Carrying weights on 80 cuf aluminum tanks?

[SidemountPeter]

Guys, when diving in salt water do you put the extra weight directly on your tanks or on the harness?

I'd expect that adding some weight towards the bottom of the tank limits the lift of the tank. What is your experience ?

 

[mk706]

Peter, learning to SM dive Al80s is on my to-do list for the upcoming summer season. I've recently run across several divers diving Al80s/light steel tanks with both Hollis SMS50 and Halcyon Contour rigs. Adding a small amount of weight, perhaps a pound or two on the cam band, may help. I do believe shifting the tanks from the door handles to waist D-rings during the dive is necessary.

I dive the SMS75. It is not conducive to adding sliding D-rings on the waist. I have added fixed D-rings to the waist for mounting stage bottles. I suspect that even with a few pounds of weight on the cam band I'll still rotate the lower tank clip, from the door handle, to the waist D-ring after consuming 500-1000 PSI of gas.

Up to this point I've only dove steel tanks side mount. After diving a BP/W on holiday in Bonaire this past December I am determined to develop a good side mount configuration for diving Al80s with K-valves.

 

[decompression]

Depends on the rig and the tanks. Usually I prefer not to weight the tanks but this sometimes can be a viable option. In cold/salt water I prefer steels and warm/salt water AL80's are the norm but I'll dive a rig that has the extra shallow D rings.


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[Aquavelvet]

The advantage of using tanks that swing around neutral buoyancy is that they are easy to unclip at the rear and push in front of you while going through narrower passages. Doing this should not cause a nose dive, but rather should be maintainable for an extended time. To that end, it would be counterproductive to add weight to the tanks.

A harness that is used with aluminum tanks should have two sets of rear clip points - one for when the tanks are still negative, and a second set for when they become tail light. The Razor and Stealth harnesses are set up this way by default. Others can be adapted.


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[SidemountPeter]

Thx guys, I' m using a Stealth w/o the butt plate / door handle in cold water, too. So I know to move the the clip point of the bolt snaps.
I do appreciate the point of being able to swing the tanks w/o loosing trim. That's a fair point.

 

[Kharon]

I pour my own weights - 3#, 2#, 1.5#, 1#, and 0.5# - and can get down to 0.1# if I need to. I distribute beween BC pockets, weight belt, and cam pockets to allow me perfect trim. I can hover verticle head down (just like a trumpet fish) and any other orientation with no effort. I always want my tank locked to my back - not loose. Just me. It works for me and the way I dive. For others - perhaps not.

 

[Aquavelvet]

The weight system on the Stealth harness is the best one I've seen for accommodating different needs for trim and buoyancy. I use the four compartment central weight pockets plus the trim pockets and ditchable waist pockets to compensate for cold and warm water exposure suits.

In warm, fresh water I only need 7 lbs with a 3mm full suit. In cold salt water wearing a drysuit, I use 12 lbs down the spine, 10 lbs in the waist pockets and maybe 2 lbs total in the trim pockets up on the chest straps. In each case, the weight is distributed so that I am dynamically balanced and can maintain trim in any orientation.

 

[mk706]

. . . I always want my tank locked to my back - not loose. Just me. It works for me and the way I dive. For others - perhaps not.

Which side mount system are you diving? Having tanks in front of me and off my back are what I consider one of the greatest strengths of side mount.


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[Patoux01]

With a stealth, absolutely no need to add weights to the tank. Except maybe if you have very poor technique...

I wouldn't know with others, I guess with tanks clipped on door handles there wouldn't be another way, but you can always add the EPDM rings of the stealth on any rig, making anything usable I'd say. Can't confirm on this point as I've never been able to see any of the alternatives.

 

[scuba127]

I've done this...I added the stealth rubber sliding rings to my Hollis SMS 50....the SMS 50 belt material seems a little light for this but, other than that, I'm able to slide the rubber rings forward to counteract the increase in bouyancy of the aluminum tanks....works well enough....all this said, I'm gonna get one of the new Stealth's when they come out....wings at least partially attached to the harness I believe....so I can compare it to the SMS 50....