My first doubles dive was...

[H2Andy]

141 dives on singles before my first doubles dive

i found them really easy to handle, once i learned to anticipate the
added negative bouyancy at the beginning of the dive

my first "turtle" was accidental (ain't them all), about 400 feet into the
Pothole Tunnel at Peacock, 7 dives later

 

[Brian Gilpin]

Love em for boat dives in cold water. Gotta watch my time in water more closely now. Single tanks seem to coordinate close enough with min deco limits but with doubles I gotta watch it. Contemplating going tech lite this year.

 

[Jim Baldwin]

Simple enough question- when did you first dive doubles?

About 27 years ago right after open water training. I started with a set of twin 50's. Then picked up a steel 72 and AL 80. Switched to single tanks in the 90's and then it was back to doubles in 2000. And my bp/w looks pretty close to what I started with. All of reg's breathe a whole lot better than that Nemrod Snark II I started with.

 

[Solitude Diver]

I thought they were and that it would be such a big accomplishment to try them. I wanted to go the tech route. I even knew that when I started diving only one year ago on Dec 5. To date, I have dove doubles in a dry suit more than a single in a wet suit. It is very reasonable to dive doubles when that is the equipment required to most safely do the dive (e.g. when redundancy is critical). There is no need to carry the extra equipment just to say you do it.

In general, they are very balanced and easy to handle. As long as you can safely and quickly do shutdowns, you can use them.

I am 5'6", 100lbs, female - I use 2 - 100cu ft steel tanks and a 30 cu ft stage bottle. If I can do it, most can. I am nothing special physically.

I am VERY impressed. That is a pretty good load for anyone, let alone a petite woman. Good for you for tackling it and staying with it. I’m trying to get my wife to upgrade from an AL80 to a LP95 but (at this time) she doesn’t want to add the extra weight. And she’s fairly athletic (from kicking my *** all of the time).

Like yourslef and some of the other posters…..I also knew that I intended to get into technical and wreck diving, so I started with double hp130's at about 32 dives, and I dove them for almost all of my next 60 or so dives so they became second nature to me and helped in getting ready for more advanced diving. Now I dive with them about ½ of the time just to keep in shape.

 

[Blitz]

I was well into a thousand dives before I got into doubles.

 

[*Floater*]

dive 33. only 10 dives in them so far, but i like 'em. i don't know why some people think doubles are a big deal. maybe they should just make a 160 cu.ft. al single tank in the shape of doubles and then it would be just like using one big tank...

 

[H2Andy]

maybe they should just make a 160 cu.ft. al single tank in the shape of doubles

hey, there's an idea...

i would love to have a large tank shaped like a turtle shell... would make people
look twice, that's for sure

 

[fire_diver]

I think that design would seriously weaken its pressure abilities.

 

[Sunshine22]

I am VERY impressed. That is a pretty good load for anyone, let alone a petite woman. Good for you for tackling it and staying with it. I’m trying to get my wife to upgrade from an AL80 to a LP95 but (at this time) she doesn’t want to add the extra weight. And she’s fairly athletic (from kicking my *** all of the time).

Like yourslef and some of the other posters…..I also knew that I intended to get into technical and wreck diving, so I started with double hp130's at about 32 dives, and I dove them for almost all of my next 60 or so dives so they became second nature to me and helped in getting ready for more advanced diving. Now I dive with them about ½ of the time just to keep in shape.

Thanks for the encouragement! Your wife may enjoy knowing that there is absolutely no need to wear an additional weight with the doubles - even double AL80s. But I guess she is not considering doubles, but rather a larger single. I would think the LP95 would be large, no? The 100s I have are very similar in size to an AL80, but are HP Steel 100. Heavy, yes (while walking on shore or climbing your butt back onto a boat!) I was recently in Truk Lagoon and the options were a Steel 108 in a single or single or double AL80s. The steel 108s were overfilled and basically had almost the same amount of air as the double 80s. I tried both and felt the double 80s were far superior. That steel 108 was HUGE. Anyway, my attitude toward the tank set-up is really about what you need for the specific dive. If you need an AL80, then dive that. If you need double HP130s, dive that. The most important thing, I think, is not to get to a site and determine that the best set-up is one you've never tried. My opinion is that its good to be versatile and experienced with many set-ups, especially when you travel different places that may have different things than you are used to. Sounds like that is your philosophy too and I just wanted to re-inforce your point for others that may be interested.

By the way, Seahawks look good this year! Best team in the NFC. Also like your screen name. Sounds like me.

 

[Sunshine22]

I am VERY impressed. That is a pretty good load for anyone, let alone a petite woman. Good for you for tackling it and staying with it. I’m trying to get my wife to upgrade from an AL80 to a LP95 but (at this time) she doesn’t want to add the extra weight. And she’s fairly athletic (from kicking my *** all of the time).

Like yourslef and some of the other posters…..I also knew that I intended to get into technical and wreck diving, so I started with double hp130's at about 32 dives, and I dove them for almost all of my next 60 or so dives so they became second nature to me and helped in getting ready for more advanced diving. Now I dive with them about ½ of the time just to keep in shape.

Thanks for the encouragement! Although I'm sure you told her this already, your wife may enjoy knowing that there is absolutely no need to wear an additional weight with the doubles - even double AL80s. But I guess she is not considering doubles, but rather a larger single. I would think the LP95 would be large, no? The 100s I have are very similar in size to an AL80, but are HP Steel 100. Heavy, yes (while walking on shore or climbing your butt back onto a boat!) I was recently in Truk Lagoon and the options were a Steel 108 in a single or single or double AL80s. The steel 108s were overfilled and basically had almost the same amount of air as the double 80s. I tried both and felt the double 80s were far superior. That steel 108 was HUGE. Anyway, my attitude toward the tank set-up is really about what you need for the specific dive. If you need an AL80, then dive that. If you need double HP130s, dive that. The most important thing, I think, is not to get to a site and determine that the best set-up is one you've never tried. My opinion is that its good to be versatile and experienced with many set-ups, especially when you travel different places that may have different things than you are used to. Sounds like that is your philosophy too and I just wanted to re-inforce your point for others that may be interested.

By the way, Seahawks look good this year! Best team in the NFC. Also like your screen name. Sounds like me.