Aluminium in Europe

[BarryNL]

Any Euro divers out there using aluminium tanks? I'm looking to get myself a set of doubles but I find steel are far too heavy - even with them virtually empty and no extra weighting I still sink like a stone in steel doubles and need to trim constantly at shallower depths.

So, anyone got experience of buying/maintaining aluminium in Europe (Netherlands esp.) - is it hassle or is it worth it?

 

[grazie42]

Luxfer does make ped-certified aluminium tanks (largest being 12s). There is something of a "tradition" of getting regular aluminiums (dot-approved) and just going about your everyday diving life (at least here). It is usually possible (depending on who you know) to get even ped-uncompliant tanks pressure tested but there are no guarantees (and no papers when you do, except a reciept). I shudder at the amount of lead you´ll need in a set of near-empty double-alu 12´s....

Maybe you are different (bouyancy wise) but most people here use double 12s which are a pretty slick set...I´d go for double 12´s (steel) or at least give them a few dives to see if you see improvement...I personally dive faber 15s without weights and though I´m negative at the start of a dive, I´ll be near neutral in the shallows with little inflation at the end of it...

ymmv

 

[BarryNL]

Maybe you are different (bouyancy wise) but most people here use double 12s which are a pretty slick set...I´d go for double 12´s (steel) or at least give them a few dives to see if you see improvement...I personally dive faber 15s without weights and though I´m negative at the start of a dive, I´ll be near neutral in the shallows with little inflation at the end of it...
ymmv

Actually, going to 15s might be another solution - I believe they only weigh a couple of kilos extra each but displace more than 3kg extra of water so are in fact less negative. Maybe that plus an aluminium backplate instead of steel.

 

[grazie42]

I like mine...they are 36kgs empty though so not as easy to haul around as 12s (on land)...I bought a handcart for about 15€ for that though so its not a problem...I also like that I can do 4 recdives on one fill and last weekend I did a 80minute dive (35 @ 35m), all on BG and still had ½ a tank left...

The real reason I bought mine are that my regular buddy uses a 15l in the time i use a 12l so for techdiving it made sense to me...

 

[Leadking]

error

Started to respond and saw the location was Europe-it voided my response.

 

[pescador775]

error

Well, that blows. When did you start making errors??

 

[mania]

COming back to tanks. I use Faber steel 12 liters - each one empy weights 11,5 kilos - which is less than aluminium tank!!!!
Aluminium tanks are heavier than good steel ones. And remember - they have positive buoyancy at the end of the dive.
So I would reccomend Faber light ones - they vary from 11,5 kilos each to 12,5kilos...
And of course switching to the aluminium plate - if you are using still one it will be 3 kilos less.
And 12 liters doubles is enough for most of the dives...

Mania