Buy or rent tanks??

[Lizard Leg]

LDS right now is being cool about it - it seems as if down here, warm water and all, AL80's are the norm. I am picking up 9 tanks Thursday afternoon, returnign on Monday after work and they are only charging me for 1 day. Hope that kind of deal lasts!

I think I have heard this but can't remember. If I can do 60 minutes off of an AL80 at an average depth of 35', what kind of time am I looking at with a HP120?

 

[j2s]

Don't just consider AL80's....There are a lot of good deals on steel tanks....And you have greater options on capacity.....One nice thing about owning, is as you use the same tank(s) regularly you'll know exactly what your weight/trim will be.....And many LDS's use 'fill cards'....A free fill for every so many fills......And if you have identical tanks, there's always the potential to make doubles !!!!......You never know ;O !!!!!

 

[DA Aquamaster]

LDS right now is being cool about it - it seems as if down here, warm water and all, AL80's are the norm. I am picking up 9 tanks Thursday afternoon, returnign on Monday after work and they are only charging me for 1 day. Hope that kind of deal lasts!

I think I have heard this but can't remember. If I can do 60 minutes off of an AL80 at an average depth of 35', what kind of time am I looking at with a HP120?

120 cu ft is 150% of 80 cu ft, so you can expect 90 minutes (150% of 60 min). Calculating that ratio is a lot less work than figuring the cost of tank ownership.

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Convenience is the major driving force for tank ownership, in terms of having the tank you want, when you want it and not having to return it on the shop's schedule.

Eventually you end up with about 25 tanks for various purposes and for all the divers in the family, you get certed to do your own VIPs, you get nitrox and trimix blending certs, then you buy a compressor because the shop is not open when you need it to be, is too far away or is owned by someone who knows nothing about diving.

So just buy a bunch of tanks and a compressor and get it over with.

 

[TSandM]

So just buy a bunch of tanks and a compressor and get it over with

There is WAY too much truth to this . . . says Lynne, regarding her 30+ tanks, her husband with the VIP/gas blending cert, her 19 regs, all HOG so she can work on them herself, and the entire downstairs kitchen full of tools to work on dive gear. No compressor yet, but I know it's coming.

 

[Lizard Leg]

Let's see - 10 days in the keys for 3 people end of June, all getting OW and the rest of the week diving. 3 complete gear setups. 3 trips so far (about 10-12 hours round trip) for shore diving, with at least one more planned next month. Another 9 days booked in the Keys for AOW and a week of diving for our anniversary beginning of Oct. Dive lights, SMB's, weights, accessory items, etc. We're hooked - no doubt.

But, if I spend much more money this year on dive gear/dive trips - might not make that 20th anniversary in October!!

 

[Scott L]

Buy tanks. Renting places an obstacle in front of you that may quell your enthusiasm for the sport. Buy newer used cylinders and if the activity is not ultimately for you, they can be sold for the original cost or thereabouts...

 

[RonFrank]

Tank rental....

I own 3 tanks for diving out of my car. My LDS is NOT cool about letting rental fees slide so that sealed it. Its too much hassle picking up the tanks and then dropping them back. Heck with the price of gas getting a compressor almost makes sense, but avoiding the LDS on a dive day is a much better solution vs making two trips to the LDS on a dive day! The LDS is also 40 miles round trip out of the way or more.

When boat diving renting tanks makes sense. No hauling tanks, no waiting on fills, get a bigger tank if I want, Nitrox if I want.... If your doing a lot of shore diving bringing your own tanks may makes sense. Then again the LDS charges a reasonable fee and they are good about the rental fee. So renting for travel and owning for local and borrowing for non local shore diving are my preferences.

As to the AL80 thing I can hit my NDL almost always with an AL80 so why would I need anything else? The HP 95/100 are nice for deep dives but I generally end up on the surface with 1000+psi so ....

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Doesn't your LDS have a deal for unlimited fills? I pay $170 each year for unlimited fills for two tanks. If you're going to dive 90 times a year, then that amounts to $2 a fill. Also, why do you need three tanks? Are you planning on doing many three dive trips? Usually, my dive days are two dive days, so you might just need two.

My answer is: buying is cheaper in the long run. Steel will last longer than your dive career if you take care of the tanks. And you can buy used.

 

[elan]

If you do proper gas planning you will see that for a 100 ft dive you need to keep at least 30-40cuf in reserve. Which leaves you with 47-37 cuf for the bottom. Thats way too little. One would have to have a 0.25-0.30 sac rate which some guys have in warm water but most do not. The Al80 being a norm does mean it is the best. Here it is a norm for the rental too but it is the worst tank that you would own here.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

If you do proper gas planning you will see that for a 100 ft dive you need to keep at least 30-40cuf in reserve. Which leaves you with 47-37 cuf for the bottom. Thats way too little. One would have to have a 0.25-0.30 sac rate which some guys have in warm water but most do not. The Al80 being a norm does mean it is the best. Here it is a norm for the rental too but it is the worst tank that you would own here.

North Carolina wrecks are a good example. With depths in the 90-110' range for many of the wrecks, and AL 80 is not quite enough and a LP 95 or a X7-100 is much better suited to single tank dives there.

On the other hand, side mounting two AL 80s works well too in terms of huge reserves on small commonly available tanks. On your first dive to 110 ft with a SAC of .60, 65 cu ft is enough gas for a 25 minute bottom time - the NDL on 32%, and that still leaves you an 89 cu ft reserve. On a second dive to 90 ft dive with the same SAC of .6, 65 cu ft gives you enough gas for a 30 minute dive - about twice the NDL on 32% after a 90 minute SI.. Consequently, you have enough gas reserve for some mild deco on dive 2, or for a purely recreational diver, to accommodate a larger SAC on both dives if needed.