Anyone diving the Quick Draw Twins setup for doubles??..If so,

[scubafanatic]

I actually bought and dove that 'system' a few years ago for my 1st Bonaire trip....it actually works fine, assuming you half way know what you're doing....meaning SPG's for both tanks, remembering to switch back and forth between tanks (gas balancing). Other options are dive a single back mounted tank and 'sling' a 2nd tank (techie style) or go sidemount. Sidemount didn't exist back then when I did this Bonaire trip, so I thought I'd like the independent singles (back mounted) better than slinging a second tank as I was used to manifolded doubles. That being said, I never used my 'independent doubles' set up again....and actually, I abandoned using this system on my very first day in Bonaire and switched my BC back to just diving single AL80's. Shore diving doubles in Bonaire was just too much work....rough entries/exits, plus, to save weight, I'd decided to go with dual AL 63's instead of dual AL 80's, but even then they were pretty heavy, also, there seemed to be a shortage of AL 63's such that it was rapidly becoming a pain in the butt keeping myself supplied with AL 63's......so I gave it up and just went back to single AL 80's like everyone else...a noble experiment that didn't work out in practice....remember, before you 'go' to independent singles, you need to think hard about all the logistics !

 

[carrielsal]

If you want to dive independent doubles, why don't you go sidemount?

 

[Meng_Tze]

I actually bought and dove that 'system' a few years ago for my 1st Bonaire trip..... Sidemount didn't exist back then when I did this Bonaire trip

I think I know a few guys who has been doing this sidemount thing for years, since maybe the early 70's.

 

[DaleC]

If you want to dive independent doubles, why don't you go sidemount?

Why? Why can't someone just dive the set up they want without someone telling them to dive another system? Why not dive RB instead of OC. In OW conditions, what advantage do manifolded doubles have over independants and what advantage do side mounts have either?

All of this is just flavour of the month stuff. Sidemounting is becoming popular because it is used in caving (and caving is cool now) so it becomes the prefered method even when it isn't used in the conditions it was designed for. I've dived sidemount and I dive independant doubles so I would really like to know what the hub bub is about.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

All of this is just flavour of the month stuff. Sidemounting is becoming popular because it is used in caving (and caving is cool now) so it becomes the prefered method even when it isn't used in the conditions it was designed for. I've dived sidemount and I dive independant doubles so I would really like to know what the hub bub is about.

That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

If you check really old posts, you'll find some of the same people who used to bash independent doubles from a gas management perspective are now diving sidemount - and some of them have some interesting and uneccesarily complex views on gas management with independent tanks.

 

[DaleC]

Yep.

I think I understand the origins of the bias against independant doubles and know it has nothing to do with diving them OW.

Initially penetration divers needing double tanks chose independant doubles over single outlet manifolded doubles because of the redundancy they offered over the non isolating manifold. Or, they mounted a pony/bailout bottle between the two nonisolating manifolded doubles.

Then (or there about) the isolation manifold was introduced.

Soon, divers began doing pentrations so deep that they were restricted by the amount of gas one could physically carry.

With proper gas planning independant doubles required more reserve air than manifolded doubles and, with gas volume being the limiting factor, manifolded doubles with an isolator started becoming the rig of choice for deep penetration dives.

Sidemounting was/is a tradeoff of gas volume for manouverability. Divers doing deep dives without restriction could go deeper using manifolded doubles. Divers using sidemount could go through tighter restrictions but not as deep.

So the technical community has a bias against independant doubles because both sidemount and manifolded doubles serve deep pentration dives better.

The question is whether that bias has any relevance in the OW setting.
For me, the answer is no. It is a borrowed bias from conditions that do not exist there.

Gas volume is not the limiting factor in normal OW diving.
Tight restrictions are not a limiting factor in normal OW diving.

Manifolded doubles, independant doubles, sidemounted independant doubles, single tank/pony combinations all have their place in OW diving. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages, a setting where they are preferred and a setting where they fall short.

Saying that one, or some, are better, irregardless of the setting is simply dogmatic and does not reflect reality.

 

[ssturges]

When you say independent doubles, are you talking complete, with reg., octo, & console? If so where do you put all the extra hoses?

Total independent for me, A wireless transmiter on each tank with a gas switching computer. Maintain a reserve in both tanks. SDI training says you can dump the octo but I still keep one on by pimary reg so I can quickly jump back to singles if required. 7' hose on the primary also. Basically my Tech setup without the manifold.

 

[scubafanatic]

I think I know a few guys who has been doing this sidemount thing for years, since maybe the early 70's.

...that may well be the case, but when I did my 1st Bonaire trip in 2004, I'd never heard of sidemount, and I'm fairly up to speed on scuba gear and configurations, so back then it was a very obscure 'techie/niche' thing, and nowhere near as moderately mainstream as it is now. Even today, in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, I only know of ONE shop that 'pushes' (or even mentions 'sidemount'), and this shop is very tech oriented whose owners are seriously hardcore cave/deep divers who do dives lightyears beyond anything any recreational diver would even conceive of.