Economical doubles?

[packman]

You're better renting tanks in cave country if you (understandably) don't want to spring for a set of steel doubles at this juncture. Just about all of the shops down there have tanks in various sizes for a small rental fee so it won't matter if you find yourself in Marianna, Luraville, or High Springs...you'll be able to find tanks.

However, Cavern and Intro are largely geared toward recreational divers who are not experienced in diving doubles. In fact, depending on your instructor, they may not allow doubles in the class unless you can prove to their satisfaction that you are capable of diving doubles.

Unless you've been diving sidemount to the point that it's second nature to you already, go ahead and put that idea aside. You will have plenty to deal with during the class without adding a sidemount rig to it. Same goes for independent doubles. No need to make things harder for yourself.

 

[ucfdiver]

80s are fine for some caves, just not all of them. I guess its mainly a question of whether or not the money saved is worth the shorter dives. You may not mind shorter dives?

I get elated when I'm able to use my 72s for cave dives, its a hellovalot less weight to tote around. Sometimes, its all I need.

ha! If my lazy butt is getting suited up in the hott Florida sun, the dive better be AT LEAST an hour!

Seriously (to the OP), you're going to struggle to find buddies who want to gas match you on 80's. I would get 104/108/112/130s, it's what 90% of NFL dives.

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

80s are fine for some caves, just not all of them. I guess its mainly a question of whether or not the money saved is worth the shorter dives. You may not mind shorter dives?

I get elated when I'm able to use my 72s for cave dives, its a hellovalot less weight to tote around. Sometimes, its all I need.

Fix that valve first though!

Seriously (to the OP), you're going to struggle to find buddies who want to gas match you on 80's. I would get 104/108/112/130s, it's what 90% of NFL dives.

Agree with James here 104/108/130 are pretty much the standard here. LP overfilled of course, I wouldnt overfill an AL tank. If using AL80's that would give you 160~ cu ft of gas vs 294 cu ft of gas with a set of 108's. That's quite a difference, a difference of 500 psi of penetration gas on your 80's and 300 psi of penetration gas on my 108's, I wouldnt be overly pleased.

 

[packman]

I guess I left out that I want to get used to diving doubles before I take the courses next winter. I will upgrade my equipment when it becomes a necessity but until that point I want to try and figure out what is what. The side benefit is when we come down for our trip we want to hit the Oriskany or the Spiegel Grove or both. And with those being deeper dives we get more bottom time (I realize it's minimal due to deco stops) but non the less it is more. But until I need to upgrade I just wondered if it was practical to use my AL80s.

That's a good plan. Be sure to practice valve drills. While you're at it, get a reel and practice with it (if you're not already experienced with one).

 

[Kevin Carlisle]

80s are fine for some caves, just not all of them. I guess its mainly a question of whether or not the money saved is worth the shorter dives. You may not mind shorter dives?

I get elated when I'm able to use my 72s for cave dives, its a hellovalot less weight to tote around. Sometimes, its all I need.

You left out the fact the you and 72s are like most people and 100s. I swear you are part fish.

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

ha! If my lazy butt is getting suited up in the hott Florida sun, the dive better be AT LEAST an hour!

Seriously (to the OP), you're going to struggle to find buddies who want to gas match you on 80's. I would get 104/108/112/130s, it's what 90% of NFL dives.

If only it were the hot Florida you reffer to.... I hate this cold.

I still dive with cavern and intro divers, even with the standard tanks, alot of times the dives end up lasting 30minutes(and less on occassions). Course, they hit the water 2-3x per fill compared to a full cave dive. I'm not ALWAYS in the mood for that, but it happens.

Besides, I've got 1.5 hour dives while using my 72s as primary backgas in caves that dip into the 100'+ range. Sometimes a good SAC rate will carry you through a longer dive - granted, that was while diving sidemount with a sidemount buddy where gas matching isn't a priority... and deco happened on seperate cylinders all together.

fix that valve first though!

Valves at the shop already Sorry again! Atleast the sightseeing was good.

 

[UCFKnightDiver]

Valves at the shop already Sorry again! Atleast the sightseeing was good.

Lol no big deal just giving you ****, the sightseeing was good!

 

[ianr33]

Al tanks will work fine for getting used to doubles. They also work great for ocean dives down to around 200 feet. As already said though they will be rather limiting when it comes to caves. Bottom line is eventually you will need 2 (at least! ) sets of doubles.

I did Cavern and Intro using a borrowed set of 104's after diving Al's for a few years. The difference was immediately obvious. The big steel tanks felt like a semi truck whereas the Al's were a sports car. Took some getting used to.

If you think you might get serious about caves my suggestion would be to train in doubles. Find an instructor that agrees with that philosophy. Ken Paramore and Rob Neto are 2 of many possible choices.

 

[FIXXERVI6]

Cheapest way:

Buy a razor and side mount the aluminums you have

Recommended:

Echo what everyone else is saying, in Florida your going to get limited real quick, I took intro in double aluminum 80's and it sucked, first thing I bought out of the gates were a set of LP 108's, the 80's can still be used for stages and deco gas so its not like they are wasted.

 

[FIXXERVI6]

You can set them up as independent doubles - that way you don't pay for the manifold. You may even be able to get away with using a right-handed valve depending on the profile of your regs - just rotate the tank around. Still need the bands and BP&W.

Not trying to sling mud or start anything, but in my opinion if your going this cheap then you really shouldn't be considering cave diving, and flipping a reg up to be exposed to bashing is bad news no matter how you slice it. I would be suprised if an instructor allowed such a config.