This is a thread on AL80s. It is not a thread on AL versus steel. So, if you use steel that great, but this has nothing to do with that. Having said that:
One of the recognized advantages of AL is the ready availability of standard not modular valved AL80s almost anywhere in the Caribbean.
One of the recognized disadvantages of AL is the shift in Bouyancy as the tank becomes increasingly depleted. The butt end of the tank becomes positive. Several methods have been employed to address this including weights on the tank, sliding drings and moving the bottom clip to a more frontal dring. Another method is to bungee down or use a double ender on a front dring to prevent the tank from floating up.
I would like to know if anyone has experimented with the use of bungee, strap, or cordage fed thru a dring or loop of webbing on the belt to prevent the tank bottoms from coming up. Although there are many variations on this, the concept basically works like this.
A bungee, strap, or cordage section which I will call a leader is attached to the bottom of the tank. The leader can be some combination of those materials. This could be with a triglide and a tank band or just a loop thru a hose clamp. The leader is perhaps 15 to 18 inches depending on your setup. At the end of the leader is a bolt snap. The leader preferably 5/16 inch bungee is fed thru the waist dring or preferably a loop of webbing fixed on the belt. The leader is then clipped to the top tank bolt snap ring. Obviously the top bolt snap is used in conjunction with something like a ring bungee with choker system. There should be some tension on the leader bungee.
The leader is easy to snap as it is up near the top of the tank. When the tank is negative, it hangs down slightly off of the dring or webbing. When the tank is positive, it cannot float up significantly because it is trapped in the fixed webbing loop or fixed dring. I think that the tank can only rotate up and down around the webbing or dring axis. The smaller the dring or webbing loop,the smaller the tank can rotate.
The concept provides some movement of the tanks due to the non rigid attachment with the webbing loop or dring and bungee. So if you need to move the tank out to reach a front dring for clipping a decotank or getting into a pocket, you can do so.
So what I am asking is if anyone has tried something like this. It does not seem to be in either the Neto or the Loflin references.
If no one had tried this yet, I will do so and report back on this concept.
Thank you.
One of the recognized advantages of AL is the ready availability of standard not modular valved AL80s almost anywhere in the Caribbean.
One of the recognized disadvantages of AL is the shift in Bouyancy as the tank becomes increasingly depleted. The butt end of the tank becomes positive. Several methods have been employed to address this including weights on the tank, sliding drings and moving the bottom clip to a more frontal dring. Another method is to bungee down or use a double ender on a front dring to prevent the tank from floating up.
I would like to know if anyone has experimented with the use of bungee, strap, or cordage fed thru a dring or loop of webbing on the belt to prevent the tank bottoms from coming up. Although there are many variations on this, the concept basically works like this.
A bungee, strap, or cordage section which I will call a leader is attached to the bottom of the tank. The leader can be some combination of those materials. This could be with a triglide and a tank band or just a loop thru a hose clamp. The leader is perhaps 15 to 18 inches depending on your setup. At the end of the leader is a bolt snap. The leader preferably 5/16 inch bungee is fed thru the waist dring or preferably a loop of webbing fixed on the belt. The leader is then clipped to the top tank bolt snap ring. Obviously the top bolt snap is used in conjunction with something like a ring bungee with choker system. There should be some tension on the leader bungee.
The leader is easy to snap as it is up near the top of the tank. When the tank is negative, it hangs down slightly off of the dring or webbing. When the tank is positive, it cannot float up significantly because it is trapped in the fixed webbing loop or fixed dring. I think that the tank can only rotate up and down around the webbing or dring axis. The smaller the dring or webbing loop,the smaller the tank can rotate.
The concept provides some movement of the tanks due to the non rigid attachment with the webbing loop or dring and bungee. So if you need to move the tank out to reach a front dring for clipping a decotank or getting into a pocket, you can do so.
So what I am asking is if anyone has tried something like this. It does not seem to be in either the Neto or the Loflin references.
If no one had tried this yet, I will do so and report back on this concept.
Thank you.