E8-130 - Dive Report

[Mo2vation]

First dives (8) this weekend on the new cylinder. Some thoughts:

* It is a big muthah. Moving it around is much different than moving around my "little" HP100

* Valve drill on land - easier to reach the valve. Bigger knob, easier to reach. Its all good. I tightened up the harness a bit, as the additional 16+ pounds brought the plate down a bit. It felt good to tighten it up.

* First dive - I didn't do a CG drill...so at the end of the descent, I made a couple of kicks and promptly did a total face plant in the sand! Had my heels too close to my butt (in the same position as I have them in for the HP100), and because there is so much more mass above the tank bands...endo. Too funny. Got back up, straightened my legs a bit and got it somewhat together

* I dove the same 10 pounds for the first few dives, then dropped to 8 pounds. I may try 6 soon. 10 was a little heavy, and the 8 seemed about right.

* It is a LOT of gas. I was able to get 3000+ fills all weekend - it changes my dive planning, especially at this site. I've been diving the same cylinder (HP100) at this same site for 5+ years - I can do the planning in my sleep. It was sort of wacky being able to take my time a little. It was kinda cool to arrive on a wreck at 55' with 3000 in the can! I'm pretty stoked about that. I'm pretty nuts about long slow ascents and planning pleanty of time for the return trip - so it wasn't too different. Just a little more bottom time on familiar dives.

* Once I got the trim dialed in, it was nice. Because there is so much more mass, there is more inertia - so back kicking to slow down, helecopter turns, etc... they all feel different. BUT, once I'm locked in, it also takes more to knock me out. You doubles guys (and gals) when going to doubles, can probably speak to this better, as I'm sure this effect is amplified (well, duh) twice a much. It felt very solid, very nice.

* On the swim step...that's where I really noticed the bulk. Getting out... woah. No biggie, but a noticable difference. I won't be doing the rhumba in this rig anytime soon.

I couldn't be more pleased with this thing. I dove enough this weekend to get that annoying new-tank sheen off of it.

Note to all PST users: Remove that huge blue and white sticker before you dive it so you don't leave a nasty circle on your cylinder... (I learned that the first time 'round.) There are a lot of new PST's out there these days... lose the bill board. And while you're at it, break out a phillips and take off the dealer license plate frame that you've had on your ride for the last 11 years...

By the way, Scuba cylinders come in one color: dull gray

Thanks for the two weeks of tips and tricks as I got myself around this.

K

 

[pdoege]

Sheesh.

I got a bunch of dives in on my new-ish 104s. Very heavy, I am using a real good chunk of my 55# wing.

Very massive in the water. Slow and steady does it.

I had a wing failure at 140'. Face planted before I could get the suit to take the load.

I'm glad you like the tanks.

Peter

 

[ScubaScott]

Glad to hear you liked the tanks and are happy with the purchase.

Were there any downsides to the tank?

SS

 

[DennisS]

I've had an E8 130 for a couple of months now. I went out to my local shore reef the other day and just laid in the sand in front of the reef and watched the fish for about 2 hours in 15 feet of water. I returned to find the marine patrol lady waiting patiently on the beach with her binoculars. If I'd only known she was waiting, I still had 900 psi left. Love those 130s!

 

[Mo2vation]

ScubaScott once bubbled...
Were there any downsides to the tank?
SS

Just the schlep. Really no other downside. I need to get the weighting dialed in, but everything else is good. Convincing fill stations that they can blow it up to 3400 is interesting, but aside from that, its all good.

I bought a block off of eBay for $25, but it won't be in until this week. I could have used it this weekend...for some absurd reason the boat we were on didn't have a block that dit this tank.

Of course, on the way back home, Arnaud reminded me that I could have simply re-installed the doughnut into the DIN and had it filled from the bogus yoke whips... Thanks Arnaud...where were you at 11:00 AM???!!

OT
You know how it is - you get a new car and you start seeing them everywhere? I could not believe the number of brand new PST cylinders I saw this weekend. One the boat over to Catalina, I counted 6!!!! Once there, I saw another 2 or 3.

I'm sure a lot of them were clearence sales, as at least two of the people I talked to and one I dove with bought theirs within the last two weeks on clearance (the old high-volume LP tanks...)

One guy I dove with picked up his PST LP120 for $149 from a local retailer. $149!!??!! THAT tank is a pig - side by side it looked to be the same size as the 130 but considerably heavier.

K

 

[JDostal]

About four months ago I picked up a pair of E8-130's w/ Scubapro H-Valves....I'm in love!!!

Ridiculous amounts of air - The same dives that I did on my HP AL100 tanks can now last longer and I have a ton of extra time to do safety stops. On some dives, we'd drop down to depth and make our way back up spending the last 20 minutes at 30 feet playing with fish and what not. I can now spend even more time at the 30 foot depth - a LOT of time.

I've been pulling off some 80 minute dives lately with no problems whatsoever...I come up and I've still got enough air left to spend even more time underwater.

I really like them - can't say enough good about the tanks.

 

[drbill]

Being the Scotch pennypincher that I am (being a starving marine biologist helps instill such values), I loved my PST HP120. I could get two good dives out of it (45-60+ min.), or three shorter ones (30-40 min) depending on depth.

Since that tank failed hydro, I'm drooling over the E8 130 that Mo2vation brought over to the Dive Park last weekend. If I weren't a geezer, I'd wait for the E8 149!!!

However, my LDS is hesitant to purchase the PST's due to recent manufacturing problems and perceived flash rust mentioned in posts here and in other industry sources, and the E9791 DOT exemption. Hope these all get resolved... diving a HP100 sucks!

Dr. Bill

 

[JDostal]

Those 149's are going to be beasts, that's for sure - can you imagine doubling those up?? Yikes!!! You'd have to start bringing banks of tanks down to do deco

Has there been a problem w/ the new DOT specification?? I haven't heard anything bad about it at all yet...

 

[drbill]

Omicron- The E9791 DOT exemption has been around for a while. My 1993 PST tank had it. As I understand it, it refers to an exemption granted by the DOT to PST which allows the hydro testing of these tanks to be done in a slightly different way. Apparently it can cause some problems at hydro test facilities unaware of this exemption. However, they should be aware of the required procedure which involves taking the tank up to 85-90% test pressure (TP) to round it out, reducing the pressure, then bringing it up to full test pressure (5250 for the 3500 psu HP tanks).

There was some concern expressed that because the DOT exemption was apparently specific to PST tanks, these tanks might be orphaned should PST go out of business (hopefully not of course!). Others have said the DOT could reissue the exemption to someone else should that happen.

Again, this is my understanding and I'm a marine biologist not a tank guru.

Dr. Bill

 

[JDostal]

Ahhh...I see.

Thanks for the answer!