Double 117 hp steel won't trim

[tomfcrist]

Ok...that sounds reasonable.

I was scratching my head thinking "I'm a big dude and 100's cement me to the bottom and n a drysuit"

 

[king_of_battle]

I've been diving double 117s for about a season now. It took a little while to figure out what to do to trim them out. Incremental is definitely the way to go. I was seesawing between head up and head down extremes for a while. I added a tail weight, gaiters, moved the bands around, etc. Eventually, and what was at the time counter intuitive to me, I lowered my wing down closer to my butt. Suddenly that did the trick. I think having the wing so high forced me to add air to my drysuit to compensate...which sometimes migrated to my feet...and the seesawing started. This may not be your problem - what I'm suggesting is what was said above - try one thing, dive that change, then reevaluate. It may take a little longer but you'll lock in what needs to change quicker than sticking to a bunch of changes not knowing what's optimal.

 

[RyanT]

It may take a little longer but you'll lock in what needs to change quicker than sticking to a bunch of changes not knowing what's optimal.

Yes!

 

[Dustin karkowski]

Thanks for all the advice. I don't often ask for help. I was getting pretty frustrated with it I'll be giving the bands an tail weight a try

 

[RyanT]

I was getting pretty frustrated with it I'll be giving the bands an tail weight a try

Take your time and hang in there. I started diving doubles after 20+ years of single tank diving. Even with that experience, it took me quite a few dives to get my rig dialed in.

 

[divezonescuba]

Have you tried some gaiters on your drysuit legs to minimize that effect?

 

[confuted]

I'm the same height as you, although a bit lighter. I used to dive 117s. They're hard to trim out; I wish I had bought 120s instead. I eventually got them trimmed, though.

Start by moving your bands as high as possible on the tanks. Mount the backplate as high as possible too. Your valves will be hard to reach, but if you have to, you can push the tanks up toward your head while you do a valve shutdown. I used a 10 pound V weight between the tanks (mounted fairly low) and Hollis F1 fins, which are heavy. Obviously I can sink without the weight with full tanks, but the 117s are positively buoyant when empty, so some weight is needed anyway. You shouldn't need ankle weights if you have everything else correct.