Articles/advice on diving doubles

[scubastingray]

Hey guys,
I'm getting cabin fever from this cold keeping me out of the water. I know I want to get into wreck diving, diving up north in cold water (not sure about ice dives), and cave diving and decided doubles was the way to go for redundancy. I've been looking at craigslist ads for a few months, and finally saw a set of doubles I like, LP 120s for $400. With that in mind, I'm hoping to spend some time doing really easy OW dives getting used to this new setup.

I already took advantage of the wing sale that Dive Addicts has. and ordered a 60lb Hollis Donut. Josh suggested this size for the 120s, and I think it'll be a fantastic wing.

My single tank reg setup is a hollis dc3 212 combo, and I'm loving it. I figured a wing doesn't need much service (so no parts kits to be kept from me), so hollis was a great brand. It definitely looks like a high quality wing, and I'm working out the rest of the setup now.

Having said all of that, I'm pretty set on Hog D1 cold water regs for the first stages with the long hose and short hose combo. The availability of parts kits is huge to me, as I'm a mechanic at heart (studied mech e). I've always heard that if you can rebuild a carb then you can rebuild a reg without issue and I've rebuilt my fair share of carbs.

I know there are doubles diving specialties offered, and while I wasn't planning on doing one, I was wondering what supplemental reading or advice you guys had on diving doubles. I'm very much a dive right in type (literally), and think the padi cert phenomenon is a bit ridiculous. I plan on hopefully getting 10 or so dives in OW conditions in the next month, and was wondering if you guys had any particular advice, or articles you think are worth reading in regards to doubles. Hopefully I can hook up with someone from the GLWC in getting some mentorship, but want to start before then.

Any particular equipment configs you guys would suggest as well?

 

[Doc Harry]

Maintaining your own gear is good

...articles...
For the most part, you cannot learn to dive doubles by reading, you have to put the tanks on your back and repeatedly go underwater.
LP120s will take some getting used to, trying to keep your face out of the mud

You can practice valve drills and regulator switching while sitting in your living room with the tanks on your back, but it's not the same as being prone in the water in a drysuit with gloves and trying to do the same thing.

...equipment configs...
You should be a drysuit with LP 120s.

 

[theskull]

Just ask any local skilled doubles diver to go do some easy dives with you. You will need a little coaching on hose routing and valve drills, and some help getting the weight and trim right. Then do the same again once you switch to Sidemount! ;-)

theskull

 

[Agility]

make sure you are not overweighted when changing to doubles and try them in water you can stand in to begin with if you do not want to pay an instructor for helping you setting them up. You might need to move your weights up or down a bit before getting into trim, a buddy with a camera can be a great help with this.

 

[scubastingray]

Thanks for the tips guys!
Drysuit is the plan with this, which I know will throw a wrench in the learning curve.

As I mentioned, I love self learning/experimentation and will spend a week or so playing with them in very easy sites. Hopefully I can hook up with someone from GLWC to get some advice & mentorship.

Weighting is also something I've been thinking about a lot, as with a 2mm full suit 2mm shorty with an AL80 I need about 4 lbs of lead. I've burned some fat since then and built a bit of muscle, so I doubt I'll need too much weight. I'll bring down some extra weight near the water and play around the first few dives.