RobPNW
Contributor
Yep, the cobwebs are loosened up again. I remember the partial pressure blending part now. Thanks.
Choosing a steel tank to purchase
- Thread starter marginwalker
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RobPNW
Contributor
pauldw
Contributor
Rust never sleeps.
Still Kicking
Contributor
The hot dipped tanks are great and are the best finish if you can find them and can afford the extra cost.
However, the current Faber painted tanks have been on the market for about 6 years and they seem to be holding up well. I see a lot of them for visuals and now hydros in the last year and have yet to see one that shows significant rust. They get scratched up cosmetically if the owner is rough on them but so far they are holding up fine. Who's to say how they will fare in 10 or 20 years but so far, so good.
They do not seem to have any problems trapping water under the boot leading to corrosion on the bottom, as was seen in previous painted steel tanks. Still, if i owned one, i would be careful about rinsing the tank especially around the boot.
However, the current Faber painted tanks have been on the market for about 6 years and they seem to be holding up well. I see a lot of them for visuals and now hydros in the last year and have yet to see one that shows significant rust. They get scratched up cosmetically if the owner is rough on them but so far they are holding up fine. Who's to say how they will fare in 10 or 20 years but so far, so good.
They do not seem to have any problems trapping water under the boot leading to corrosion on the bottom, as was seen in previous painted steel tanks. Still, if i owned one, i would be careful about rinsing the tank especially around the boot.
OP
marginwalker
Registered
Since this thread has a few now posts, here's another update from my gear-getting process:
I have had the HP100 in open water three times now, and I'm also getting dialed in with a new BP/W which I got from DGX (SS plate + hog harness and 4 trim pockets on the cam bands). The purchase of this rig came after reading all the great threads that came before on the topic, and was finally motivated by a pretty poorly maintained rental vest-BC I used a few months ago. Once my BP/W arrived, I started scratching my noggin' about how much weight I'd need (and where) to get the buoyancy and trim worked out. Which led me to realize choosing a tank to get accustomed to was the best next step, so I started this thread, got a lot of great feedback and advice, and then found my Faber FX100 (hot dipped HP100) and brought it home.
I used the awesome Optimal Buoyancy Calculator and spent some time in a pool to figure out my personal buoyancy and that of my exposure suits and my rig. After all of this, I finally got my lead weight for salt water penciled out to 10# most likely and 12# just to be safe.
Dive 1 in the new rig, I carried 12# and was slightly over weighted. On Dive 2, I carried 10# and seemed ok but maybe a little heavy still, so at the safety stop at 15' on a sandy bottom I was able to pull 2# from the lower cam band left side pocket and drop it on the seafloor and remain neutrally buoyant. So yesterday I finally got the 3rd dive with this rig and only carried 8# (split 2# each in the four cam band pockets). This worked great, and I was able to stay down at depths of 10 - 20' at the end of the dive as I neared my reserve pressure. My plan on a subsequent dive in the near future is to practice swimming the rig up (right after initial descent) with a full tank and empty BC from a depth of 30' - 40' to see how that works.
Final note: when I got started earlier this year and was wearing vest BC that was rented and with various rental tanks, I was carrying 20-24# of lead, and now with a consistent rig that I can get dialed in, with steel backplate, I am carrying much, much less. Shout out to all the scubaboard members who have shared their experience and advice on all the various threads that are such a fantastic research tool for new divers. Cheers!
I have had the HP100 in open water three times now, and I'm also getting dialed in with a new BP/W which I got from DGX (SS plate + hog harness and 4 trim pockets on the cam bands). The purchase of this rig came after reading all the great threads that came before on the topic, and was finally motivated by a pretty poorly maintained rental vest-BC I used a few months ago. Once my BP/W arrived, I started scratching my noggin' about how much weight I'd need (and where) to get the buoyancy and trim worked out. Which led me to realize choosing a tank to get accustomed to was the best next step, so I started this thread, got a lot of great feedback and advice, and then found my Faber FX100 (hot dipped HP100) and brought it home.
I used the awesome Optimal Buoyancy Calculator and spent some time in a pool to figure out my personal buoyancy and that of my exposure suits and my rig. After all of this, I finally got my lead weight for salt water penciled out to 10# most likely and 12# just to be safe.
Dive 1 in the new rig, I carried 12# and was slightly over weighted. On Dive 2, I carried 10# and seemed ok but maybe a little heavy still, so at the safety stop at 15' on a sandy bottom I was able to pull 2# from the lower cam band left side pocket and drop it on the seafloor and remain neutrally buoyant. So yesterday I finally got the 3rd dive with this rig and only carried 8# (split 2# each in the four cam band pockets). This worked great, and I was able to stay down at depths of 10 - 20' at the end of the dive as I neared my reserve pressure. My plan on a subsequent dive in the near future is to practice swimming the rig up (right after initial descent) with a full tank and empty BC from a depth of 30' - 40' to see how that works.
Final note: when I got started earlier this year and was wearing vest BC that was rented and with various rental tanks, I was carrying 20-24# of lead, and now with a consistent rig that I can get dialed in, with steel backplate, I am carrying much, much less. Shout out to all the scubaboard members who have shared their experience and advice on all the various threads that are such a fantastic research tool for new divers. Cheers!
RobPNW
Contributor
So between the HP100 and the SS BP/W, you dropped about 14lbs?
OP
marginwalker
Registered
Yes, but... I was probably over weighted in most situations before, because I am so new to diving and never really did any proper weight/buoyancy checks when I was diving rental vests. So probably:
~4# switching from a AL80 to HP100
~6# switching from a floaty vest to SS BP/W
~4# from finally getting it right and not carrying extra lead (notice these are the 4# that I removed as I went from 12# to 10# to 8# of lead on my last 3 dives).
RobPNW
Contributor
Nice.
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The 100 choice you made may be best. I bought my steel 120 when certified at age 51 and dumped it a year or 2 later being tired of walking around with all that weight on my back. I did use a steel 72 for a while, but since have used only AL80s.
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