Aluminum 80 fix?!?

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Doby45

Do I have something in my teeth?
Scuba Instructor
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Location
Acworth, GA
I have a plan. (scary huh)

I have about 9.8 metric tons of lead in the form of wheel weights. (I use it to cast boolits)

My plan is to take and melt 4.5lb of lead into a 7" round silicone type cake pan. This will form me a nice flat 4.5lb disc of lead.

Then I will take and put that disc in the bottom of my aluminum 80 tank boot. This will effectively make the tanks neutral at 0psi and just a tad negative at 500psi. In side mount they will more or less behave as steels. If these work as planned I intend to make a bunch of them and maybe even tweak the weight a bit. Even better is you would not even know there is weight on the tank other than the added weight on land.
 
I will also post pics and such when I get it done. woot woot
 
So.... Dont let me pop your bubble - but what is the difference between what you are doing and wait for it... Adding 4.5lbs of lead to your weight belt? :)

Not sure this is a fix or a let me try this...
 
The weight belt does nothing for tanks floating in the rear. Which is a main concern of AL80s in sidemount.

*checks* Yup, we are in the sidemount forum.
 
*checks* Yup, we are in the sidemount forum.

Duh... My bad - carry on... lol at myself.

On a different note - I noticed the same thing with Steel 72's but I am not sure I would use lead in the boots - I would work on the slide points that attach - I used an SMS 75. Let us know what you find.
 
That would also have you carrying around an extra 9lb on your belt even when out of the water. I would rather have that weight on the tank and not a part of my personal weight.
 
I have a plan. (scary huh)

I have about 9.8 metric tons of lead in the form of wheel weights. (I use it to cast boolits)

My plan is to take and melt 4.5lb of lead into a 7" round silicone type cake pan. This will form me a nice flat 4.5lb disc of lead.

Then I will take and put that disc in the bottom of my aluminum 80 tank boot. This will effectively make the tanks neutral at 0psi and just a tad negative at 500psi. In side mount they will more or less behave as steels. If these work as planned I intend to make a bunch of them and maybe even tweak the weight a bit. Even better is you would not even know there is weight on the tank other than the added weight on land.
I don't know if they are still available or not, but you used to be able to purchase commercially tank weights to put in the boot, exactly what you are talking about. This was, I believe, pre-sidemount, so it never really caught on.
 
How will that chunk of lead feel when you have to unclip one or both tanks and swim with them extended in front of you?
 
Like this
7.25
 
I don't know if they are still available or not, but you used to be able to purchase commercially tank weights to put in the boot, exactly what you are talking about. This was, I believe, pre-sidemount, so it never really caught on.
I remember seeing those. I don't recall hearing of them since around 2008. They didn't seem to catch on.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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