Doubles on a Nighthawk?

[cayman diver]

Always nice to have the <500 dive BP/W drones chiming in with their completely unwanted advice.

okay so how many dives do you need before you can give unwanted advice?


The Knighthawk is perfectly compatible with the bow-bands. And being the Mexican that I am, I make my own... but they do come up in the secondary market a lot, should run you no more than 50 bucks tops.

I agree, the bowbands do work for a pair of 80's but for tech or larger tanks i'd go for ......


guess........

A rebreather

 

[TexasZR2]

Question from a newb....

What exactly is the purpose of the "bow" in these?

 

[divemaster_jim]

the "bow" or "harp" on the band allows it to fit in the curved portion on the plastic backplate on your bc, it's the spot where your single tank would rest against.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Here's a picture of a twin mounted on a BC - from the Johnson Space Center:

 

[DTB1981]

I had a set of doubles on a Sherwood outback. I used a set of harp bands I found in the bargain bin at the LDS. The set up worked ok I was able to dive with it, but came across some problems the doubles tend to be a little heavier at the top, a wing or BC designed for singles will not trim out properly with out the use of extra weight and doubles are heavy enough to start with. Most BC’s and wings that say the can do both singles and doubles really don’t do either one well.
The other thing was the tanks will sit 2 inches off your back and the small contact area on back with a BC designed for singles and will try to roll you when you lean to one side. You will be in a constant battle with the tanks.
I have sense converted to a BP/W and will never go back to this set up. But I don’t see any thing wrong with starting with what you have to get used to double tanks, as long as you get the right doubles manifold with an isolator valve. This way when you convert to a BP/W you will only need to buy a new set of bands you already have the major expenses of the extra reg, tanks and manifold covered.

This is the type of bands you are looking for

 

[Dan Ziegner]

DBT1981 stated:

The other thing was the tanks will sit 2 inches off your back and the small contact area on back with a BC designed for singles and will try to roll you when you lean to one side. You will be in a constant battle with the tanks.

Hello, picture.

Not with the Knighthawk, which is the BC that the origional poster inquired about.

 

[DTB1981]

I have seen the exact same setup before and yes there is a gap if you look at the &#8220;Picture&#8221; the tanks are clearly not touching there back near the shoulders as they would be with a BP/W set up. It is not possible to do this with harp style bands no mater what you are using BC or BP/W

If they where not 2 inches off his back the center mount reg would be in the back of the guys head with standard bands there is no space for a manaforld reg set up like this

 

[daniel f aleman]

I have seen the exact same setup before and yes there is a gap if you look at the “Picture” the tanks are clearly not touching there back near the shoulders as they would be with a BP/W set up. It is not possible to do this with harp style bands no mater what you are using BC or BP/W

You missed his point there; he's talking about your comment about the "roll, and the constant battle with the tanks" - doesn't happen with the Knighthawk.

 

[DTB1981]

the extra space is what causes the roll most people don&#8217;t realize it is happening tell they move to a more stable platform. The other factor is the singles wing is not wide enough to inflate properly with double tanks

 

[divemaster_jim]

a wing or BC designed for singles will not trim out proper

I don't have any trouble trimming out,

The other thing was the tanks will sit 2 inches off your back and the small contact area on back with a BC designed for singles and will try to roll you

True it will sit out a bit but will not roll you, or at least mine never has with me, but then I am using a Black Diamond, I have to say this also, I started out diving with a Seahawk (daddy to the Knighthawk) and moved to the Black Diamond because it was to "bulky" for me.