Halcyon STA... necessary???

[noshow]

If one is purchasing a Halcyon SS BP and Pioneer 36 or 45lb wings, the single tank adapter is not required according to specifications but...........

Do you Halcyon owners recommend it? Why / why not?

 

[Scubaroo]

I only did one dive without the STA on a 36lb wing before buying one from FredT - the tank is now rock solid with zero movement. The heavy one is fine for AL tanks, but I'm in the process of getting off my butt and mailing him a money order for one of the lightweight STAs for my 95 LP steel tank which is -10lb neg at the start of the dive, and really doesn't need a 5lb STA along for the ride with it!

I think Uncle Pug gets by with a 27lb wing with the built in STA with no probs - ask him. I just like the solidness of a seperate STA. They can scratch your tanks up a little though.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by bengiddins
I think Uncle Pug gets by with a 27lb wing with the built in STA with no probs - ask him. I just like the solidness of a seperate STA. They can scratch your tanks up a little though.

Yes... it is true... I confess and deny not:
I go sans STA even though I have several out in the garage....
But that is just with a puny little old LP steel 104....
Course it is still more solid than a BC...

btw... want to buy one of my extra STAs?

 

[newton]

FWIW, my wife and I dive with similar setups, BP + 36# Halcyon/Pioneer wings.

On our recent dives in Seattle, she dove with a FredT heavy STA, and I dove with the built-in adapter in the wing.

STA pros vs. built-in adapter:
1) More weight you can take off your weightbelt. (This is the primary reason for using the STA in our situation, since me wife needs around 22# of weight)
2) *Solid* tank/BP connection (when it works, see below)
3) Less 'fuss' when putting on the tank. It's a solid connection, and the tank/wing doesn't roll around at all. Sometimes the tanks shifts on the wing when diving if I don't cinch the straps down super tight.

STA cons vs. adapter
1) More weight. We're going on a warm-water trip in June, and the STA is staying at home, since we don't need it. Nor do we use it in our training dives in the pool
2) Something else to break/fail. During our trip to Seattle, the nut for the STA fell out on two different occasions, causing the tank/STA to separate from the wing/BP, which was 'interesting' to say the least. The first time it was the upper bolt, and this caused the regulator to get pulled out of my wife's mouth. The second time was less exciting as it was the bottom bolt, but trying to get on the boat wasn't much fun. The second time it happened when diving with Uncle Pug, so feel free to ask his opinion of the situation.
3) More stuff to carry to/from the boat. Having the wing with the STA on it is just more bulky. It's alot easier to stack/pack the dive gear without it on. (This is more important when travelling on airlines and such.)

With regard to the STA coming apart, I ended up stopping at West Marine in Seattle and buying longer bolts and lock-washers to (hopefully) prevent the situation happening again.

With the above background, I'm considering buying another STA for myself for use in cold water. I could use at least 2-3# of weight when diving in cold water, and if I had a heavy STA, that would let me use a bit more insulation, plus give me a bit more flexibility in how much weight I use in my ACB pockets. I dove with 23# in Seattle, and on the very last dive I added 1.5# ankle weights which allowed me to put a bit more air in my drysuit which seemed to help out.

I'm still not completely sure what I'm going to do. I may go the weightbelt route (like Uncle Pug does), but then again, if I can get the STA to stay together, I think I would prefer it to using a weightbelt.

So, if I were to summarize why I *like* the STA, it's because it provides weight without the need for a weighbelt. However, I have to admit that whenever I don't need the weight, I don't use the STA, despite the better tank/wing connection. I can live with a little bit of hassle.

Hope this helps!



Nate

 

[HoosierDiver]

I've done a couple of dives with my 27 lbs Pioneer wing without the STA, and at the end of the dives, my AL80 was almost at a 45 degree angle. Granted it could just be user error and not getting the cam bands tight enough, but after buying the STA and using it, I would never dive without it.

 

[buff]

Perhaps you can try and secure those STA bolts with some Loctite-or any generic thread locker?

 

[newton]

Originally posted by buff
Perhaps you can try and secure those STA bolts with some Loctite-or any generic thread locker?

I've got a number of options I can try. First, I don't want them so permanent that I can't take the STA off (for warm water dives), so I'm not sure I want to use anything chemical at this point.

Uncle Pug and some others have suggested using a nut with a nylon washer built-in, and I have a couple of those.

However, on *my* Halcyon rig (w/out the STA), they are using a similar setup to my wife's, with bolts and wing-nuts to hold the wing onto the BP. The rig was setup at the dive shop in Seattle I purchased it from after my DIR-F course, and as provided to me, Halcyon uses a bolt, washer, lock-washer, and a wing-nut to hold things together. I've never had any problems in over a dozen dives, although I *have* had to tighten it up once or twice. I'm hoping a similare setup will work for holding my wife's BP together.

If that doesn't work, I'll replace the wing-nut with the nut with the built-in nylon washer (which means I can't take it apart w/out tools), and if *that* doesn't work I may end up going the LocTite route.

In any case, thanks for the suggestion!


Nate

 

[CCDeep]

The lock nuts are what you want. Don't bother with lock-tite or any other glue. The lock nut will do exactly what you want and never loosen, until you want it to. I'm pretty amazed that halcyon doesn't include them in the first place.