Any Ladies using HP80's?

[Locus]

Leave her with the HP80; a "slightly longer tank" will do nothing about trim down at her feet.

What is wearing for exposure protection? Why do you feel she has "foot heavy trim issues".

Well, I suppose it would be more accurate to describe her as "hip-heavy". She wears most of her lead in integrated bcd pocket-level pouches and the rest on a weight belt. This pulls her hips down and puts her in a sea-horse posture.

Her bcd has only one cam band and she can't mount her tank high enough to spead the weight significantly far away from her waist.

She wears a trilam dry suit and a lot of lead (~14kg). She is a fairly new diver and has had problems with uncontrolled ascents, so she weights quite heavily. It's all a work in progress of course, but I thought trying a slightly longer cylinder that she could mount higher than the 80s might be worth a shot.

 

[SubMariner]

Well, I suppose it would be more accurate to describe her as "hip-heavy". She wears most of her lead in integrated bcd pocket-level pouches and the rest on a weight belt. This pulls her hips down and puts her in a sea-horse posture.

Her bcd has only one cam band and she can't mount her tank high enough to spead the weight significantly far away from her waist.

She wears a trilam dry suit and a lot of lead (~14kg). She is a fairly new diver and has had problems with uncontrolled ascents, so she weights quite heavily. It's all a work in progress of course, but I thought trying a slightly longer cylinder that she could mount higher than the 80s might be worth a shot.

14 kg AND a steel tank? That is far too much weight! No wonder you think she's having trim issues & swimming in a seahorse posture.

No amount of messing with the positioning of the tank is going to help the fact that she is vastly overweighted. Have her do a buoyancy check.

Actually, she sounds like she needs more practice in the drysuit to fine tune her buoyancy if she is having a lot of uncontrolled ascents. Did she take a course to learn to handle the drysuit safely & effectively, or just bought one & went diving? Sounds like a course under an experienced drysuit Instructor might be in order.

 

[Locus]

14 kg AND a steel tank? That is far too much weight! No wonder you think she's having trim issues & swimming in a seahorse posture.

No amount of messing with the positioning of the tank is going to help the fact that she is vastly overweighted. Have her do a buoyancy check.

Actually, she sounds like she needs more practice in the drysuit to fine tune her buoyancy if she is having a lot of uncontrolled ascents. Did she take a course to learn to handle the drysuit safely & effectively, or just bought one & went diving? Sounds like a course under an experienced drysuit Instructor might be in order.

She is padi certified to dive a drysuit (she did her AOW with a drysuit module added), but more time in the water with an instructor couldn't hurt. I think a contributing factor is that she has difficulty fully venting her bcd, but she refuses to switch to a different one so soon after buying it.

As for the weight, I agree that it is too much, but she feels too buoyant with less, and she has been reassured by intructors at our LDS that diving overweighted is fine. She was using even more before, so I think with continued practice she will gradually be able to cut down.

 

[eelnoraa]

removed

 

[rhwestfall]

simply put, the weight is in the wrong place (and likely too much). Until that is resolved (like weight pouches on the cam band, or weights on the tank valve), there is not going to be peace. Regrettably, she has purchased equipment that is not compatible with her and the diving she is doing....

Been there, done that, have the empty checking account to show for it.

 

[SubMariner]

She is padi certified to dive a drysuit (she did her AOW with a drysuit module added), but more time in the water with an instructor couldn't hurt. I think a contributing factor is that she has difficulty fully venting her bcd, but she refuses to switch to a different one so soon after buying it.

As for the weight, I agree that it is too much, but she feels too buoyant with less, and she has been reassured by intructors at our LDS that diving overweighted is fine. She was using even more before, so I think with continued practice she will gradually be able to cut down.

simply put, the weight is in the wrong place (and likely too much). Until that is resolved (like weight pouches on the cam band, or weights on the tank valve), there is not going to be peace. Regrettably, she has purchased equipment that is not compatible with her and the diving she is doing....

Been there, done that, have the empty checking account to show for it.

If she has a BC that she has problems with, she needs to go back to where she bought it & trade it for something that she will be more comfortable using. Then go into a pool or other confined water site & PRACTICE WITH HER DRYSUIT AND THAT BC.

Take off that extra weight -- I know she "feels too buoyant with less", but I go back to my statement about doing a weight check to get her weighting sorted. She is using the extra weight as a crutch to avoid addressing her buoyancy issues: properly air space management in her suit and BC. Diving overweighted is NOT "fine". It contributes to overexertion and using too much air. It's not making her diving any fun.

Getting off my soapbox now,

 

[SeahorseDeb]

ALL my tanks are HP 80s: one is air, the other two dedicated Nitrox. When I'm not able to use my own tanks & have to revert to "standard" AL80s I am not nearly as happy a diver as I am with those steel HP 80s!

