Aluminum Doubles??

[Scubaru]

It's a sad world when the negative nancys keep great information from being produced... but I totally understand. I enjoy reading Rob's articles on his site. Looking forward to his Diverite mods article because it looks like a great rig. Fwiw, I love seaturtles, ninja turtles, turtle turtles... so turtle shelling sidemount isn't necessarily a con in my book. Lmao. And I'm joking about not caring about the beachballing- hence why I said I'm interested in seeing Rob's writeup for a possible fix. Still not ruling out the Recon either, as I'm reading that the SMS was more or less cloned from it and god knows how many people are diving them. The longer, narrower design might actually fit me better than most as well. Won't know til I try a few on, which is my intention soon after the holidays.

[Nitrogenius]

It just gets old trying to refer to each tank by (adjective)+pressure.

You have:
old low pressure 2250, new low pressure 2400, new low pressure with overfill to 2640, normal pressure of 3000, then of course the 3300 psi aluminums, then the E/X exemption tanks, modern high pressure at 3442, and true high pressure at 3500, and don't forget the freaking high pressure 4500 carbon fiber wrapped tanks.

When talking about strictly aluminum tanks, some call the 3300psi tanks "high pressure," whereas most would call them "mid pressure." Nowadays, we call the 3442psi tanks "high pressure" but that's not really true high pressure, which is 3500psi. So some people call the modern high pressure tanks "mid pressure" but then you need "mid pressure 1" and "mid pressure 2" to distinguish between 3442 steels and 3300 aluminums.

Then you get the arguments about LP and HP tanks being the same metal, and about the safety of 6351 alloy aluminum cylinders, and no one can agree on a proper cave fill pressure, and tanks, which should be the simplest scuba device (it's a giant piece of metal with no moving parts...), become one of the most complicated things.

That's why smart people just call them by actual tank volume.. problem solved

[phillip1]

I was told that putting weights on AL80s for trim is equivalent to setting puppies on fire... is this true?

Yes, but it depends what breed

[phillip1]

(I didn't start the thread... I just dug it up from the dead)

Phillip, I've seen and heard that you can dive just about anything.... what's your opinion on cavern diving sidemounted AL80s? Cavern, not cave. I understand wanting steel for more air cap, but in cavern, the dives will be considerably shorter due to inability to penetrate very far to begin with.

I see nothing wrong with cavern diving side mounted AL tanks, in fact every time I go to El Dudu in the cavern with my girlfriend I always use my regular cave setup (2 Aluminum tanks) if you are a cavern diver having two tanks will allow you to dive way longer (within the cavern zone of course, never exceed the cavern zone, ever) and also it is good practice anyway so why not?
If the cavern is not very big or I am only diving in the OW I usually will side mount one aluminum tank, it is far more comfortable than BM.

[Scubaru]

I see nothing wrong with cavern diving side mounted AL tanks, in fact every time I go to El Dudu in the cavern with my girlfriend I always use my regular cave setup (2 Aluminum tanks) if you are a cavern diver having two tanks will allow you to dive way longer (within the cavern zone of course, never exceed the cavern zone, ever) and also it is good practice anyway so why not?
If the cavern is not very big or I am only diving in the OW I usually will side mount one aluminum tank, it is far more comfortable than BM.

Thanks for your reply. I enjoy your videos. That Madagascar trip looked amazing. I visit a pal in Puerto Rico who took me to a few dry caves. Ever heard of or been to any wet ones there?

[phillip1]

I have not heard of any flooded caves in PR but I am sure there must be some.

[curtschu]

So if I was to Dive alm doubles no one would look at me and be like Haha wow look at that Guy what a loser!!

Oh yes they will but we all love our poor relations so its okay. I started out with AL80 doubles but it was very quickly apparent they would not do. I switch to LP 95 and only dove anything different on very rear occasion, IE: Mexico and Bahamas, and that one time a friend wanted me to try his 104s... Ugh

[FW]

I have not heard of any flooded caves in PR but I am sure there must be some.

There are, but only inside "dry" caves, they are actually sumps.

[Scubaru]

There are, but only inside "dry" caves, they are actually sumps.

Figured. I toured quite a few locally known caves and did some spelunking while there, but for the most part only saw quick-moving water while in most of them, and of course the tunnels/pits that all of the locals swear are bottomless that I always seem to be without rope or repelling gear when vacationing, lol. All I could think of (admittedly corny) was a Sanctum-ish shafted to a gorgeous dive below... ha.

[DA Aquamaster]

That's why smart people just call them by actual tank volume.. problem solved

I guess it depends how you define "volume".

Faber LP 95s could be:

1. 15 liter tanks (volume at 1 bar/ATM);
2. 86 cu ft tanks (filled to the 2400 psi service pressure);
3. 95 cu ft tanks (filled to the 2640 psi "+" rated pressure); or
4. 129 cu ft tanks (at a cave filled 3600 psi).

Around cave country, if I call them "Faber 95s" everyone I now knows exactly how much gas I'm talking about.