Ease of banding/manifolding tanks?

[Bretagus]

Hey all,
I'm thinking of giving doubles a try this coming season. I've had two seasons with my bp/w and am very familiar with all the local sites. I may be switching to a dry suit this season, so I figure the redundant buoyancy is an opportunity to experiment with doubles. At the moment, I was thinking I'd fiddle with independant doubles for a while just to get used to the feel of them.

But I'm wondering... how much of a pain is it to band/deband the tanks if I wanted to switch back and forth? And what about manifolded doubles -- will I need to replace my entire valve each time I switch? Also, are there any problems with diving doubled steels, other than being crazy negative at the start of the dive? Do people often switch to an aluminum or kydex plate for a doubles rig?

Thanks for any comments or links you can provide! I'll be visiting the LDS to have a chat with them, as well, but I'd like to arrive informed.
-Brett

 

[Scared Silly]

Putting a manifold and bands on is not that hard. The trick is to go slow and keep things loose. For instance, I put the cylinders on a flat surface and block them with soft weights so they do not roll. I start the isolator making sure both sides seat then slowly screw it in all the while tapping the bottom of the cylinders so they remain parallel. Once they are the right distance apart I slide one set bands on, slowly moving them to the top while making sure the isolator is still loose. Then do the other band. Then I start tightening the bands down. Still while making sure the isolator is loose. Takes may be 15 minutes.

The only pain from taking them a part often is that you have to bleed them empty each time. The danger is cross threading or bending the isolator each time.

If you want to remove the bands and isolator you do not need to change the valves as you can get plugs to replace the isolator.

 

[ianr33]

Its not hard to take a set of doubles apart but not something I would want to do every time I went diving.Easier to have separate tanks for doubles and singles. (Or just stop diving singles!)

If you do want to use your doubles as singles I would suggest having a separate set of valves.That way you would just bleed the tanks down,loosen the bands, spin the tanks off the manifold and put the new valves on.This will save the correct spacing on the isolator which is the fiddly bit.

I just got an Al backplate to use with my 104's. A 40 pound wing with a steel plate would not float them. I could dive them that way bit it was pretty marginal.

 

[crpntr133]

Not hard but not something that I would want to do very often. One oops and it could cost some bucks.
Buy the bands and manifold and be done with it. If you don't like doubles you can easily sell the bands and manifold.

 

[micklock]

You could try Scuba Center - Aqua Explorers Ultimate Velcro Double Bands --. I use them, you can use any two tanks you have even different sized tanks and they are a lot easier to haul around than manifolded doubles.