Anyone use Small Doubles for Recreational Dives??

[ermaclob]

Lately ive been hooked with diving my twins especially on the deeper sites withing the recreational limits. The only thing is that my tanks are a tad big and a little bit of a bother to use on the Open water dives 20 - ~70 ft. i use big old LP98 and well there pretty over kill for shallow dives. And frankly as much as i like dressing up as a spaceman in my dry suit. it draws a lot of attentions from vacationers and even a lot of frequent OW divers here in Miami.

ive been throwing around the idea in my head of the use of small light weight baby doubles for shallower dives, and leaving the big boys for deeper water where they can make the difference. ive been looking around the board and have found that some ppl do it, but very little on how practical it is or issues with its etc.

So do any of you guys dive small doubles like from 40cuft - 70cuft ??

i was interested in putting together some AL 63's but again cant find anything on that...
im interested in knowing how they trim out, and also what wing to use.

am i going crazy??

 

[AfterDark]

I use ID configurations, 2 LP72's 2250psi or 2 LP 50's 1800psi old school tanks. The 72's are a tad heavy but the 50's are great. I also have a 2 LP 90's 3000psi for deco dives but those are HEAVY, for me anyway. I've been thinking about 2 40's or even 30's for my wife if she gets certified next year. Dual setups are ideal IMO. What's the old saying there's safety in numbers? Two tanks and 2 regs are safer than one.

 

[elan]

Depending on your height 63 could be too short.
I regulary use LP72s adding AL80 stages if necessary. Those are my favorite doubles along with oms/faber lp85

 

[ermaclob]

well im 5'6" 210 lb. i kinda wana stay away from the steel tanks and go for some light aluminum's. the 63's are as small as id like to do considering my sac rates. what wings do you use for 50's ?? a singles wing??

 

[Frosty]

Why not just dive a single tank?

 

[ermaclob]

Why not just dive a single tank?

because the more the merrier

i like the redundancy of the doubles as well as how they feel in the water. also ive feel in love with the not having to swap tanks between dives perk. a normal 80 normally gives me 2 OW dives but barley!! i want residual air incase of problems. if i had 2X63 id have 126 cuft and the perks of light doubles. sounds good to me in my mind... then again, ive only recently started to think about this.

 

[tye1138]

As a filmmaker doing lots of underwater shooting, I wanted a rig with lots of air and since I was always solo diving, I needed to have lots of redundancy. I started with HP100's and a pony bottle. I really liked that rig, plenty of air and the HP100's are much smaller and lighter then the LP120 for instance. I musta done 150 dives with that rig before fully unlocking the potential of doubles.

My first double rig was dual HP80's, those little scubapro stubbie guys. Really nice setup with Poseidon regs and tuns of built-in redundancy. Great for New England with no surf, bad for California with lots of surf. I dove with it here in LA a few times and hated it, the damn thing weighed so much, it was hard after the dive to climb back up to the truck, let alone do a second dive. It was also heavy for my frame, I'm a light guy and you needed a lot of muscle below and above water to deal with them.

Two days ago, I bought a LP45 rig and I'm very excited about it. 90cf of air sounds perfect to me and having the redundancy + the balance aspect, sounds awesome. I'm gonna build a tank bank which can slide right into the bed of my truck, so I can re-fill the doubles in between dives and get the max out of the kit. I don't suck down air like a lot of people do, so thats one added benefit. Plus I'm gonna have a decent sized bail-out bottle.

Most of my diving is shallow 40 - 60ft because thats where the light is for photography and where most of the good shore diving is. If you're doing a lot of deep diving off a boat, I highly suggest something bigger. I've tried dual 63's before, they were OK, but they're the same tanks as the HP80's, so same weight, less air. I'd rather have a single tank and a HUGE pony bottle rigged into the system for redundancy, then a set of big doubles.

 

[Peter_C]

because the more the merrier

i like the redundancy of the doubles as well as how they feel in the water. also ive feel in love with the not having to swap tanks between dives perk. a normal 80 normally gives me 2 OW dives but barley!! i want residual air incase of problems. if i had 2X63 id have 126 cuft and the perks of light doubles. sounds good to me in my mind... then again, ive only recently started to think about this.

My HP130 gives me more air than that at 3,800 psi. With an H valve I have some redundancy which is good enough for shallow reef dives.

I sold a set of steel PST galvanized 72's with 7/8" necks which I have regretted ever since. I scrapped a couple steel 62's as I couldn't give them away.

 

[ermaclob]

My HP130 gives me more air than that at 3,800 psi. With an H valve I have some redundancy which is good enough for shallow reef dives.

I sold a set of steel PST galvanized 72's with 7/8" necks which I have regretted ever since. I scrapped a couple steel 62's as I couldn't give them away.

that would be another option, tho i scrounge around for tanks localy all the time and 120-130 LP and HP are kinda hard to find and when you do find one the price tag is away kinda high $230-$300. and that tank is i think 10.5 Lbs in water full. not to bad.

the double HP 80's also crossed my mind but dam EACH tank is 10 lbs in water full thats more then my 98's defiantly don't want that

the 63's should only get like 7 lb negative after bands and manifold. and more or less neutral at end. i can also pic em up cheap.

---------- Post Merged at 03:04 AM ---------- Previous Post was at 02:57 AM ----------

still what wing do i use for smaller tanks?

 

[AfterDark]

well im 5'6" 210 lb. i kinda wana stay away from the steel tanks and go for some light aluminum's. the 63's are as small as id like to do considering my sac rates. what wings do you use for 50's ?? a singles wing??

I use the same wing regardless of the tanks, a 90lb lift OMS wing. The bungeed wing of death as it's called.