Sidemount (Nomad)

[arcFlash]

Speleophysics let me test dive his Nomad by Dive Rite last night. I've read the Nomad document from DR's site but other than seeing a few in the water had no experience with this rig. I reconfigured 2 regs kind of like twin regs only with short hoses and use my 2 ST72 that already had stage rigs. I needed a bit of advice on how to route the inflater and suit hose, the rest I worked out from what I already read.

The first thing you notice is getting into the harness is as easy as donning a vest. It does not integrate weight and obviously does not have a tank on it at the time. Gearing up is really easy and I was already sold at this point.

Next was the tanks, clipping the tail of the tank to the 'beaver tail' piece was not difficult but it was clumsy with all the new gear and I mounted the right tank on the left the first time (bc inflater was on the rght) and had to switch in the water, it was a little harder in the water but still not difficult.

The ride after that was marvelous. Trim is effortless and the tanks don't get in the way at all. Switching regs every 10 minutes worked for me more then psi. I still looked at pressure but at 30ft and 2 -72's I wasn't going to run out so I spent most of my time enjoying the comfort. Not having a tank on your back is awesome! I'm sold and will get one the next time I see a deal on theDecoStop or rework my Transpac and Rec wing.

I think I want it for casual dives mostly. It's too wide for wrecks and may be a mess getting into the hole for ice.

Lastly, if you think a BP&W is a sweet ride you gotta fly a sidemount, it's way better.

[flyboy65]

I dive with a couple of guys here in Duluth who've recently been cave certified for Florida diving, and they've got the sidemount Nomads.  They're constantly tweeking their set ups, but the sidemount looks so comfortable and natural underwater...I'm considering trying a similar set up.  They love their nomads, and would be reluctant to go back to BP/Wing or BCD...

[Deep Thought]

I agree, the Nomad is a very comfortable system.  I like it so much, I have it on my rEvo, Meg, and KISS - it's not an easy fit on the new Poseidon, and for some reason u just prefer the harness on the Inspiration.

If I were going OC these days, I wouldn't bother with doubles and manifolds.  Singles, sidemounted can be carried singly to waters edge, hung in the water off a boat, just these two small examples relieve a ton of stress..especially post dive.

DT

[systematic.entropy]

Sidemounting must be what all the cool kids are doing now. I'm not sure if I'd go so far as to say I wouldn't bother with doubles and manifolds anymore. But, I'll freely admit the Nomad is a pretty comfortable system, and I use it on my Meg as well. However, you may want to look at the Golem Armadillo A2. I'm thinking about selling my Nomad to modify a Armadillo for use on my Meg, and as a dedicated sidemount rig.

The pros of the Nomad are modularity. It's a separate wing, back support, butt plate, there is a lot of room to play around and reconfigure for a travel rig to backmount an AL 80, hell, you could put doubles on it (weight vs. buoyancy may be an issue), you can use the wing with a regular backplate (as I do with my Meg). But, I'd say the Armadillo is a more streamlined dedicated sidemount rig.

Just my .02

[racer17m]

I am considering a nomad because of its versitility i havent really gotten into diving doubles yet so i am wondering everyones thoughts on diving it with a single (i know it requires cam straps etc.) and really just turns it into a regular bc but doubles on a typical recreational dive seems overkill. 

and based on some comments it seems like it might be impractial for ice or wreck diving?? being its bulky when configured with doubles, any comments from anyone who has been wreck diving with this??

[arcFlash]

I'm not really the best to answer this but seeing how I'm the first....

If I'm deep, say 130-150, I like doubles more. I would rather not mess around with sidemounts for various reasons, one being deep air and my limited time and skills with sidemounts. So, I don't take it deep. Twins and any extra tanks rule in my book.

Side is awesome for long shallow dives that contain long surface swims and or beach carries. I move the tank to the water and leave them. Kit up is really easy, and then back to the water. If you have a surface interval, leave the tanks, walk out in gear, I don't even take the BC off and weights are not a problem or I sit.

Single on a nomad is like anything else but I don't like horseshoes for singles.

