Actual experiences asking boat operators to provide larger or multiple cylinders

[2airishuman]

In the "Air Hog Etiquette" thread, there was some discussion of various alternatives for bringing more air on a dive. It is my experience that commercial dive operators are generally unable or reluctant to accommodate divers who use air at a faster rate, and I would like to understand if this is broadly the case or just a problem with the operators I'm using.

Please post your own experiences, particularly:

• Outcome of asking an operator to provide a larger cylinder.
• Outcome of asking an operator to provide a stage cylinder for the purpose of extending your dive time.
• Similarly, the outcome of asking an operator to permit you to utilize a stage cylinder you have furnished yourself to extend the dive.
• Outcome of asking an operator to provide two cylinders for each dive (or three cylinders for two dives) so that you may dive them as independent doubles (regardless of whether carried in sidemount or backmount).

Please limit your comments to commercial operators providing recreational diving from a boat.

Things you may wish to include in the "outcome" of these things:

• Whether the operator was ultimately able to fulfill the request.
• Whether there was an additional charge.
• Whether there were delays or inconveniences as a result of the request.
• The amount of additional air that was actually provided after adjusting for any short fills
• Whether there were any limitations on gas blend, e.g. air only, nitrox only
• Whether there were any limitations on regulator type specific to the larger cylinders e.g. DIN only or yoke only
• The extent to which the boat was able to accommodate the larger/extra cylinders in the cylinder racks.

 

[Wookie]

It's pretty much universal. Some are more willing than others, namely those who still think they are a taxi service and make no attempt to be the scuba police. But for those who understand that they may be sitting in the dock testifying (but why did you provide a cylinder that allowed the deceased to stay far longer than his NDL limits, Captain?) then they tend to strongly support the aluminum 80 rental cylinder, and cross their arms and say "If you were a better diver, you could stay longer" or something similar.

I'm not trying to be a turd, but that's really how it is.

Now, to specifically answer your questions:
Spree did not provide any cylinder other than aluminum 80's.
Spree did allow you to bring your own single cylinder and a pony. Use of the pony to extend your dive was not allowed.
We did not charge for nitrox or air fills, so we still didn't charge for nitrox or air fills.
The excuse we used (which was true) was that if everyone dove a steel 120, we'd never get the fills done.
We prided ourselves on full (3000 PSI when cool) fills.
We did not specify a regulator or any dive equipment except for rebreathers. Wanna go monkey diving, we were there for you.
We had adjustable cylinder racks. Any tank would fit.

 

[Jayfarmlaw]

I like my air. I also like the idea of having additional air in case of emergencies or other divers needing it. When diving Cozumel, our preferred op uses steel hp120 tanks, air or Nitrox, that are always 3500-ish fills. After 80-90 minutes, I'm done anyway. When diving other ops, I have usually been able to get al100's for $4 to $10 more per tank. Those were always available for the asking with no drama whatsoever. This op did take 40cf pony for a diver that blew through a steel 120 in record time. They will also put a diver on the DM's hose to extend the dive for everyone as well.

In Roatan, I dove an al100 Nitrox. I reserved that tank in advance and I don't believe there was an upcharge other than the Nitrox charge.

In Belize, they had Al100's available but the $10 charge for the bigger tank plus the $10 charge for Nitrox was more than I wanted to pay. I just dove Nitrox with an AL80.

The larger tanks usually require being tied off with a bungee if the tank rack is not set up for larger tanks, but it's not that big of a deal. I've never had an issue with the larger tanks.

I reached the point that I can stretch an 80 as long as most divers, and bought a 5 foot hose for my wife's Octo(she uses no air) if I need to get on her hose at 800-1000psi.

Larger cylinders have always been an option with the operators we have dove with. No drama involved other than requesting in advance, but I do that anyway. In fact, the operators we have dove with have shown exceptional flexibility and a willingness to accommodate any reasonable request, especially after you have shown that you are a reasonably skilled diver.

Jay

 

[runsongas]

palau aggressor will provide an al100 if requested (small charge). air or nitrox. convertible valve.

emperor divers provided SM al80s after request in advance (relatively small charge). air, nitrox, and trimix if requested in advance/certified for it. convertible valve.

truth aquatics was fine with me slinging an al30.

the smaller operators i used in fiji / komodo did not have any tanks other than al80s. probably would not have objected if i decided to bring the al30 halfway around the world.

my experience has been like jayfarmlaw that most are relatively accommodating if they are able.

 

[Steve_C]

My main shop in NC, Aquatic Safaris rents AL80, AL100 AL 120 and HP 100. They also rent tech gear I believe like doubles. I believe some of the other dive ops will rent larger tanks. In all cases you need to book tanks ahead of time.

 

[2airishuman]

Spree did not provide any cylinder other than aluminum 80's.
Spree did allow you to bring your own single cylinder and a pony. Use of the pony to extend your dive was not allowed.

Just to clarify, divers got only one AL80 per dive, right? I seem to recall that from one of your earlier posts. In other words, no independent doubles and no sidemount.

We prided ourselves on full (3000 PSI when cool) fills.

Did you provide HP fills for those divers who brought their own HP cylinder?

truth aquatics was fine with me slinging an al30.

Just to clarify, were you permitted to use it to extend your dive, or was it for emergency use only?

 

[runsongas]

"emergency"

 

[Wookie]

Yes, no doubles. You could sidemount if you wanted, but not with another cylinder. Yes, we filled usually 300 PSI over the pressure stamped on the shoulder.

 

[KeithG]

Both of the Caribbean LOBs we use have a few (2ish) bigger cylinders that can be prebooked. Using the bigger cylinder does not change any of their other rules / limits on a dive.

 

[diversteve]

Actual experiences - larger cylinders only.

Turks/Caicos Explorer has about 8 AL100's on the boat - first come....

Coconut Tree Divers in Roatan borrowed 100's for the week from another shop for us after our first day of diving with them. About 4 of us - didn't even ask for them. Judging by the letters written on the tank - they got them from Sueno Del Mar.

I'm pretty sure Maui Dive Shop provided a 100 on the boat when I asked. I'm pretty sure Lahaina Divers didn't - but their standard tank is a 72.

I probably got one with Express Watersports in Myrtle Beach once as we were diving deeper wrecks - the other days just an 80. I remember the 100 not fitting into the boat tank holder.

IIRC Toucan Diving on Bonaire got me a 100 for boat dives but their standard shore dive tanks for the week were 80's

DiveBVI offered 100's IIRC but a lot of BVI divng is well under 100;.

IIRC I've never paid more for one. Probably because we did multiple dives with most of them.