Review Diving the Avelo System

[lowwall]

I dive colder freshwater in a 7 mil, with an HP steel 100 (46 pounds full plus BPW weight) and 4 pounds of lead. Im guessing i could shed the lead and additional weight savings with the composite Avelo tank but don’t know what that savings would be. Maneuvering on land and climbing boat ladders is tough for me so shedding out of water weight is my primary motivation. Any idea what the Avelo standard tank and jet pack combo dry weight is?

The 30 pound weight saving is marketing BS. It appears to be based a typically overweighted diver with a fluffy jacket BCD and an AL80. You won't see anywhere near that your setup. @scubadada reports a 15 pound savings with a BCD and an AL80 so let's take that as a starting point.

You dive a BP/W and an HP100. Let's start with the tank. An HP100 is 4 pounds lighter on the surface than an AL80 plus the lead it needs to match the buoyancy characteristics of the HP100. A typical BCD is a couple of pounds positive, so that's another 2 pounds of lead that could be shed versus using a BP/W. So net you are looking at 9 or 10 pounds above water weight savings by switching to Avelo.

But you also get a lot more gas. If you are content with 80 cubic feet, then you could switch to an HP80 instead of the HP100. An HP80 is both lighter and more negative than an HP100, so your above water weight drops by 6 pounds versus the HP100. That makes the net above water weight savings for Avelo only 3 or 4 pounds.

 

[SouthernSharktoothDiver]

@scubadada Maybe my understanding is flawed, but how would the weight savings be greater with a thicker wetsuit? Would you not need to add extra weight in both cases to achieve neutral buoyancy with a 7mm than with a 3mm?

 

[lowwall]

@scubadada Maybe my understanding is flawed, but how would the weight savings be greater with a thicker wetsuit? Would you not need to add extra weight in both cases to achieve neutral buoyancy with a 7mm than with a 3mm?

You can add a couple of extra pounds of water at the surface to get under and then release it once your suit has compressed at depth.

 

[scubadada]

@scubadada Maybe my understanding is flawed, but how would the weight savings be greater with a thicker wetsuit? Would you not need to add extra weight in both cases to achieve neutral buoyancy with a 7mm than with a 3mm?

Sorry, I was only going by the weight calculator available for Avelo certified divers on the Avelo website. I know what weight I use with traditional gear with a 5 or 7 mm full suit. It appears I would have a weight saving of 18 or 20 pounds in a 5 or 7 mm wetsuit. Still, significantly less that 30 pounds. And yes, this is based on using an AL80. I have not dived Avelo in a 5 or 7 mm full suit to confirm this.