al double 80's , pst 104's ?

[WreckWriter]

same as Lucid, maybe a bit less since I had to "trim" my V-weight to make it fit.

With a full 3mm and hooded vest I wear about 4 (V-weight cut in half).

WW

 

[O-ring]

Drysuit - I have an SS bp and a 5-6# v-weight for my AL80 doubles in a drysuit with 300 wt polartec undergarments. With my steel 72s I just leave the v-weight off. I am a tad overweighted when I carry my light with the 72s, but nothing unmanageable and I leave the v-weight off of the AL80s when I carry the light. Wetsuit - In a wetsuit, I wear no weights with the AL80s. In AL80 singles, I wear a 2# weightbelt with an SS bp. For reference, I am 5'10" and about 160#.

But, I think for me diving dry with lots of insulations all the time would make double 80s a less than viable solution since I'll be stuck carry a ton of weight on weight on belt, correct?.

That depends. You need about 6# or so to account for the swing in the 80s. You shouldn't need any more unless you need more weight than the SS BP to get you down. My solution, since I hate weightbelts, is to use a v-weight to counter the 80s. However, if you need 26# to get down, you would only be getting 6 for the bp, 6-11 for a v-weight, and you would still need more weight. In this case, steels may work well since they will at least let you drop the 6# needed for the AL80s swing and will be more negative. You may be overweighted at the start of the dive though...depends on the tanks and how much gas they hold (and as we learned, what type of gas it is).

My beef with the "water heater" tanks is that I can't imagine lugging those SOBs up the ladder in 6' seas. I don't do any dives that need that kind of gas and prefer to sling a 40 over lugging around mammoth tanks that I may only need a couple times a year. That being said, I don't do caves (yet ) and I am not doing anything that's insanely deep (yet ).

 

[MASS-Diver]

runvus4, thanks for the information it is very helpful.

To be honest, one of the main reasons I'm considering double 120s over lp104 is that I already have a single 120hp so I can save some cash by just buying one more, and, also, my LDS doesn't carry LP tanks (probably because most of their customers dive wet) and I'm hesisatant to buy a tank elsewhere and then go to them for for fills since I already have bought almost all my other gear online. But, I am espicially concerned at how heavy those 120s are out of the water. I think if I get them I'll have to start walking up and down hills with them so I can be confident I'll be able to get up the dive ladder in seas after along dive.

Lucuid, 12lbs dry huh? Well, I see you in FL, what are you guys diving naked under shell suits? The water 35deg here right now and I'm tall and thin so I've got lots and lots of insualtion on.

 

[Genesis]

with a single AL80. Of course 5 of that is for the tank.....

Wet (3 mil) I dive with 6lbs; same rig other than the suit change. Another 4-6 for a 3 mil hooded vest under the 3 mil.

 

[lucid]

I use a Polartech 200 jumpsuit. Maybe that is where the difference is. I have never used anything else under my drysuit so I cant compair. Use 'to much weight' as an excuse to move somewhere warmer ;P

 

[MASS-Diver]

Ya I could see the combo of being properly weighted, being an experinced diver, and the 200 pol resulting in 12lbs, that's still pretty good though.

Isn't it enough that you guys have crystal clear water and don't have wear gloves, you get to wear so much less weight too.....Well, I guess the only conslation prize we get up North is not having a million tourists on every boat.

 

[runvus4]

PST LP120s are 50lbs each out of water, so with all the rest of the gear you wear, that's a considerable kit to sling out of the water up a boat ladder on your back, but if that is a problem, some peope do remove and hand up the tanks/bp/wings from the water to someone on the boat and climb up the ladder relatively unencumbered.

If you local dive shop works with HP tanks normally and you regularly dive with other people who use HP tanks, than that sounds like a good way to go. Gear compatability/familiarity of your gear with whomever gives you support services and your pool of buddies is a great thing to have.