Stage Cylinder Positioning

[scuba hippo]

Whats the YD crew's opinion on side slung cylinders?
I have seen some with 2 stages slung on 1 side, 2 stages 1 slung on each side.
Whilst diving in Thailand it was suggested to me that I sling my 2 stages on my right side with the cylinder containing the richest mix on top.

What ya'll reckon??

[EllieCee]

Whatever you find most comfortable?

Ellie

[scuba hippo]

Whatever you find most comfortable?

Ellie

True and I suppose the dive could possibly dictate??

John.

[Lanny]

To paraphrase the Captain with no legs and no crew on Blackadder: "Opinion is divided on the matter".

I dive the GUE protocol of all stages left. It does not interfere with long hose deployment or your light canister and allows you to use a scooter. You do have to use neutral (ali) cylinders, which it makes sense to do anyway to avoid buoyancy issues. Some people have a perceived problem with all cylinders on one side being unbalanced. I have used 4 stages on a real dive and 9 stages on a daft training/"can we do this" dive with no issues.

Many agencies and instructors teach the "lean left, rich right" system. I do not like this as its simplicity falls over with more than 2 stages. You could also attach them wrong and breathe a rich mix at depth if you do not have sound gas switch procedures as well as the left/right instinct. Finally the cylinder on the right can interfere with hose deployment and torch placement.

I have never seen anyone teach "all right" and am struggling to see any advantage, unless you combine with a "mirror hog loop" system, which would be very confusing for buddies or rescuers used to the more standard hog system. Who was it who recommended it? It would be interesting to hear their reasons.

Good luck with the new stages.

[Morag]

To paraphrase the Captain with no legs and no crew on Blackadder: "Opinion is divided on the matter".

I dive the GUE protocol of all stages left. It does not interfere with long hose deployment or your light canister and allows you to use a scooter. You do have to use neutral (ali) cylinders, which it makes sense to do anyway to avoid buoyancy issues. Some people have a perceived problem with all cylinders on one side being unbalanced. I have used 4 stages on a real dive and 9 stages on a daft training/"can we do this" dive with no issues.

Many agencies and instructors teach the "lean left, rich right" system. I do not like this as its simplicity falls over with more than 2 stages. You could also attach them wrong and breathe a rich mix at depth if you do not have sound gas switch procedures as well as the left/right instinct. Finally the cylinder on the right can interfere with hose deployment and torch placement.

I have never seen anyone teach "all right" and am struggling to see any advantage, unless you combine with a "mirror hog loop" system, which would be very confusing for buddies or rescuers used to the more standard hog system. Who was it who recommended it? It would be interesting to hear their reasons.

Good luck with the new stages.

+1. except that it is (for me) so that they don't interfere with the long hose. Using a scooter never entered the equation.

[NotDeadYet]

Depends on what you are trying to achieve and/or prioritise. If you want easy long hose deployment with a looped long hose then you've not much choice than all left. If you don't want that and think that ID by touch rather than visually is important then wear them wherever. I don't see much advantage in wearing them all on the right.

Also, if you use steels then all on one side is not practical unless you are very careful with your cylinder choices and fills.

[Mark Chase]

Whats the YD crew's opinion on side slung cylinders?
I have seen some with 2 stages slung on 1 side, 2 stages 1 slung on each side.
Whilst diving in Thailand it was suggested to me that I sling my 2 stages on my right side with the cylinder containing the richest mix on top.

What ya'll reckon??

All stages left has the single and significant advantage that you can reach your right pocket and p valve easily.

I am told that it makes scootering easier but I have scootered all left and left right and haven't noticed much difference. That said i do not have vast experience on scooters. I bought my first scooter this year and had maybe 20 scooter dives prior to this.

Arguably stages left invokes a discipline of stage bottle identification which becomes critical when multiple stages are used.

The problem with this logic is i know of three people who have 02 toxed due to switching to the wrong stage. Two of them are dead and the other bit his own tung off whilst convulsing.

The only thing all three had in common was they were running all stages left.


I don't know anyone who has toxed running rich right lean left


Furthermore stages left requires stages to be neutral in the water. Either that or multiple overweight stages will pull you badly out of trim. The all left divers do this by putting helium in nitrox tanks (running 50/20 for example) or by running large Ali tanks with only 160bar fills.

Great if a 160bar fill is enough safety for your dive but for me i am marginal with 250bar fills so its total bollocks for me.


Confusion and clutter are the buzz words of in water catastrophe scenarios. That moment when you think your going to die and your scrabbling for a gas source, is the moment when the system is put to the test.

All left means there is a good possibility of grabbing the wrong reg. Excellent buddy skills and personal skills are required to insure the wrong regulator has not been used. Despite this being key there have been incidents on dives with DIR divers where the wrong gas is switched and a tox has occurred. And DIR divers are generally, pretty damed good.

So for me I need big heavy fills and maximum no brainer bailout so i dive rich right lean left. My idea of a deep dive is 70-80m so i dive with only two tanks and the system is not challenged. Past 80 I have to start using silly exaggerated procedures in order to avoid confusion. My argument against all left is that they need the same exaggerated procedures from 50+m


So having tried them both i have decided rich right lean left is for me.


Sadly I have to admit access to pockets and pee valves remains a issue

ATB

Mark

[The Duck]

Which ever works for you.

I personally use all left.

I'm mildly dyspracsic (sp?!) so I've got left and "no the other left"! Which always put me off lean left/rich right to start with.

Also I like the idea that after the second cylinder, all the others are on a leash so that mean that no matter how many cylinders you have you're still using the same system.

[Philelmer]

I was taught rich right lean left, or if using one stage, then just left (so that your first gas switch is always on the left I guess) but recently did a couple of dives with air and O2. Because the O2 was in a smaller (5 litre) cylinder I couldn't wrap the stage hose round the back of my head to breathe it as I would have done with a larger 11 litre left-slung bottle, so found it more convenient to put it on the right. In fact having a small bottle right-slung gave me something to hog-loop my hose under too, and with it being small, it didn't get in the way of my pockets or a hose deployment.

I think the point is that I tried it the way i was taught, and I tried it a different way, and found that the "different way " worked better for me in one particular instance, so I'd say you should just try a few different methods and see what you feel most comfortable with.

[GLOC]

Furthermore stages left requires stages to be neutral in the water. Either that or multiple overweight stages will pull you badly out of trim. The all left divers do this by putting helium in nitrox tanks (running 50/20 for example) or by running large Ali tanks with only 160bar fills.

Mark,

This one goes around the buoy several times...

HP and I dived 3 stages, each with a steel 7 of 50%, Ali 7 of O2 and an Ali80 with 210 bar of 15/40 in it, in Malta and whilst it wasn't as neutral as a lightweight 7s, it wasn't an issue. Most people would accept that putting 250bar into an Ali80 is asking for trouble...

I have never put Helium in my nitrox deco cylinders, I have put mix in my bottom stages which makes things a little easier (for the dive and the bottle riding more neutrally)

The bottom line OP is, what sort of diving are you doing and who are you diving with? However, the most important thing about diving multiple cylinders is being meticulous with your switching procedure - get that wrong and you could end up dead.

Regards