Tiny Doubles...

[scubameg]

Have you ever considered using small twin tanks for a recreational dive? Check out John Chatterton's latest blog on using tiny doubles instead of a single tank...interesting.

Tiny Doubles | Shadow Diver | John Chatterton

 

[rjack321]

Last year I bought 2 sets of lp45 doubles which came with bands and a straight cross bar. I split them up, sold the bands and cross bar, capped the posts, and whalla the most awesome set of sidemount tanks ever. Sadly not much gas, but they are dreamy to set up and carry - even one in each hand.

They are silly for most recreational diving but great for poking into unknown caves.

 

[HowardE]

Last year I bought 2 sets of lp45 doubles which came with bands and a straight cross bar. I split them up, sold the bands and cross bar, capped the posts, and whalla the most awesome set of sidemount tanks ever. Sadly not much gas, but they are dreamy to set up and carry - even one in each hand.

They are silly for most recreational diving but great for poking into unknown caves.

They're great for recreational diving here... lightweight, and trim out better than a single tank.

 

[DevonDiver]

I used to occasionally see UK divers taking that approach. Twin 6L tanks back-mounted. Not sure if it still happens much, because I've not dived in the UK for several years. I can see the same principle having applications in sidemount.

 

[bamafan]

I have a set of Faber lp50's that I love for small dives. With cave fills they hold about 80 cuft and are a lot smaller than aluminum 80's.

 

[herman]

The problem is cost and extra work for very little gain. For the same CF of a single tank you end up with 2 tanks that need to be viped and hydroded. Then there is the work needed to dissemble and reassemble them for those test. Plus the tanks are not really useful for anything but ponies if you separate them. If I am going to have to vip and hydro 2 tanks they might as well be of a useful size. That said I do have a vintage pair of steel 38s that are fun to dive but IMO the only good reason to use small twins instead of a single tank is for the novelty of it. As for the better trim, while they may be a little easier to trim out, if you can’t trim out a single tank, you have bigger issues to deal with.

 

[antattack]

I know a man who is five foot tall. When I saw him don his rig, a pair of LP50s suddenly made a lot of sense. It looked very comfortable.

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Usually, if my dive requires the redundancy of isolated doubles it will also require a large enough volume of gas to necessitate full-size doubles. If the dive isn't deco/penetration, I don't need the redundancy.

Still, I like the idea of diving the smallest set of doubles that will work for a given deco/penetration dive. Easier penetration in wrecks and easier hauling of gear are why I'm looking forward to building a set of double 100s rather than just diving double 130s all the time.

 

[scubameg]

The problem is cost and extra work for very little gain.

I get a lot of use out of mine, and I think it is totally worth it. I have lots of gas for recreational dives and I love how balanced I am in the water.

 

[Scared Silly]

The problem is cost and extra work for very little gain. For the same CF of a single tank you end up with 2 tanks that need to be viped and hydroded. Then there is the work needed to dissemble and reassemble them for those test.

It takes me all of 10 minutes is disassemble a set of doubles. The same amount of time to reassemble. Probably the same amount time for the VIP. I do my own VIP so no cost. So really the only cost is hydro which amortized costs $5 per year. In the big scheme of things when you four sets of double plus another half dozen singles it is a drop in the ocean.

The best part they do not roll around in the back of my truck.