good at only one style of kicking “flutter kick” or standard scuba kick, your shown at open water level where as a full blade fin can do many styles of fin kicks; flutter, frog, sculling, helicopter turns and backwards kicking. So I suggest each diver becomes proficient with a full bladed fin, please contact me for any recommendations on fin choices.

How can I best prepare for your sidemount training course..?

Simply put, get wet. Go out and do some diving. If you have not dived for a while then you can spend lots of time working back on basic dive skills. A good diving comfort level is needed, for example being able to comfortably hold your position trimmed horizontally at any depth and you can fine tune your buoyancy control using just your lung volume then that would be a good starting point.

If you cannot do this yet then allow an extra couple of days before the sidemount training starts and I can dive with you in your equipment you already use and help you master the basics, then we can build upon those skills with more complex ones while using sidemount configuration.

I dive one cylinder on the back and sling another for deeper dives, would sidemount be a better option for me..?

Yes - most definitely. I find a lot of divers do this style of diving in remote areas or areas where they cannot easily get access to a manifolded twinset or technical wings but they still want to do some entry level technical diving. Having the cylinders at your sides rather than one in front at one behind is better for lots of reasons, you have direct access to both valves and air sharing becomes much easier. The cylinders are easier to control; you get a more stable balance and trim when swimming.

I must stress that my sidemount training is based around your current diving skill level it does not and will not replace technical training courses; think of sidemount as the ideal way to learn to dive with two cylinders (an intro to tec course). All my technical courses can be taken from the start wearing sidemount configuration, this is my preferred suggestion.

Can I use a backplate and wing for sidemount diving..?

Yes and No - I would say that with the ever increasing advancement in sidemount equipment configuration. That diving with a webbing harness and a solid stainless steel backplate are an “old fashioned” way to sidemount dive. It is also an unsafe way to dive into restrictions e.g. squeezing through hatches in wreck penetrations or small cave passages etc… the solid backplate in this case would not be flexible and a diver can easily get stuck.

I will also like to point out that any diver just because they are wearing sidemount equipment with a flexible back still need to take additional training for diving in restrictions, it’s not just having the right equipment but about having the additional dive skills and developing your mindset. There is so much equipment available now that a solid backplate may be okay for open water sidemount diving but really now no longer an option (visit my equipment section for more information).

You do lots of traveling overseas what tips do you have for getting dive equipment onto planes..?

Well most airlines allow 20 or 23 kilos as your main checked baggage allowance, with 7 kilos for your carry-on baggage allowance. So I pack all the dive gear I need into my dive bag(s) which these days is not a solid wheel dive bag as they weigh between 4 and 6 kilos unloaded! So I use x2 canvas style dive bags they weigh less than a kilo, one must be big enough to fit every in should the airline turn round and say we charge extra for x2 checked bags!

Now I pack all my stainless steel items, sidemount valves, upto x6 sidemount regulators, all boltsnaps etc… into a padded regulator bag (yes they will fit). Then I carry that on as hand luggage along with a rucksack that carries my laptop, dive computers and other items etc. Those x2 hand luggage bags can weigh well over 7 kilos as you might have guessed but the security do not care about the weight ;) So now you can have 15 kilos in sidemount harness, wetsuits etc leaving about 5 or 8 for your clothes in your main bags. Only problem is you have to carry all that weight on you around the airport but again the bonus is if your checked bags went missing – all valuables are still with you.

I can no longer carry a twinset; will sidemount work for me..?

Yes - about 40% of the sidemount divers I train say that is their primary reason they move to using this equipment configuration. One person that stands out off the top of my head when writing this, is Andy Holden (please visit my testimonials section, to hear more). Andy’s main reason for taking sidemount training was that his lifelong goal since learning to dive was to one day to learn to cave dive... he went through several technical courses in a twinset and was well on his was to do this, when he had a huge setback… a motorcycle accident that broke his leg quite seriously.

So for years Andy had given up on diving with a twinset and was back to recreational diving with a single. Then he heard about sidemount diving and thought it might work for him. Andy contacted me and joined a 4 days training course, it was what he hoped and more... So much more straight after training he booked a flight to Mexico and was a certified cave diver 1 month after learning to sidemount. Congratulation again to Andy, it was the ability to gear up in  the water by having the equipment taken down is small manageable weight load that made it all possible.

Will I getter better air consumption using sidemount than backmount setup..?

Yes and No - again air consumption is largely down to your comfort and dive fitness levels. If you have a poor sidemount configuration e.g. you dive over weighed or your cylinders move around and hang to low from the body. Then you will probably get better result in backmount. But when you are trained and have your sidemount system working well i.e. your cylinders move as one with your body movements and you have the exact weight you need and placed correctly… then yes I am sure like I have found... your air consumption will be considerably better when diving sidemount than with a backmount configuration.

Do I need to have a helmet to sidemount dive..?

No - you can dive in sidemount without a helmet. The reason most divers wear helmets is to offer some protection in overhead environments and it is a place to put their primary dive light and backups which creates a cleaner equipment configuration and hands free lighting.