fiberglass tanks!?

[FIXXERVI6]

http://www.surfaceintervalscuba.com/scuba_products.htm

check out the very bottom of the page, I wonder if they sell that for diving??

thats a LDS here in DFW

 

[cornfed]

First of all they are expensive so why bother -- you could get a couple AL80 for the same price.

Second, all the fiberglass bottles I've seen are very light. In fact that is the point of them. They would be very bouyant and you need a lot of weight to off set that.

Cornfed

 

[beaker]

Yep, its for diving. I'm familiar with what are generally refered to as 'composite' tanks from my experience in the firehouse. As long as you don't overly abuse them (drop, scrape etc) they're fine. Couple of drawbacks include a 15 year life (can't get 'em hydroed after that - they get decommissioned.) and their price. I think I remember seeing on either Luxfer's or Catalina's webpage a sheet with buoyancy info, and I don't think it was too far off from a standard 80. But for the couple of pounds you save in out of water tank weight, you could go buy a much nicer steel tank that would last you more than 15 years.

edit: Actually, the Composites from Luxfers are better in buoyance characteristics than the straight ALs... check the following webpage: http://www.luxfercylinders.com/products/scuba/specifications/us_imperial.shtml

The two listed at the bottom are the Luxfer wrapped composite (w = wrapped).

 

[ssdiver2003]

i honestly think that fiberglass tanks are not made for scuba purposes,consider the weight-result into a poor buoancy,plus the only time i have ever seen someone using a fiberglass tank,was when a firefighter entered a burning house....i had a talk with him afterwards,he said that these kinda tanks are not made for scuba...IS HE RIGHT??? so,maybe thee made for a different kinda use...maybe emergency and rescue personel...

 

[GlockDiver]

The fiberglass SCBA tanks probably aren't designed for Scuba, but that doesn't mean that there aren't other tank designs that are.

BTW, is the traditional round cylinder shape the most efficient design for a Scuba Tank?

 

[FIXXERVI6]

I would guess the round is for pressure, if it was square it would form weak points in the tank.

 

[GlockDiver]

What about oval?

 

[FIXXERVI6]

that would also form strong/weak points, the part of the ovel that curved sharply would be stronger than the wider spot, altho the idea of an oval tank sounds awsome, you could have like 120 cubes easy and it woudn't be bulky, maybe just hard to make?

 

[FIXXERVI6]

think about like a flat lady bug, oval on and elipitical (spell), so it would be low profile on your back, but wide, almsot like combined doubles.

 

[GlockDiver]

maybe just hard to make

Not with carbon fiber.

And think about it. The bottom of standard tanks would be a weak spot. The answer to that, in both cases, is to thicken that portion of the tank.

Think about a curved oval tank that fit the curve of your body, was completely divided, and had an integrated manifold.