And yes, I am "vertically challenged" at 5' 4".

SubMariner, I agree with you completely...in fact when I travel I find myself scanning the tanks at the dive shop looking for a steel that is pushed to the side. I dive my steel 100hp and 80. I usually use the 100 on my first dive and the 80 on the second. I dive dry but when I dive in my wetsuit I take a few extra pounds of lead, and I ask the DM to ensure I won't cork...that really ticks me off when I feel a slight "lift" partially through my dive with an aluminum. I love steel hp's....even though my tracks to the dive site will have heads shacking in a few million years, they'll be wondering what kind of creature made that trail...

---------- Post added April 27th, 2014 at 02:43 PM ----------

This is a nice chart to compare tanks: Scuba Cylinder Specifications from Tech Diving Limited - 928-855-9400

ams511, I travel with this chart !!! Love it!!!

---------- Post added April 27th, 2014 at 02:52 PM ----------

My only pet peeve is getting full fills to at least 3400. /QUOTE]

mselenaous I agree with you!! The takeaway here for newbies using steels is not to expect a 10 minute fill, it heats up the tank and results in a not-so-full hp 3400. I paid for a hp, and I want a full hp. I take my tank in cold and wait around for it. If possible, and it may not be when is traveling, I drop it off and I check the fill when I pick it up. One dive shop filled my tank in ten minutes and I was gritting my teeth. If they thought I didn't know better they were dealing with the wrong petite lady...and no lady should ever walk away with a tank that's under filled, no matter what the working pressure is.

 

[Locus]

My only pet peeve is getting full fills to at least 3400. /QUOTE]

One dive shop filled my tank in ten minutes and I was gritting my teeth. If they thought I didn't know better they were dealing with the wrong petite lady...and no lady should ever walk away with a tank that's under filled, no matter what the working pressure is.

A local shop recently filled my hp100's and my buddy's hp80's after a dive day-trip. I should have known it was a bad sign when they didn't have a DIN fitting on their filling whip and needed us to produce our valve conversion inserts so they could be hooked up.

When I insisted on checking the tanks afterwards, the employee who filled them literally swore to me that they had 3200psi in them (...first off, why not 3500..?) but it was more like 3000. By the time they cooled in the water the next day, mine had 2800 and my buddy's had 2700.

Something else to note: We were owed fills as they were included in the fee we payed for the day-trip. If I had happened to bring my PST tank, which has a 300-bar DIN valve and cannot be converted to yoke, I would have been S.O.L. for getting it filled. When my buddy asked the guy filling our tanks what would have happened if we had brought a tank like that, he merely remarked that owning one in Canada, "Would be stupid."

Needless to say, I was not impressed. I know where not to get fills now...

 

[SubMariner]

A local shop recently filled my hp100's and my buddy's hp80's after a dive day-trip. I should have known it was a bad sign when they didn't have a DIN fitting on their filling whip and needed us to produce our valve conversion inserts so they could be hooked up.

When I insisted on checking the tanks afterwards, the employee who filled them literally swore to me that they had 3200psi in them (...first off, why not 3500..?) but it was more like 3000. By the time they cooled in the water the next day, mine had 2800 and my buddy's had 2700.

Something else to note: We were owed fills as they were included in the fee we payed for the day-trip. If I had happened to bring my PST tank, which has a 300-bar DIN valve and cannot be converted to yoke, I would have been S.O.L. for getting it filled. When my buddy asked the guy filling our tanks what would have happened if we had brought a tank like that, he merely remarked that owning one in Canada, "Would be stupid."

Needless to say, I was not impressed. I know where not to get fills now...

We often travel with a DIN fill adapter in our "save a dive box" for just this type of scenario. In fact, if you don't already own one, get one... in fact get two. Yes, they are about $30 apiece, but they last forever and are well worth the investment.

And yes, whenever possible watch people when they fill your tanks. There is no reason why an HP 80 can't be over 3K except the fact that the person filling it is lazy & in a hurry.

Meanwhile, the fellow who said that "owning one in Canada would be stupid" is stunningly obtuse himself. Two of my three HP80s were bought & dived IN [gasp] CANADA! But yes, you now know what store NOT to patronize.

Where in The Great White North are you located?

 

[Locus]

I'm in the Vancouver area.

By "fill adapters" are you referring to the screw-in inserts that convert a 230 bar (5-thread) DIN valve to yoke for filling and use with yoke regs, or something else that attaches to the filling whip?

I have inserts for the 230 bar valves on my worthington tanks, but my PST tank has a 300 bar (7-thread) DIN valve, which can't be converted with a screw-in insert. It was this type of tank in particular to which the shop employee was referring, not high pressure tanks in general. My usual shop has no problem filling it.