[tab: The adjustable “LB-Slinding Ring” ]
Dealing with the correct positioning of tanks that change their buoyancy during diving is an important point when looking for an optimized and streamlined Sidemount configuration.
Aluminium cylinders are slightly negative at first and tend to be positively buoyant while gas pressure decreases during the dive, affecting their positioning on the diver. The objective for a streamlined Sidemount configuration is to keep the cylinders parallel to the diver’s body regardless the tank is “butt-light” or not! The most minimalist solution is then to adapt the location of the lower attachment point on the diver’s belt: we do not try to prevent the butt of the tank to float, we just adjust the natural angle of the tank with the body trim!
The “LB-Sliding Ring” is the latest hardware solution to fulfill this purpose: simple, reliable, auto-locking, and easy to manipulate… What else??!!
What are the “plus” featured with the “LB-Sliding Ring”?
— Stainless steel & Delrin material: rock-solid made! The “LB-SR” is reliable, it will never fail on you.
— Auto-locking system: the “LB-SR” slides on the webbing only in one direction when pulled by the D-ring itself. The scuba cylinder can “pull” strongly when near empty (even more in very buoyant salt water), it will never move the D-ring that keeps it in the correct position!
However, if you want to slide back the D-ring, you just have to slide the all piece by pulling softly from the “LB-SR” itself instead of the D-ring!
If you are using heavy steel cylinder, reversing the locking side is done without removing anything from the Sidemount harness! It will keep your steel tank in place, the Auto-locking system will prevent the D-ring to slide down due to the heavy weight of the tank now!
— No need to manipulate the “bolt snap” or “clip”: you don’t need to unclip/reclip the snap from the tank to change his attachment point… just push the all thing wherever you need to!! This is an interesting feature for divers who use thick gloves or dry gloves that difficult any kind of gear manipulation.
— Facilitate gear adjustment and fine tuning: fixed D-rings must be located precisely for both positions (negative tank, positive tank). Most of the times when changing exposure protection (from dry suit to wetsuit or swimming suit), you’ll need to relocate the D-ring on your webbing… The “LB-SR” will slide wherever you want your attachment point to be!
This helps when we borrow the Sidemount harness to another diver, or when teaching Sidemount courses!
— Natural D-ring positioning at 90°: the D-ring will stand perpendicular to the webbing, but remaining flexible (no hard point between the tank and the diver), helping “cliping” the bolt snap, even with gloves!
— Adaptable to any D-ring: the “LB-SR” can be used with low-profile D-ring as with large D-ring, depending on diver’s preferences or needs