Diving doubles recreationally

[AfterDark]

I dive doubles for recreational diving all the time. I don't have any of the problems stated on this thread by other divers. The reason is; for recreational diving, I use independent (cam-band mounted) doubles.

I typically do 3-dive trips, diving wrecks. I get on the boat, set up my kit...and slip two rental AL80s into the cambands. It's nice and secure, very stable and offers me the safety and flexibility I need to conduct the dives I do.

The way I use them depends on the dive plan. It's just a matter of gas management. For easy penetrations and lite-deco, I 'balance' the tanks (swapping between both tanks during the dive) and sometimes (for truly 'recreational' dives) I just drain one tank, keeping the other as reserve. Either way, I ensure I have redundant 'rock bottom' gas.

A lot of wings won't take doubles without steel bands or some form of an adaptor and some modification. But, if you shop around and do some research, you can find both wings and jacket BCDs that will take indie doubles without the need for steel bands and bolts.

I use a Custom Divers TDB. The backplate is cut and shaped to accept either a single tank or doubles with cam band. The wing itself has matching cam-band slots.

Doubles are a great solution for many problems. They aren't a great solution if you cannot use them because of the logistics/cost of hiring tanks when away from home... but that isn't necessarily the case. People just seem so fixated on the idea of steel banding/manifolding them.

Another options is side-mount. I've seen that mentioned once on this thread, but nobody seemed to notice. Side-mounting is getting much more popular nowadays and offers a great solution for carrying two cylinders without the expense and logistics needed with back-mounted (steel banded) doubles. Again, you can step onto any charter boat and slide two rental AL80s into the kit Courses to use side-mount are becoming easily available - PADI have even brought out a speciality course.

It is the way to go IMO, except I use LPstl 72's or 90's . I like this set up back mounted so much I'm considering selling 3 of my tanks towards 2 AL63's to use for shore divng instead of a single tank or the 72's IDs which I use now for shore diving. I see diving nothing but IDs sooner or later.

I'm not sure about the side mount rig and shore diving?

 

[OldNSalty]

OK-I have a lot to consider.

I know I couldn't do 2 dives on the 72's and have any real bottom time so I would still be swapping them out a trip.

I would need to buy 2 manifolds, 2 sets of bands so that's what? $500? To get that same volume of gas in a singe setup...more then $500 as I would need new tanks.

I think the redundancy would be great. I assume the weight is good and I like the size.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Again, consider a side-mount system. I'm starting training on the UTD Z-system, after six years diving double manifolded AL80's recreational & tech, locally here in SoCal and overseas Oceania/SE Asia.

Unified Team Diving

 

[RTee]

I do use my doubles on recreational dives regularly (shore entry and boat dives) but I also use singles as well. My GF just switched from AL80 cft singles to HP 100 singles. This winter, I may trade in two AL80cft for two HP 117 or 133 singles.

If you want redundancy, you could dive back mounted doubles, side-mount or single tank with an 80 cft stage bottle.

 

[BKP]

+1 for sidemount.

I never considered doubles until I looked at sidemount, and I'm getting into it now for very similar reasons you originally stated:

- No manifold necessary
- Complete redundancy (two tanks, two 1st, and two 2nd stages)
- You can carry one tank at a time to the shore, and sling them in the water
- They seem to almost automatically trim you out (think pontoon, as opposed to v-hull)
- They are *much* easier on your back
- You don't have to be flexible to reach *and see* both valves
- They're getting *very* popular in recreational diving for the above reasons
- Less gear to travel with (again, no isolation manifold, steel bands), and easy to setup up any rental tanks

I'm far from an authority on SM, but the above points are typically heard from those that are...

I dive HP 100 singles, however, I'm looking at LP 77's for a sidemount rig. They just seem to be a happy medium for what I'm interested in...

 

[elan]

The bands and manifold for 72s, you are likely to have to buy new, though; rarely are the appropriately sized things available for sale without the tanks that go with them

Not that bad TSandM. A standard manifold goes well with either oms 7' bands or one can get bands from pirahna.

 

[elan]

OK-I have a lot to consider.

I know I couldn't do 2 dives on the 72's and have any real bottom time so I would still be swapping them out a trip.

I would need to buy 2 manifolds, 2 sets of bands so that's what? $500? To get that same volume of gas in a singe setup...more then $500 as I would need new tanks.

I think the redundancy would be great. I assume the weight is good and I like the size.

If you decide to go manifolded doubles consider learning how to dive them with a stage or get bigger doubles. Taking two sets on a boat ... Forget it

 

[Levigarrett]

The reference to kool-aid is silly but you are correct about the "blood type". I work in medical device development and my other hobby is aviation. In both cases, failure is not an option and before getting acquainted with GUE I was horrified about what the SCUBA industry considers safe and qualified. If you want to bet your life on anything but the best, that is your choice.

Wanna buy a PADI specialty dialysis machine for half the price? Or get an SSI-type instrument rating in a weekend and then fly across the country? No sane person would do that but in SCUBA that philosophy is OK for some reason.



I think that thread indicated clearly that we got our a$$es kicked in that class. GUE-F was first cert that I actually had to earn. The rest (OW, AOW, EAN40) was a joke. I do not derive any status from having trained with GUE but their curriculum and staff has allowed and encouraged my teammates and me to be better divers than what other agencies churned out in the same time period. Why should I not promote a system that has provided great value for me?



Experience is earned over time. Time is the cost, experience is the benefit. Please show me a couple of non-GUE trained divers that after one year of diving can hold their own (and their trim) in one of our teams. If you find them, we'll keep 'em.



Yes, I do and the scary part is how much nonsense I have seen already after about one year and 50 dives.

OTOH, do you know any GUE instructor first hand? Did you ever attend a GUE class? If not, you do not know how much value you can get for your money.

Granted there are great non-GUE instructors out there but the funny thing is that they will refer you, like any good professional, to the specialists if appropriate.

I know a thing or two about aviation myself and I can tell you that every aviation "hobbyist" I know is a hack to me.

In the end, we're all fairly good at something. Some of us are good pilots.....the rest of you are aviation tourists ...some of you are excellent divers, while I toil in the ranks of "undersea amateur." There are a plethora of ways to make both endeavors enjoyable and safe. Standardization has it's place without question and I'm a personal fan of the philosophy. However, to infer that absent your version, readiness and safety are diminished.... that can only be uttered by someone who's had nothing more than a mere glance into the scope and breadth of the subject.

The devout adherence to standardize practices is risk mitigation. We can all agree on that, however I've found that nothing trumps experience, particularly in aviation and I suspect in diving as well. Take care.

 

[lv2dive]

Firstly, pick the right tanks. Roughly speaking, tall people need tall tanks and short people short tanks. But there are nuances in the weight distribution of different types and manufacturers.

Don't mean to be bringing up a zombie thread but I've had a couple of people ask me about tanks lately and I was searching for threads referencing them and came across this one.

With regards to the post above, I completely agree with the first statement - "Pick the right tanks." However, I do not necessarily agree with the second regarding short people/short tanks, tall people/long tanks. I am what I would consider short (5'5") and that reasoning from my LDS was part of the reason I started out with short tanks - Faber LP95's - and they were a CF. Once I got a stable platform, I could trim them out, but it was still WORK (vs. being more effortless) so I sold them. The minute I put on AL80's I did much better, same with LP85's. So I'd just caution against thinking if you are short, short tanks are going to work better. TRY BEFORE YOU BUY!

 

[rongoodman]

I know I couldn't do 2 dives on the 72's and have any real bottom time so I would still be swapping them out a trip.

An Al72 swims very nicely as a stage.