Just curious how tall people can be and still enjoy using doubled hp steel 80s. My girlfriend has only dove doubled aluminum 80s in the tropics and let me just say its a lot of weight for her. We are probably moving back to the US soon where drysuits will be the norm. I already have some doubled 100s there for myself but I'm sure she would have a hard time carrying the same. She is about 5 ft 5 inches and has an average build. Would anyone out there recommend hp steel 80s as a viable option, or would they be too short and flip her head down? How tall have people been and still been able to enjoy them. We have also looked at other options like the low pressure steel 72s which are awesome but have a slightly lower capacity than we want. I haven't seen any other options with the same capacity, low weight, and negative buoyancy. Any other ideas would be welcome though. Thanks in advance for any help!
Advice for small doubles
- Thread starter GForceV
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ajduplessis
Contributor
I don't know the "funny" sized tanks used in the US (i'm a metrics guys, litres, meters etc). I think the most important consideration is weight. You will have to get the various tanks information and base your choice on that. I'm assuming that the HP steel 80 are the short (bomb, Shorty) size tank? If this is the case they make very bad doubles due to diameter and more importantly, most of the weight is on your shoulders (top heavy). I believe that lp steel tanks in most cases are the lightest. The 80's (i think are 10 litres) in lp could be your best option. I am sure someone with correct me if this is not the case.
Hope you find a suitable solution, doubles are heavy.
Hope you find a suitable solution, doubles are heavy.
Are you and the GF doing cave dives? Tech dives?
Cheers,
X
Cheers,
X
Not sure what the metric measurement is but its the same as the basic aluminum in volume. They are super short. Neither of us are cave divers but we both have advanced nitrox, deco, and advanced wreck. I don't expect the hp steel 80s to work well as they are so short but just wondering if anyone out there has done that and if it worked for them and if so how tall they were. I believe that as singles they are 27 pounds (about 12.5 kg) and around 20 inches tall or about 50cm.
Just trying to understand the context of the diving that you and the GF do with regards to equipment config/usage. For me - my dives involved mixed gas, deep or penetration where doubles sometimes became cumbersome with regards to carrying bailout/stage/deco bottles.
I've seen smaller women, shorter than 5' 5" (5'2"-3") using the 80 cu3 HP tank with degrees of success. The PST HP twins were surprisingly light and compact, though for someone in the mid 5 foot range perhaps a tad too short? 20" inches seems about right for length, but these PST (Pressed Steel Tanks) were from the late 90's. I imagine the latest iteration by other manf's. (Worthington etc) would be using roughly the same form factor?
The LP tanks versions of the 80 (steel) Faber/ PST seemed heavier and longer. Didn't see too many of those in cave country, or on the NE US wreck scene. Didn't see many twinned AL 80's either.
X
I'm 5'4"/120lbs, and I can't dive the HP80s comfortably, but I'm very happy in LP85s. They're enough gas for dives in the shallow technical range (150) although I tend to use our HP100s (which weigh just about the same amount) for those dives.
Scared Silly
Contributor
While my wife has dived taller cylinders she has a set of lp66 doubled up. They are a bit taller than HP80s. Another option is to find a nice set of LP72s.
They suck and push everyone head down. It's possible to compensate, but that almost universally results in dropped knees. So while the occasional special person can make them work well, its so rare that I wouldn't waste your money trying.
al80s, lp85s, hp100s, or lp77s are all much better choices in the "small doubles" size range.
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