first set of doubles for apprentice cave

[Divesherpa]

Well, I'm 6'1. I love diving steel bottles. You can pump the world into them. Regarding the height of the 80's I only put a few hundred dives on the double LP 80's (mostly cave and cold water, but some deep ocean stuff) and they were awesome.

The heavy steels (PST LP 104's or the new ones) are a bear, but there's something to be said for 280 ft^3 of back gas. That's great for CAVE diving. The LP 80's don't hold quite as much gas, but they save gas because of their size. The problem with 80's for cave diving lies in gas planning. IF you are diving with a Hoover, you have to calc based on their consumption. With 104's (standard), it's generally not a problem as most folks use 104's or 112's.

Aluminum bottles are for stages, not back gas, and definately not in a cave.

Cheers,
Jamie

 

[lamont]

Just out of curiosity, why not E7-100's instead of the 80's?

Mark

I've been told the LP80s are better doubled than E7-100s because the LP80s have more steel in the back end of them which tends to trim them out better.

 

[Derek S]

Exactly.

PST E series advertises that their 80s are "nice and short." That however is not great for doubles. Longer thinner tanks are better than shorter ones, in my experience, when doubled.

The older steel LP 72s were perfect for this, for shallower deco applications (shallow = 6.5 ATAs or less).

Therefore although I agree that the PST E Series 80s are perfect as single tanks, I don't believe they would be very good as doubles, unless you are a very very short person.

Renting will help you experience several designs and decide for yourself.

My pat answer would be two sets of twin E Series 130s, and two sets of twin 72s, and three single E Series 80s. But that is just me.

Regarding din or yoke, I think you will soon be graduating completely away from yoke and exclusively onto din. You will need one yoke adapter for your din regs on non-tech boat dives. Beyond that, I am sure you will forget about yoke.

I would agree with Triton. E8-80s are waaay to short for anyone over 5ft tall IMHO. I'm actually surprised that you haven't considered the Luxfer AL80s Andy, especially considering you recently took DIR-F. They're a good "getting aquainted to doubles" tank, and you can recycle them as stage bottles once you do move up to more agressive diving.

As someone who doesn't yet relish the thought of lugging 130s around just yet (not to mention the fact that I just don't need that much gas for the dives I'm doing), AL80s seem like a great alternative. I get to practice using doubles and have gas redundancy, and can have gear I actually re-use in the future.

 

[FIXXERVI6]

I run a 300 bar manifold, and I have never heard of a 200 or 300 bar first stage, I thought they were all the same, my first stage goes into 200 or 300, and I never had to specify 200 or 300 when I purchased my DIN setup for my first stages.

 

[Jason B]

I run a 300 bar manifold, and I have never heard of a 200 or 300 bar first stage, I thought they were all the same, my first stage goes into 200 or 300, and I never had to specify 200 or 300 when I purchased my DIN setup for my first stages.

Yep, you can get a first stage with 200 bar DIN. They will not work in a 300 bar valve because they are too short. A 300 bar first stage will work in either (as you have found).

Here goes a link to a 200 bar din kit...http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/Item...Context_974/Sort_SKU/Filter_6=416/SCPDC2.html

Jason

 

[FIXXERVI6]

screwy, I wonder why they make them, if you go 300 you can work in either.

 

[Wijbrandus]

Why would you have to sell of your regs to go from yoke to DIN? I thought there was a conversion that could be done by the shop tech to make them DIN instead of yoke. Or am I getting confused about the adaptors?

Andy, let us know what you think of the doubles as you move along with them. I'm still a bit far away from that step, but I'm certainly interested in learning from your experiences.

 

[Jason B]

Why would you have to sell of your regs to go from yoke to DIN? I thought there was a conversion that could be done by the shop tech to make them DIN instead of yoke. Or am I getting confused about the adaptors?

Andy, let us know what you think of the doubles as you move along with them. I'm still a bit far away from that step, but I'm certainly interested in learning from your experiences.

Seems to be a lot of confusion in this thread.
Bottom line is, as far as your first stage is concerned...get a 300 bar DIN conversion kit for your yoke regulator first stages. This will work with a 200 or 300 bar DIN tank valve/manifold.

As far as tank valves/manifolds go, as long as your regulators first stage has a 300 bar DIN, you can use either a 200 or 300 bar DIN tank valve/manifold.

Jason

 

[H2Andy]

ok, after looking around a bunch, i am leaning towards these tanks from
Scubatoys. they are the LP 85's manufactured by Worthington:

http://scubatoys.com/store/Scuba_Tanks.asp

how do they look to you guys?

i am still on track to rent first, but it wouldn't hurt to have an idea of what i will
be buying eventually if i decide on 85's

 

[dlndavid]

They look pretty cool to me...which skin you gonna put on'm though?