Need to buy new Tanks, which one?

[ChrisA]

,,,,,I've been diving for about 30 years, and have all my friends old equipment as they got out... I have a variety of tanks, mostly alum 80 and 100 (and a 65) that have been hydro' at least 3 times. (oh! plus a steel 73 and 100)....

The best of the modern stell tanks are the ones with fill pressures of 3442. These typically are sold with convertible DIN/Yoke values that fit either reg type. You can of cource fill the 3442 rated tank to less, like 3000. Some shops charge more for a fill over 3000 and some boats can't fill over 3000. if you buy a 100 cu ft tank a 3000psi fill gives about 87 cu ft.

The new steel tanks are about 1 pound negative so you will loose some weight off you belt. But you say you dive in warm water in FL. maybe you don't have 6 pounds to loose of would prefer to carry dichable weights. If you you can't use a tank that is negative buoyant. Here is California everyone uses 20 to 30 pounds of lead and is happy to loose some of that and so steel tanks are common.

 

[MrBill_FTL]

Since I'm lobster diving mostly, I over weight... maybe 22-25 lbs. I want to stay on bottom, and dont cover that much ground.... running ledges.. with the kayak its a drift dive, in 25' so a lot of bottom time... BUT getting in the kayak is tricky... I attach to kayak, get in, then pull everything in.

cleaning out the garage, I found a old 72, (giving away), and what looks like an old steel 100.

I rarely used the steel tank.. too damm heavy! so I'm thinking whats the difference between new steel and old steel? yeah I might take some weight off my belt, but I distribute the weight better with the belt.

It would be really hard for me to pull this 100 steel up on the kayak.. too thick, and too heavy.


so heres the question.

how does total weight of a alum 80 vs total wt of HP steel 100 compare?

at $350 a pop, I hate to buy steels and regret it.... seems most of you guy love them, but how many beach dive?

anyone now what these tanks are?

nobody wants to fill 20+ yr old thanks around here..

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h169/ftldiver2/P7030002.jpg

 

[MrBill_FTL]

wow, sorry about the wide format..

does anyone want these tanks? speak up quick..... local pickup only.

like I said, the big shops (padi 5 star) dont want to touch any tank over 20yrs old.

how much does a hp 100 steel weigh? I'll weigh my 80 and compare.

I can pull the 80, w/ BC with 8lbs in it, up no problem.

or, how much difference between the new hp 100 and
the orange tank?

my understanding is the hp 100 has diameter of an Alum 80, and
is slightly shorter than the alum 80. (great!)

but if the weight is like the steel 100, I'm better off with the alum 80...




what am I not getting?..........

 

[CompuDude]

http://www.techdivinglimited.com/pub/tanks.html

Compare the "Empty Weight, lbs" column for the Aluminum 80 (31-35 lbs depending on the make) to the HP100 (33-34 lbs for PST and Worthington).

Looks like the newer tanks are indeed lighter than your old tank.

Does that answer your question?

 

[MrBill_FTL]

thanks! yes, I ll think I weight this lp 95 just for fun...

Ok, 1st my girlfriend LOVES this scale, so it must be a little light... but check this out!

 

[MrBill_FTL]

as y0ou can see it was raining... but about 55#'s for a lp 95?

bye bye....

 

[Otto]

Go to the chart as indicated by CompuDude and do a little studying. I would note that some LP cylinders have the same boyancy characteristics as the aluminum 80s youve been diving. I dive the Faber LP120s and love them, but be prepared, they are a LARGE tank. I can't even guess how much bottom time you could get a 25' but you might have to take a lunch. A 3000lb fill on a 2640 lb cylinder is almost 137cu ft of gas. You may be able to get two dives out of 1 cylinder. If your not diving Nitrox I would look into it if it is available locally. Good luck.

 

[spectrum]

MrBill_FTL

Let's start with the AL80 to HP80 discussion (apples / apples) and go from there, please read my rant:
http://home.gwi.net/~spectrum/scuba_al80.html
That should explain why many of us are fond of HP steels and since you are not just standing up and jumping from a boat they are wonderful for walking in and out on shore dives.

HP steels are lighter than old LP steels because they are pumpeed up a lot higher making for more gas in a smaller package. It should be noted that over time HP steels are not as likely to be as indestructable as non abused LP steel cylinders. The LP cylindrers have a HUGE safety margin makes the very heavy.

Now if you want to understand what happens when you go to 100CF in a HP steel just revist the calculations with the 100 CF values from the table or other source.

Pete

 

[MrBill_FTL]

FX 100 vs X7-100 ?

looking at the tank spec's looks like fx100 is superior to fx100 (sold locally)

does anyone know what TRIPLE coating means? 3 coats of paint (on the fx100)


how about a cheap source for FX100 tanks?

 

[CompuDude]

Cheap source of HP100s? Used.

Yes, triple coated refers to painted tanks, 3 coats.. Note that the Fabers (the only folks that coat their tanks like that) are really heavy. Way heavier than the PST or Worthington tanks. Sometimes that's good, sometimes not. I also prefer the galvanized coating on the PST/Worth. tanks as it is more maintenance-free and doesn't chip like paint can, even triple coated paint. But Fabers are good tanks, you won't go wrong, you'll just have more weight to lift.