Best small sidemount tanks, roughly ’AL63/80 + redundancy’, non-cave fill

[kensuf]

If I'm assisting, I'd want to limit my encumbrance while supervising my singles backmount students. We usually need refills between dives, yet I usually use only 35-40 cu.ft. It's likely I can do two dives on two LP50s, certainly with three, and we have all those AL63/80s. So the worst two dive cost would be three fills not four.

You need to rethink some things. When you're supervising students or guiding divers you need to be bringing substantially more air than you need for yourself. Your responsibility is to them, you need to have enough air for them. Period.

This is how it works: They get fresh tanks, you get fresh tanks. You don't play the "well, my SAC rate is really good, I can make due with only 1000 psi in this cylinder" game. That kind of laziness has no business in the dive industry.

 

[MichaelMc]

True, I want gas in case they have an emergency, two dives per LP50 pair pushes that. Though I was allocating two reserves in that calculation, but only barely, so not good; hence the thinking of three tanks per two dives. But everyone full is better. I currently shadow in a 63, they're a beyond AOW buddy team, and we're in 30' of water with at most kelp above us.

 

[kensuf]

Yeah no one ever got entangled in kelp.