are double 80's dangerous?

[Icarusflies]

Hello All;

Here is a question for you guys experienced divers.

I have logged in the last 10 months my first 70 dives. Now I would like to get more bottom time (no deco) and have de redundancy for safety that doubles offer. Since I ll be diving open water I ll use two 80's. Now, I just spoke with a GUE instructor (want to take fundamentals) that did not seem very enthusiastic about me using doubles at this lever, it sounded like if using double was a dangerous thing.....What is your opinion?

Thanks

 

[Blitz]

It could be dangerous, it may not be. I don't know you or your mindset so I can't judge. Personally I think you should take your time and really concentrate on diving and just enjoy it for a while. Learn to have great bouyancy, trim and propulsion. Give it another 50 dives in singles, refine your basic dive technique and think about gas management, then look into doubles. Just my .02 psi

 

[CBulla]

I dont believe its dangerous, but I could think of some better combinations than the aluminum tanks... well, unless you weren't talking about the AL80s when you mentioned 80

 

[Meng_Tze]

No it is not dangerous per se. What I would suggest is to start diving with doubles and get experience with them, get a feel for how they swim, how they sit in the water and adjust your swimming for that. It is always good to practice first and with a buddy that can help if they need to. Start getting in proper trim.

What I would advice against is to start doing valve drills just like that. That can come at the fundies training. Don't fiddle with the valves/isolator.... it can put you in a situation without gas... that is dangerous under water and with a buddy that may not know what to do to help.


But all in all, if you want to practice swimming doubles, go for it. But initially use them as one big tank.

 

[Hemlon]

You also just dive more often!

 

[AaronR103]

I think the biggest danger is that doubles will make it easier for you to blow through your no-deco time and end up in a deco situation since you're not gonna have the added check of worrying about how much gas you have left. That said, if you are any kind of conscious diver this shouldn't be a problem for you. I will say that, having taken fundies in singles and recently transitioned to doubles to prepare for Cave 1, I would highly recommend getting at least 25-30 dives in the rig before you jump into a class. Doubles take some getting used to and Fundies is tough enough without doing it in an unfamiliar gear config.

A

 

[Icarusflies]

Thank you for the feed back;

Yes, I am talking about AL 80.

What is really motivating me is that I dive with my father who has not the best air consumption so our dives are cut short. We use HP 100 cuf, so it was either getting bigger tanks (120 or more), which I don't think is a good idea because of the negative qualities of such big tanks when diving wet or get a set of double AL 80's which, correct me if I am wrong, will have a better buoyancy qualities than big steel tanks and better trim.

I don't plan to touch the mainfold underwatter unless there is an emergency treating the twins as a single big tank. The redundancy is nice tho.

 

[Blackwood]

I think the biggest danger is that doubles will make it easier for you to blow through your no-deco time and end up in a deco situation since you're not gonna have the added check of worrying about how much gas you have left.

I imagine that's what said instructor meant.

 

[crpntr133]

What is really motivating me is that I dive with my father who has not the best air consumption so our dives are cut short. We use HP 100 cuf, so it was either getting bigger tanks (120 or more), which I don't think is a good idea because of the negative qualities of such big tanks when diving wet or get a set of double AL 80's which, correct me if I am wrong, will have a better buoyancy qualities than big steel tanks and better trim.

Personally I wouldn't dive double AL80's. For one thing you are packing 8 EXTRA lbs of lead. If you switch to steel you start out more negative but become neutral or slightly negative.
Some will say that AL80's are the way to go for wet suit diving because if the brown stuff would hit the fan then you would be more likely to swim them up. Then there is the crowd that will say "if you can't swim it up, don't dive it." Diving mainly dry this isn't an issue for me. I dive steel lp77's.

I agree with the others, watch your deco very closely.

 

[PerroneFord]

I love my AL80s. Perfect for diving wet. I moved to doubles a lot earlier than 70s dives too. Just watch your gas, stay shallow for a while, and learn the valves.

For those who think you need to carry more lead, I wear ZERO lead with my AL80 doubles in a wetsuit.

If you're doing mostly shallow diving with Nitrox, you'll not approach deco most likely, but do keep an eye on it.

Have fun and be safe.