Double st85's are really a great set-up for lots of diff. dives and divers....you can hardly go wrong.
Going doubles - questions
- Thread starter jduncan
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
OP
jduncan
Contributor
NAUI: Advanced, Drysuit, Deep Diver, Nitrox. I have about 125 Dives in a year and a half. Remeber that the reason for doubles is for redundancy, and reserve gas. 30CF reserve is required here on most charters for dives below 90 feet. That's all we are looking for out of the doubles right now. Nothing beyond the NDL.
OP
jduncan
Contributor
texdiveguy:
It's looking more and more like that will be the way we are gonna go. I'm considering the LP95's for myself, and the LP85's for Lisa, but we may just opt for the 85's for both of us.
J
Buoyant1
Contributor
limeyx:
119's are a good choice over 120's...basically the same size as a 95 or 130 and hold pretty much the same amount of gas (as a 120)...I'm 6' and a 120 makes me a bit bottom heavy, the 95 I've used keeps me very trim...I can't wait to get my 119 wet!
Nice thread so far!
Ben_ca
Contributor
Jason Ooi:I strong agreed
2nd that
I'm diving LP 85s and I love them. I started out with LP 72s, but I couldn't trim them out properly, and I was always unstable. The 85s trim out perfectly, and I can get three normal dives out of them, or one deeper dive and one shallower dive (as one would normally do on a charter day).
I would HIGHLY recommend you try to contact people who are diving doubles, and try to borrow some and dive them, before you lay out a lot of money on tanks. Different tanks fit different people. My primary dive buddy dives double 130's, and they'd simply kill me. My husband likes the 72s, although he can only get one solid deeper dive out of them.
I like the feeling of having true redundancy when I'm down in the 100 fsw range. It does take a little time to get doubles set up properly and learn to do the valve shutdowns, but once you have done that, you have a lot of options in the face of any malfunction.
And when you have the gas and the redundancy, I hate to tell you this, but helium is not going to be far behind . . .
I would HIGHLY recommend you try to contact people who are diving doubles, and try to borrow some and dive them, before you lay out a lot of money on tanks. Different tanks fit different people. My primary dive buddy dives double 130's, and they'd simply kill me. My husband likes the 72s, although he can only get one solid deeper dive out of them.
I like the feeling of having true redundancy when I'm down in the 100 fsw range. It does take a little time to get doubles set up properly and learn to do the valve shutdowns, but once you have done that, you have a lot of options in the face of any malfunction.
And when you have the gas and the redundancy, I hate to tell you this, but helium is not going to be far behind . . .
Daryl Morse
Contributor
Several of my buddies dive with doubles, typically lp85 or hp100. Not to oversimplify too much, for recreational two-tank dives, they use the "top half" for the first dive the "bottom half" for the second dive. (Obviously allowing for appropriate reserves.)
I currently dive with an al80, but I often also carry an al40 sling bottle. Depending on the profile, I either carry the same mix in the al40 as in the al80 or for multi-level dives, I use 40% or 50% in the sling and finish the dive using the top half of the sling at the end of the first dive and the bottom half at the end of the second dive, again, allowing for appropriate reserves. I find it works out quite well when I'm diving with my buddies with their doubles.
Unless you're going to take a deco procedures course, doubles contain way more gas than you need for a single tank dive. They are also very heavy and expensive. I'm not trying to discourage you from getting doubles, but using a single tank (even an al80) combined with an al40 sling might be more cost effective and convenient than you think. Depending on your SAC, it's quite easy to get well into deco for both dives with that much gas (either the doubles or al80+al40 configuration). I plan to dive doubles at some point, but I started with the al40 sling because it fit in with the the ANDI CSU course I took which is based on the use of an al40. When/if I take a deco procedures course, I'll use an al40 for deco gas.
I currently dive with an al80, but I often also carry an al40 sling bottle. Depending on the profile, I either carry the same mix in the al40 as in the al80 or for multi-level dives, I use 40% or 50% in the sling and finish the dive using the top half of the sling at the end of the first dive and the bottom half at the end of the second dive, again, allowing for appropriate reserves. I find it works out quite well when I'm diving with my buddies with their doubles.
Unless you're going to take a deco procedures course, doubles contain way more gas than you need for a single tank dive. They are also very heavy and expensive. I'm not trying to discourage you from getting doubles, but using a single tank (even an al80) combined with an al40 sling might be more cost effective and convenient than you think. Depending on your SAC, it's quite easy to get well into deco for both dives with that much gas (either the doubles or al80+al40 configuration). I plan to dive doubles at some point, but I started with the al40 sling because it fit in with the the ANDI CSU course I took which is based on the use of an al40. When/if I take a deco procedures course, I'll use an al40 for deco gas.
PvilleStang
Contributor
Hey, where's the DIR trolls that are going to rip apart the bungeed OMS bladder? It froze over here, but not quite in hell...
Personally, I've enjoyed my OMS 60lb bungeed bladder for my double 95's. Bingeed bladders get heck from DIR gurus, but at the same time, accomplish what they in turn are trying to accomplish: low profile. The 95's trim out well, and are still hikeable to the water. much more, like the 100+ cuft tanks, would be a pain in the arse for diving anywhere but on a boat, but even on a boat, will be a pain to get out of the water.
Personally, I've enjoyed my OMS 60lb bungeed bladder for my double 95's. Bingeed bladders get heck from DIR gurus, but at the same time, accomplish what they in turn are trying to accomplish: low profile. The 95's trim out well, and are still hikeable to the water. much more, like the 100+ cuft tanks, would be a pain in the arse for diving anywhere but on a boat, but even on a boat, will be a pain to get out of the water.
Similar threads
