Old Yellar Tank Weight

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aquacat8

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465D0D48-F432-4D0C-A1EC-CEC4172AE0CA.jpeg
Has anyone seen/used anything like this? I bought it recently thinking I could use it to turn an AL80 into a steel tank weight wise... or something. (Slapping own hand—must resist dive shop used gear shelf!)
 
I think this dates back to before the AL80 to the AL72, which was a "floater" at about four pounds positive for each tank. I will post a photo of me wearing twins made of these floating tanks, with a PVC tube in the middle holding 8 pounds of weight.

SeaRat
 
What does it weigh? In warm water I need most of my weight around the top of the tank to keep my head down without moving. I string weights on the top bcd strap and the DM's always want to argue about it..
 
If I had not found a workable solution I'd be trying to talk you out of it.
 
9
I think this dates back to before the AL80 to the AL72, which was a "floater" at about four pounds positive for each tank. I will post a photo of me wearing twins made of these floating tanks, with a PVC tube in the middle holding 8 pounds of weight.

SeaRat
Interesting @John C. Ratliff I’d love to see the photos
 
aquacat8,

Below are two photos showing me using the twin AL 72s, which were floaters. I believe they were rated at 2475 psig, and were a full 72 at that rated pressure. The steel 72s were only at 72 cubic feet of air when at a 10% overfill, or 2475 psig. But these steel 72s were stamped at 2250 psig. So unless they had a "+" behind their stamp, they were only about 66 cubic feet of air. On these twin AL 72s, you can see the eight 2-pound weights were contained in the PVC pipe on the back. These weights were originally made for a Mar-Vel integrated weight pack for single tanks, and were 2 pound each, about an inch and a half in diameter, and three or so inches long.

These photos were shot in Clear Lake, Oregon (headwaters of the McKenzie River), and I have a very special wet suit, which incorporates a BC into the back panel of the wet suit. The white on the wet suit's back is a sandwich of two neoprene layers, forming a bladder I could use as a BC. It worked very well, and was designed by Bill Herder of Deep Sea Bill's in Newport, Oregon in the mid-1970s. This photo also dates to that era. These AL tanks had just come onto the market, and people did not like them because of that "floater" situation.

John
 

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This is not vintage. Halcyon/Brownies Dive shop sold them in the mid/late 90's as a trim weight for their single wings. Weighted STA's were better and didn't give you that feeling of it wanting to roll you. Plus, they were a PITA when switching tanks between dives on a rocking boat.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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