It's quiet in here

[Surelyshirly]

Darn right! But only because I got wimpy this year!

Truk used to dive double 100's and Scuba41girl dives 95's or 100's. We just don't have a good showing for women in our dive club...

When you start teching up, it definitely involves more weight training. Or being a pack mule like TSandM...

Jack you owe me, so you should carry my gear, but Truk dives a rebreather, we really dont catch each other anymore. She is gearing up to dive the Doria and I am stuck in my fins on the AquaPark dock.

Dont tell Mark I said the D word (doubles) my steel tanks weigh in at 47 lbs empty, I cannot imagine carrying 2 at once and surviving to tell about it. Do wish I was closer to this group though to be able to try equipment more my size

 

[Bobbin-along]

Good grief what are you diving with? A welding tank strapped to your back? The only things I can think of that weigh that much are some of the PSTs, a few Fabers, and most Heisers. But last I recall most of them that weigh that much pack some serious gas.

 

[TSandM]

My dive buddy has doubled 130's. I'm not sure I could lift ONE of them, and he walks into the water carrying two. And I've seen him pick up my 85's and put them in my car while he's still wearing his tanks. Awe-inspiring.

So . . . May. I'm gone the 15th through the 21st. I treated myself to a birthday present, and I'm going down to SoCal to spend five wonderful days diving with my would-be best friend, if she lived closer than 1000 miles away . . . HBDiveGirl. I also work 7 days in May, but otherwise, I'm home. Let's set a date certain and do this girl's doubles dive!

 

[Surelyshirly]

Yes the steel 95 and 98 versions of same. Going to St Lwrence in Aug and may be looking for a 3rd steel tank for the dives.

Remaining a single tank diver and diving with a dive buddy who dives doubles (airhogs it but doubles non the less) what would you recommend that would be lighter?

 

[TSandM]

HP 100s. My husband dives them as singles, and I steal them when I can. More gas than my LP 95s, and they're lighter AND smaller.

 

[Bobbin-along]

The HP 100s really are a great tank, plenty of gas to go play around in, better buoyancy characteristics than AL, and a great size/weight for toting around.

 

[BubblesUp]

The HP 100s really are a great tank

I'm with you there! Unfortunately, I didn't find out how fantastic the HP 100 is for my height and body type until after I had purchased four HP 80s.

When it was time to move into doubles, I started by doubling a pair of the HP 80s. While there was nothing particularly bad about them - except for the big boys calling them my "girlie doubles" :blinking: - no amount of adjustment got them to a point where my trim felt so spot on that I could forget about it during the course of a dive.

Fast forward about six months when I decided I wanted more capacity with my doubles. Tried on a buddy's HP 130s just for grins. I could stand up and walk around but had no delusions of grandeur about being able to get myself back aboard a boat.

Next tried a pair of HP 100s, and I was in love! Extra capacity, not too heavy, and the perfect length for my 5'7" frame. Some minor tweaking with band placement and by dive two I could put trim on autopilot and concentrate on other things.

Still have the 80s and dive them as singles. However, if not for the money, I'd have nothing but HP 100s.

 

[Spratman]

Sorry, Shirley. One of my criteria for a dive buddy is you can schlepp your own stuff. That is what endeared me to Truk. I asked her if she humped her own doubles, and she told me that she thought most of the guys were a bunch of p*****s, and probably couldn't carry them. LOL!!

I am still diving single HP120's. For normal quarry diving I can usually get two 45 min. dives out of one. When wreck diving, I might burn about half a tank at 80-100ft. For me the limit is NDL, not so much air.

I'm doubling my 95's for the St. Lawrence and NC wrecks. Also will be taking the adv. nitrox and basic deco next year after basic cave. The biggest problem I have with single 95's is I can't get them low enough, so I'm lawn darting all the time with them. I'm hoping doubled I can shift it back. If not, I'm going with my 120's.

BTW, Evie Dudas still dives doubles but she puts them on in the water. What a gal....

 

[TSandM]

You know, it seems like one of the most frustrating things about doubles is that you can only do SO much to make them work, balance-wise. I just can't trim out the 72s -- Maybe if I were willing to use a weight harness and drop the pouches around my butt, but I don't want to put 22 more pounds on my shoulders. Luckily, the 85s trim out pretty well, and the only weird thing I have to do to balance them is a one pound soft weight in each drysuit undergarment pocket.

But what an annoyance to spend hundreds of dollars on a tank setup, and then find out no matter what you do, you can't balance it.

I'd like to try a set of HP 100s some time, and luckily, I know people who have them; similarly, I'll need to spend some time in fresh water this summer with Al80s on to work out the balance and weighting for cave next year, but I can borrow them. People who don't have a lot of doubles divers around them just don't get to do the experimentation.

 

[Surelyshirly]

I am doing the St Lawrence wrecks in Aug but diving them single. And Jack you have been with me before, I carry my own gear. Up hill. Both ways. Sharing a pair of fins with my brother.

I am carrying my weight in a weight harness and cant say how I feel about that yet. Last boat dive I wasnt getting in the boat on my own and they had to grab my valve and pull

I know there is a happy medium for me out there somewhere. I will find it