Tanks?

[rstofer]

You just can't justify tanks, financially... Around here, the difference in cost between renting a tank full of air and paying for an air fill is about $3. A new HP 100 costs about $360 including tax and to be useful, I need at least 2 per diver (4 of us!). So we're looking at $720/$6 (for a pair) or about $120 dive days to pay back. That's kind of a long time at 5 or 6 days per year.

Yes, Al 80s pay back in about 50 to 60 dives... That would be about 10 years, give or take.

You can't justify them on the basis of convenience because it still takes 2 trips to the shop to get them filled (unless you wait around and then you get them hot).

When we're staying out of town for a two day trip, we can only use my tanks for the first day because I won't have them filled just anywhere. They are O2 cleaned and I want them to stay that way. So, we wind up renting tanks anyway. Might just as well rent them all...

The only possible way to justify buying tanks is the convenience of taking them out of the garage and loading them in the SUV. Diving at a moment's notice. And that's why we have 14 tanks of various sizes.

Richard

 

[cloudswinger]

You can almost justify tanks if they are bought used. I think ours(AL80s) were about $50 bucks each. Convenience is another story. I'm not so sure they're all that more convenient, because you do have to plan to have them filled before your dives, or after your last dive or sometime in between. And then there's the yearly viz, and then the hydro every 5 years. So if you're only going 5 times, and the viz is about 20, that's an additional cost of about 4 bucks per dive. Try to go once a month. That'll make at least 12 dives in a year.

 

[Scubant]

I too rent Tanks for every dive. I dove 25 times this year so far, but now I am thinking of going TEC and full setup of my own will make sense to me. Tank pickup has been a great way to get to know my LDS. I plan 25+ dives next year too so after 2 years of diving, this cost is one of the last considered after receiving my Advanced Cert. because so much other gear was more important to me to get. Rent because you didn't mention if you are Nitrox cerified yet, which are different costs associated with it. Happy Diving!!!!!

 

[Davidstealey3]

this is what i am finding funny.

you bought your own tanks to have them filled so you can go diving when you want and the shops hours dont fit into your sechudle.

so you go out and do the diving you wanted to do for the day, but you still have to go by a shop and get the tanks filled again for the next dive outing. unless you have a compressor at home then dont mind me and this post.

so one way or another you still have to go by a dive shop to either
1 rent a tank or two to go diving or
2 go by a shop and get your tanks filled when you are done diving.

so anyway you look at it your sechudle and the hours the shop are open have to coinside somewhere to rent or get fills.

i would say rent the tanks. they are probally the cheepest thing to rent on any given day, and you can have all the tanks you want, but if you dont have any other gear to dive with they serve no purpose

 

[Web Monkey]

this is what i am finding funny.

you bought your own tanks to have them filled so you can go diving when you want and the shops hours dont fit into your sechudle.

The difference is that if you own your own tanks, you can dive when you want and drop them off for a fill whenever you're near the shop.

I own four full-size tanks, which means that at any given time, two are usually at the shop and two are in my garage. When I drop off the empties, I pick up the full tanks.

Yes, I still need to go to the shop. The difference is that's on my schedule, not theirs.

Terry

 

[Davidstealey3]

The difference is that if you own your own tanks, you can dive when you want and drop them off for a fill whenever you're near the shop.

I own four full-size tanks, which means that at any given time, two are usually at the shop and two are in my garage. When I drop off the empties, I pick up the full tanks.

Yes, I still need to go to the shop. The difference is that's on my schedule, not theirs.

