Helium for a 50% bailout bottle?

[flymolo]

Are people putting helium in their 50% bailout deco gas mixes? I'm considering adding some helium to my AL80 of 50% to make it a bit lighter in the water especially when carrying 2 bailout deco gas mixes on CCR. What are people adding in terms of He?

 

[tbone1004]

the helium penalty on deco would be prohibitive as well as the cost. It would be nice if the bottles were lighter, but not sure I'm willing to spend $30 and an extra half hour on deco to make it lighter...

 

[grantctobin]

Are people putting helium in their 50% bailout deco gas mixes? I'm considering adding some helium to my AL80 of 50% to make it a bit lighter in the water especially when carrying 2 bailout deco gas mixes on CCR. What are people adding in terms of He?

I'd consider avoiding it unless you also have oxygen as a third gas, but not the most substantial argument.

Options:
-Run bottle lighter (e.g 18/45 3000psi 50% ~2400ish psi, I think @Tracy does this)
-Run something 50/15ish
-Run Catalina 18/45, Luxfer 50%
-Suck it up? (I dislike full 50% bottles too)

There's always the "strap a camelback to it" or use the Dive Rite No-Mount Bladder, but I would only do either of those in a cave where I was ditching the bottle and needed to bring it a ways in.

 

[Tracy]

I do.
I run my deep bailout around 18/45 at 3200 psi and 50/10 at 2600 for my deco bailout. They trim out nearly the same with those mixes and pressures.
For OC deco, no way I would spend that money. Bailouts get filled and left for years.

 

[PfcAJ]

In a cave it doesn't really matter if its heavy. Do you have a long transit before you can drop it?

In open water, an al40 of 50% and an al40 of oxygen is enough for most things. Pretty light and not all your eggs are in one basket.

Im unsure if there's any real "penalty" for using helium in a 50% bottle. I know quite a few guys that do it with RB80 and it seems fine.

 

[flymolo]

Thanks all, appreciate the suggestions. For OW diving, carrying a 40 cuft of 50% and a 40 cuft of o2 sounds like a reasonable compromise to a carrying an 80 and a 40.

 

[tbone1004]

Thanks all, appreciate the suggestions. For OW diving, carrying a 40 cuft of 50% and a 40 cuft of o2 sounds like a reasonable compromise to a carrying an 80 and a 40.

I would take a less full 80 vs. a full 40 any day of the week personally. An 80 at 2200psi or so is lighter in the water than a 40 and still has more gas. Full 40's aren't egregious, but I would rather deal with the extra size

 

[PfcAJ]

I would take a less full 80 vs. a full 40 any day of the week personally. An 80 at 2200psi or so is lighter in the water than a 40 and still has more gas. Full 40's aren't egregious, but I would rather deal with the extra size

Not me, man. Id much rather have a smaller tank. Less bulk is mo betta

 

[macado]

I've always just sucked it up on a rebreather because I already have a bunch of 50% bottles blended and didn't feel like going through the trouble of adding helium or re-blending them. I do know people who put an arbitrary amount of He (15% or 20%) to make the bottles float better though.

Two sidemounted AL80s - 18/45 (or 15/55) on left and 50% on right is my typical Great Lakes / ocean configuration for 200'. The floaty trimix stage does throw my OCD off but I just front clip the trimix stage on the left like I would do with a floaty 32% sidemount bottle. Under filling the 50% just feels "wrong" to me.

 

[rjack321]

I've always just sucked it up on a rebreather because I already have a bunch of 50% bottles blended and didn't feel like going through the trouble of adding helium or re-blending them. I do know people who put an arbitrary amount of He (15% or 20%) to make the bottles float better though.

Two sidemounted AL80s - 18/45 (or 15/55) on left and 50% on right is my typical Great Lakes / ocean configuration for 200'. The floaty trimix stage does throw my OCD off but I just front clip the trimix stage on the left like I would do with a floaty 32% sidemount bottle. Under filling the 50% just feels "wrong" to me.

Just slap a 2lb weight on the trimix 80. Everyone needs a ton of lead in the Great Lakes anyway might as well move that tiny chunk off your waist to fix the bottle trim.

Thanks all, appreciate the suggestions. For OW diving, carrying a 40 cuft of 50% and a 40 cuft of o2 sounds like a reasonable compromise to a carrying an 80 and a 40.

Although this is not lighter than a full 80 of 50%