dashmatrix:
Well I have been diving for over 8 years. But it is true I don't have alot of logged dives. I have only about 50. So you could be right. I own all my own gear except tanks. And even if I did own my tanks I would not lug them on a plane to foreign countries. I tried lugging a tank with me to Hawaii once.... It was a royal pain in the rear and upon returning home I sold the tank and vowed never ever to bother with owning a tank again.
They actually pulled me off the plane 5 minutes before take off made me hook my regs up to it and prove I had less than (whatever their silly limit is). Even though I had done it 2 times previously for the ticket agent at baggage check and the gate agent upon boarding. It delayed the flight out and back for 30 minutes each way. So after feeling the loathing and hateful stares of 200 passengers I joined the ranks of TANK RENTERS.
I own everything else though. I dive nitrox too so having a tank for air and a tank for EAN and lugging two around...... no thanks.
I understand your ways with the tanks, no prob!
50 dives in 8 years is what, 6-7 dives a year?
I can assure you that this alone is what makes up MOST of your air consumtion problems. Of course, as a big guy, you will use more air than a little young lady from Texas. But it shouldn't be a problem for you, so I think you're at the root of it here. The answer? Dive more, travel less...
I can only speak for myself, and
all the others with the same experience through their diving career. Air consumption drops, but in stages. -All very much influenced by just how much diving you've been doing over a given period. If you're out of it for a while, say a year, you'll often be set back at higher consumption for a while. But with more diving comes less consumption.
For myself, I have 250 dives since 1994. Now that doesen't really say much, but then I might add that 160 of those dives is since April 2004. I'm still dropping my air consumtion, and I'm "only" 6'2" and 230 lbs of muscles... :14: :14:
