Halcyon Helios Canister and ACB...there's GOT to be a better way

[WreckWriter]

O-ring once bubbled...
Here come the rest of the members with the other sides of the argument..

I don't use ditchable weight either, strictly use V-weights. Sure, the light (Helios 9) is ditchable but its maybe 2 lbs max, not worth the time to ditch it.

I have a set of ACBs (the big ones) sitting in my garage waiting to be Ebayed.

WW

 

[Uncle Pug]

Ben has a great workaround for those using the wrong gear

...since the ACB20 were not designed for use with a canister light.

Ebay the ACBs and go with a 10# weightbelt.... you should be carrying ditchable weight (IMO.)

 

[O-ring]

WreckWriter once bubbled...


I don't use ditchable weight either, strictly use V-weights. Sure, the light (Helios 9) is ditchable but its maybe 2 lbs max, not worth the time to ditch it.

I have a set of ACBs (the big ones) sitting in my garage waiting to be Ebayed.

WW

I have an AUL...it is 16# on dry land and about 6-8 negative in the water.

 

[GearHead]

WW, I suggest you sell those ACB's as soon as you can get an ad posted. The ebay rivers are running thick with SCUBA gear buying fish right now; I just sold my ACB30s a couple of weeks ago for more than I paid for them!

And as for the thread subject, I'm very happy with the SeaSoft weightbelt I bought instead. It's comfortable, and it keeps my rig a more manageable single load. Plus, it's ditchable.

WreckWriter once bubbled...


I don't use ditchable weight either, strictly use V-weights. Sure, the light (Helios 9) is ditchable but its maybe 2 lbs max, not worth the time to ditch it.

I have a set of ACBs (the big ones) sitting in my garage waiting to be Ebayed.

WW

 

[GearHead]

O-ring, I'm starting to wonder if that busted toenail is a snowboarding accident, or a 16# AUL accident . . . Do we need to find you some steel-toed Rockboots?

O-ring once bubbled...

I have an AUL...it is 16# on dry land and about 6-8 negative in the water.

 

[O-ring]

GearHead once bubbled...
O-ring, I'm starting to wonder if that busted toenail is a snowboarding accident, or a 16# AUL accident . . . Do we need to find you some steel-toed Rockboots?

Yeah, the sucker is really, really heavy. Underwater it isn't an issue, but it sure makes my rig heavy topside.

 

[Mo2vation]

The ditchable weight issue is one I've never dived into before. I've just always had a WI BC, so it made sense to me to make my BP/W WI, as well.

In retrospect, that's likely why the brightstars at Halcyon make these things in the first place...for WI "converts", ease of entry into the new, etc, etc... I totally get it.

So I've spent the last hour or so more reading through just about all of the "Ditchable v. non-ditchable" threads I could find.

Woah

I stopped at about 20 threads and about 200+ posts. Who knew? It does get a little warm. Having never owned a weightbelt, and not really inspired to go get one now, I think I'll stick with my slipstream-impacting, trim-threatening, top-side encumbering, overrated, overpriced ACB's for now.

The Ben-gee mod for the canister will get its run this weekend. We're on a 2-dayer - so likely 8 or 9 dives. I may even borrow a weight belt for the halibut and see if I can hang with that for a dive or two. Most of you contributed to this tired discussion over the years. Wow. There were some doozies.

We gotta narc Genesis before we let him near a keyboard again. Man. Dude needs less red meat in his diet. Although reading about his conversion to the dark side in another semi-related thread was a bit more sedate, fun, constructive and had a lot fewer capital letters.

Thanks -

K

PS: Steel-toed rockboots.... very nice. That was pretty coke-spitting. RedWings you can dive with... nice.

 

[Scubaroo]

Mo2vation once bubbled...
The Ben-gee mod for the canister will get its run this weekend.

I prefer to call it the Scubaroo mount

I don't think the ACB20 is the wrong gear - I need weight around my waist for trim - using a heavier backplate, STA or channel weight puts me in a head down position. So I need the weight lower down. I don't like weightbelts, never have, so why should I use a piece of equipment that lowers my diving enjoyment? Never had a problem with the ACB20 except trying to cram too much hard weight into them (and that was while learning to use a drysuit - and I was trying to use 10lb more than I use now with the same suit). Took them to Florida over the weekend - just threw some 4lb beanbags into them, and dived my rig as per normal. No rethreading weights or fussing with rental weightbelts for me.

On the other hand (for me at least) the ACB30 is definitely the wrong gear - way too bulky, too much capacity, not streamlined.

My ACB20 has never fallen off at depth

 

[JamieZ]

On the Stealthdive.com website under reveiws I believe Ben on this board gave some detailed info on how to rig a canister light to the ACB's. I dont know if this has already been said or not? Didnt read any of the posts just the question.