Has anyone tried this for AL80s?

[Rollin Bonz]

I have experimented with different bungee thicknesses. It appears that a doubled section of 3/8 inch is appropriate for initial in water testing. The doubled over length also supports the tank well out of the water.

Aside of the single dring approach, I will also be investigating a dual dring on the belt approach where the tank is pinned by the shock cord between two Drings on the belt. In this configuration, the bolt snap on the end of the bungee will be secured to a dring positioned 180 degrees out on the tank band. The bungee will be fed thru both drings on the belt. This should not interfere with the deco or stage bottles. In theory, the primary tank will not be able to rotate around the single dring as was possible with that configuration.

It's awesome you are thinking outside the box to address the issue. I am very interested in seeing pictures when you get this set up (I don't visualize very well). Seems like there'd be a way to mount tanks in SM (other than the standard clips and cord) that depended less on the bouyancy characteristics of the tanks to be trim and comfy, while not sacrificing the flexibility provided by the SM platform. There was a SM tank mounting system someone developed. I think there was a thread on SB with a youtube link. IIRC it was prmarily criticized for the rigidness and metal to metal connections as well as the need to rotate the tank a through a fairly large arc to detach it. I remember also seeing a system where tanks were placed in a mounted "tank bag" or something...

 

[divezonescuba]

The use of bungee allows the tank to move in different axis if necessary. For example, you can put it across your leg to hook in while seated on a boat. You cannot do that with a rigidly mounted system.

 

[stretchthepenn]

A dive shop owner told me of a bungee system that someone had rigged up--it sounds vaguely similar to your idea--that allowed the diver to just tug on a strap and adjust his aluminum tanks from floating butt-up into their proper streamlined positions. It apparently worked like a charm. Problem was, the system was complex, and the diver spent forever getting the system adjusted before diving. It would've been faster and easier to reclip his tanks manually.

 

[divezonescuba]

Update:

The proposed system allows too much slop when using a single belt mounted dring. On the same order as the triangle method. The approach now under investigation is to clip a section of bungee to the bottom bolt snap which is attached to a rear dring and lead the bungee around to the outside of the tank to the front dring. I am using a doubled section of 5/16 bungee with two bolt snaps, one for the ring on the tank bolt snap and the other for the front dring.

 

[Carl_F]

Floaty AL80s shouldn't be floaty when using stage bottles. I was taught to front clip the main tank on the side(s) with the stages from the start. Then the stage bottle clips in to the waist side d-ring. Rotate the stage bottle under the main tank and clip the stage to the top shoulder d-ring. Both bottles are locked in nicely. And no addition of bottle weights to the butt of the AL80. If I have no stages, I move the bottle's bottom clip from the side to the front d-ring ... no muss, no fuss Second nature.