Doubles Diving

[Superlyte27]

If she's diving a drysuit would she still need a lift bag for redundancy?

 

[kanonfodr]

If she's diving a drysuit would she still need a lift bag for redundancy?

Short answer: Yes. New England means cold water = heavy undies = lots of lead to sink. A drysuit does provide some extra bouyancy but I would not count on it to provide the full lift of heavy doubles plus lots of lead, it's simply not made for the job. A lift bag on the other hand is made to give that kind of lift, so it is true redundancy IMO.

Peace,
Greg

 

[knowone]

Thank you. Yes I realize I'll need advanced gases and deco training. I guess everything has its natural progression

Of course you will also realise how important your bag will be, to carry books to start your library, with room for a tape recorder to place on the table when the serious and awe inspiring tech divers you know debate the existence of natural progression.

 

[tstormdiver]

Also be aware that going to doubles for some people may not be as easy as just strapping them onto your back & jump in. Some people need time to adjust to the weight, negative buoyancy & balance. I just jumped in with my twin steel LP 85's & wound up on the ride of my life to 95 ft to the bottom of the local quarry in less than 1 min. Scared the living daylights out of me:shocked2: I found out later, the guys who were going to mentor me, were brand new to doubles themselves. After that episode, I stuck to diving shallow with them for about 3 months. After that another gent who had been a technical diver for quite some time & was quite experienced, took me under his wing & helped me out tremendously & built my confidence back to where I needed it to be. Mentoring & technical classes would certainly be in line for your goals.

 

[DCBC]

I've done intro to cavern and a host of other courses and am contemplating moving on to doubles. I've looked into doing an intro to tech course and while I can see that the information is important - honestly I can't see that I'm ever going to need to shoot a lift bag etc. I am willing to do the course if I need to but am wondering if it is really necessary to safely dive doubles if I do my due diligence in understanding and executing the basic drills (like valve drills). I'd like to be able to access about 170'.

If you're looking at diving doubles to 170', I suggest that you take a lot more training than intro to tech. You need to be able to shoot a bag, learn how to do a decompression dive properly and likely will want to learn Trimix (if you are like some people that don't go past a 100-130' END).

I'm not sure if you're into wreck diving, but you have some excellent deep wrecks in the NE. After a period of time you may want to go deeper and will require a solid foundation of skills. Doubles open another chapter that sometimes isn't seen until you start diving them. Good luck in the journey!

 

[halocline]

I couldn't tell if she was referring to "wanting access" to 170 ft of depth or to 170 cft of gas.

Bluepearl, did you not take intro to cave in doubles? My understanding is that that's a fairly serious class, so I imagine you have some good skills. I don't think the lift bag will be such a big deal. As far as it's necessity for redundant buoyancy even with a drysuit, I'm sure you'll get all sorts of opinions.

 

[TSandM]

It is quite possible to take Intro to Cave in a single tank; in fact, in some places, it seems to be the norm. (At least we had to take significant steps to ensure we could dive at the Intro level in Florida in doubles.)

 

[Bluepearl]

I'm looking for access to 170 fsw. Thats about as deep as I can see myself wanting to go and would give access to most of the best wrecks in our area. Truth be told, even doing some of the shallower wrecks 90-120 on a single tank in the cold Northeast never made much sense to me. Luckily my buddy dives doubles and we plan accordingly - and yes we have the same basic gear configurations

Intro to cave and cavern do not require doubles just a Y valve. You are always in sight of the exit point so in that respect, its a pretty gentle introduction.

 

[boulderjohn]

Bluepearl, did you not take intro to cave in doubles?.

It is quite possible to take Intro to Cave in a single tank; in fact, in some places, it seems to be the norm.

When I consulted with my future cave instructor about taking my first classes, he asked me if I had any experience in doubles. When he learned that I had pretty good experience with them, he told me to use them from the start. Otherwise, I would have started with singles.

 

[keithdiver]

I'm looking for access to 170 fsw. Thats about as deep as I can see myself wanting to go and would give access to most of the best wrecks in our area. Truth be told, even doing some of the shallower wrecks 90-120 on a single tank in the cold Northeast never made much sense to me. Luckily my buddy dives doubles and we plan accordingly - and yes we have the same basic gear configurations

Intro to cave and cavern do not require doubles just a Y valve. You are always in sight of the exit point so in that respect, its a pretty gentle introduction.

i wish you lots of luck in your deep dives, without proper training you are screwed