Terry

read all of my post terry

the point of it was to point out you still have to go by the shop. even if it is at YOUR convience, you still have to go. and that was the point i was making.

it is not a comment on how many tanks you own or how many you leave at the shop. you still have to go to the shop at some point.

and this was a response to a post in the first page. the guy said he bought his because he went at his convience. reguardless of you going at your convience, you still have to go.

so how going at your convience can justfy buying tanks or not, if you want to go diving, and only go a couple times a year, you still end up at a shop. if you want to dive that bad you will make the time to show up at the shop to rent gear or get air fills. weather it is a tues or a friday you are there, and you made the time to go

 

[muddiver]

this is what i am finding funny.

you bought your own tanks to have them filled so you can go diving when you want and the shops hours dont fit into your sechudle.

so you go out and do the diving you wanted to do for the day, but you still have to go by a shop and get the tanks filled again for the next dive outing. unless you have a compressor at home then dont mind me and this post.

so one way or another you still have to go by a dive shop to either
1 rent a tank or two to go diving or
2 go by a shop and get your tanks filled when you are done diving.

so anyway you look at it your sechudle and the hours the shop are open have to coinside somewhere to rent or get fills.

i would say rent the tanks. they are probally the cheepest thing to rent on any given day, and you can have all the tanks you want, but if you dont have any other gear to dive with they serve no purpose

The difference is that, not unlike renting a DVD, you still have to return the cylinder after you dive or you will continue to incur the daily rental cost. If you own the cylinder than you dive when you want, drop it off for a fill when you want and there is no additional rental fee for bringing it back to the shop the following weekend.

 

[Web Monkey]

so how going at your convience can justfy buying tanks or not, if you want to go diving, and only go a couple times a year, you still end up at a shop. if you want to dive that bad you will make the time to show up at the shop to rent gear or get air fills. weather it is a tues or a friday you are there, and you made the time to go

Because if you don't own your own tanks, if you wake up on Sunday and feel like a dive, you're out of luck. Same thing if you come home after work on a beautiful summer day and feel like a dive. No tanks? No diving.

Also owning your own tanks means you'll probably get to do a lot more than a "couple of dives a year"

Terry

 

[dseiden]

Personally I am going to wait to buy tanks (unless I find a really good used deal). Since I am still a relatively new diver, I would rather spend my money on more personal items, such as BCD or regs or a computer.

I see where it would be easier for you to have filled tanks on hand, that way when you get the urge to dive you do not have to worry about running to the shop to rent a tank, or when you finish a dive running there to return it and hope you get there in time to not get charged for another day. But unless you own everything else in your rig, then you will probably still have to rent something, right? And the tank is one of the lesser costs of renting, at least at my LDS it is.

So I guess in a nutshell, I would rent for a while, especially if you only plan on diving 5 times a year.

 

[NAM001]

angelsnewatdiving

there is a lot to look at . are you planning to dive regularily? are you going to salt water dive?
how much weight do you use? are you going to fla to dive? how heavy is the gear you are using now?

i bought 2 faber 95lp steel tanks and later a faber 120lp. why. steel i only use 4 lbs of weight belt instead of 10 with an aluminum. fla gives me no crap about no eddy current test or thier visual inspection. unless i go an a cruise i use my own tanks. most dive shops will fill me to 3000 even if they arre 2640# tanks. that gives me 108 cu ft first one in and last one out lot s of dive time. being female you may want to looka t 85 cu ft. nothing sexist there. the 8f5 is a smaller tank with out the + rating it is compatable with the aluminum. you use less air than guys do and as such dont need to take 100 down just to bring 40 up when they are out of air. you may be able to use a 65. i use lp tanks because anyone can fill them. the hp tanks 3440 # will not get a full fill. is you go the aluminum path then find out what tanks are most popular catalina or luxfer. if you dont know then get a good ballasting done and then always rent the same tank where ever you go. there is a lot of catalilna out there. the bad aluminum tanks were luxfer. as such i would not get a luxfer because you dont know the reaction of the shop when they see one. you may have to pay 50.00 or so to have them vis it before they will fill it not to mention the eddy test. money grubbers love the al tanks.....

i would ait to get your own till you get enough dives to know what works best for you and your buddy. dive long enough to get a reliable sar and decide the tank size that is right for you. i would make my prioities the reg computer wetsuit. with that you will know your own gear and bouyancy should be a snap since the only variation is the tank. just always use the same tank ie catalina s80 .