Go Big or Go Home?

[mmajor]

After considering price and reading manufacturer literature, posts in this forum, and opinions of dive buddies I have decided to get a couple of HP steel tanks. Now the question of the day is "what size"? Here is my situation, and I would welcome any recommendations...

1) I dive in the cold water of the PNW and love the idea of taking as much weight off of my belt as possible.

2) I am, for now, a recreational diver and my air consumption at this point is the limiting factor rather than Nitrox NDL's so I would like a bigger tank to remedy this.

3) I would like to take some advanced classes and get into deep wreck diving, so I am also considering the potential of my two new tanks as a doubles rig.

4) I like to believe that as a younger guy and 6'2 200# I could handle the weight and size of any of these choices.

I am open to any suggestions, of course, but the three tanks that I am strongly considering are the HP 7-100's 8-119's and 8-130's. After typing all of that the question here is really...should I go bigger than I think I need at the moment so that I have the air for pretty much any situation in the future?

My thinking is if I am going to spend the money on the steel tanks, the difference between these three is not that much (a mere $16 at scubatoys!) and I should go big.

130's -NO question. I use double 130's diving in Hawaii. At 59 it is a bit of a heft, once in the water, its all worth it. The problem is that you have so much air, that you can get into decom trouble very easily. "Running out of air is worse than running out of anything, anywhere, ever" Lance Cherry Black Coral diver Lahaina Maui.

 

[OE2X]

I love my 130's for diving in the PNW. I have six of them along with a pair of 119's. My sac is really low so that on a typical dive where I go a little into deco, I can easily get in a 2 - 21/2 hour dive out of each tank.

A friend of mine dives with doubled 130's with helium. His sac is higher when he is diving with trimix. Something to consider if you are going that route. You will find that many of the divers in Seattle that are doubling up tanks are doing so with 130's. Get as many as you can and you won't go wrong.

 

[DiverBuoy]

Here is an older list ...

http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=17898

... here is a worthy range from this list, the weight is really hard on the back with doubles above 130 ... excruciating.

OMS---------------Steel-------2640------------98--------------27
Catalina-----------Al----------3300------------100-------------33
Pressed Steel------Steel-------3500------------100.1-----------35
Pressed Steel------Steel-------2640------------104-------------25
Faber/Technisub---Steel-------2900------------105.9-----------27
OMS---------------Steel-------2640------------112-------------24
Pressed Steel------Steel-------3500------------120-------------29
Pressed Steel------Steel-------2640------------120-------------22
Heiser/Beauchat----Steel-------3190------------120-------------27
OMS---------------Steel-------2640------------125-------------21