I've been collecting the peices for some time, a tank here, a tank there, a set of bands, a manifold but now I have it all together and have officially joined the doubles club.
I took them for their first test run Wednesday after work over at Bull Point. Hiking them down to the water wasn't actually as bad as I would have expected (I got these things for boat diving not shore diving
), with the weight on your back it is pretty doable.
Of course, I didn't take enough weight off on my first attempt so I was a bit overweighted. Even so the trim felt great. The other thing which I hadn't really expected was how rock solid you feel in the water with doubles on. In hindsight it makes sense, its just good old Sir Isaac Newton's equation F=ma from physics 101. More mass means the same force produces less acceleration so you aren't bobbed around as much by little movements of water, or shifts in buoyancy as you inhale and exhale. End result was that I felt like I was just locked in place once I got my buoyancy set.
As a side note I ran into a scup that looked at first to be swimming in place. As I got closer I discovered he had a hook in his mouth and the fishing line at the end of it was stuck on a rock so the fish was effectively tied to the bottom. I was able to grab the fish in one hand and unhook him to set him free. Good deed for the day.
I tweaked things a bit and did another practice dive yesterday at the same site with the air that was left from day 1. I drained the tanks down enough to set the weighting properly and I think I finally have it dialed in!
Verdict after two dives! I love them!
Tomorrow, weather permitting, I get to take them out for a spin on the U-853 with the Dennis (wreckedinri) and Harry! Here's hoping the conditions match last week!
I took them for their first test run Wednesday after work over at Bull Point. Hiking them down to the water wasn't actually as bad as I would have expected (I got these things for boat diving not shore diving
), with the weight on your back it is pretty doable.Of course, I didn't take enough weight off on my first attempt so I was a bit overweighted. Even so the trim felt great. The other thing which I hadn't really expected was how rock solid you feel in the water with doubles on. In hindsight it makes sense, its just good old Sir Isaac Newton's equation F=ma from physics 101. More mass means the same force produces less acceleration so you aren't bobbed around as much by little movements of water, or shifts in buoyancy as you inhale and exhale. End result was that I felt like I was just locked in place once I got my buoyancy set.
As a side note I ran into a scup that looked at first to be swimming in place. As I got closer I discovered he had a hook in his mouth and the fishing line at the end of it was stuck on a rock so the fish was effectively tied to the bottom. I was able to grab the fish in one hand and unhook him to set him free. Good deed for the day.
I tweaked things a bit and did another practice dive yesterday at the same site with the air that was left from day 1. I drained the tanks down enough to set the weighting properly and I think I finally have it dialed in!
Verdict after two dives! I love them!
Tomorrow, weather permitting, I get to take them out for a spin on the U-853 with the Dennis (wreckedinri) and Harry! Here's hoping the conditions match last week!