Nomad's are great for sidemounts. They work for everything but not as well as a dedicated rig. I have a stainless plate and doubles, AL plate for singles, Nomad for fun and very long dive in the shallows. Something like 200 minutes at 35 feet on 2 80's. I have 72's and 40's as well. I haven't tried sidemount 40's.

You could get better advice if you say more about what kinds of diving your planning on doing or better, do today. A lot of people plan and buy gear and never get to the plan and end up with gear then don't need and need gear they don't have.

[racer17m]

Thanks,  most of the diving im currently doing is 100ft and shallower i do plan on doing some deeper diving in the future but with kids etc i have been side tracked from pursuing more of it. I dont like having a plethera of BC's wings etc. as most of what im diving im doing can be handled by a regular bc.

I like the precived versatility of the nomad being that you can use doubles, side mount or single it. perhaps im wrong but my understanding of it is that the setup is just a transpac with a nomad wing (which gives it the sidemount capability).  so slinging two 80's sidemount is fine and dandy and do-able around here but id like to be able to take the same set up to warmer waters as well which i likely wouldnt be diving two tanks with (hence the versitility aspect). plus running sidemounts makes its a little easier for using any tank (vs using doubles with a manifold, am i wrong?).

so bottom line most of the diving i would be doing on it would be regular recreational diving with probably the occasional deep dive say to isle royal or other great lake deeper dives.

side question, since the side setups are independant from each other is the practice to switch between tanks during dives or use one till done then switch?  seems to me it would be safer to be switching rather than drain one then run in to a problem with the second..

[Terry]

Hey Lowvis,
                Ya the intent with sidemount separate cylinders is to switch cylinders during the dive to give you your needed redundancy, along the lines of the third rule (on each cylinder), based on depth, decompression requirements and SAC rate. It is nice to get the weight of doubles off your back, but on deep, cold water I have to favor a dual crossover manifold and twins, mainly due to having to switch regs at depth, and the potential freeflow bummers that brings. The bennies I saw with twin side slung is getting the wt. off your back, the ease of getting to valves, getting in on tricky slippery shore entrances w/o doubles on your back, and to decrease bulk sweeping your twins forward. I dont see the "bulk" as a issue really, for a couple reasons, icing, just cut a bigger hole, thats trickier on a wreck, but the ability to see your cylinders, and move them independently, is a real advantage, especially to "sweep" them forward, which cancels the bulk altogether.

[arcFlash]

Mostly you HAVE to switch back and forth or one floats more then the other and you start rolling.

A nomad is the Trans Pac, Nomad wing and Beaver Tail, all sold separate if you like.

If you look at real tech divers (and not us 'look alikes') they all have several bottles and they expect to use them, san the CCR guys but they carry them. If you want to be able to carry indy singles you can do that today. I've jumped AL80 on a sling, they are not bad. If you just want to play around with some gear, that can have a novel entertainment value. I think I carried an AL80 and 2 st72 on the Ely! I was so cold at 90 minutes I couldn't stay any longer. I was attempting a 3 hour dive to see what failed first but didn't plan on 39 degrees that day. Fingers were wood.

Jumping ice with an AL80 on the side isn't difficult. It also saves rigging frozen gear. If you come out of the hole you need to switch tanks before it freezes. By having a AL80 staged, you breath that first dive, then backgas the second dive and use remainder of the first tank as your backup. It saves changing tanks and lugging a 40 around that never gets used.

I'd say get an AL backplate and wing and jump it for everything. I used mine in blue water, ice dives, caves and wrecks so it's going to do you just fine.

[racer17m]

Perhaps i should clarify when i say nomad, i am talking about the XT model nomad which would provide the versitility of changing out the wing (just seems a little more economical to buy the nomad setup and pick up the other wings ie one for traveling or one for back mounted doubles if i wanted)  that way i would get the versitilty of the transpac but be able to minimize my set up if i so choose. I know the transpac is even a little more cumbersome than just a backplate and harness setup but it would still be a reduction from a BC. (i currently have a Hollis HD 100 which i am not fond of at all.)

Thanks for the input everyone!