Problem trimming out with two deco tanks
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OP
If I remember it correctly, -1.7 is the buoyancy without valve when full? So plus the valve and first stage it should be something around -4 lbs?
-1.4lbs when full (of air or nitrox), in salt water and without the regulator.
Updated SCUBA tank specifications list -- in PDF and spreadsheet
So roughly -5 lbs with nitrox, a regulator, and in fresh water (based on your profile being Ontario).
How heavy is your canister light? Why the reticence to use a horseshoe wing?
One of my recreational level students smilingly came to me telling me that the advice I had given to him earlier on a similar theme was like an old vaudeville joke: A man says to the doctor, "It hurts when I do this," and the doctor says, "don't do that." What I had said to him essentially was "Get over it. Keep diving, and your problem will go away on its own." It did.
You see it in beginning OW classes. Some students swimming with scuba gear for the first time are horribly off balance, and they struggle with that. The problem goes away as they get used to it fairly quickly. When I started tech diving with steel doubles, I felt like I was a losing bronco buster in a rodeo. I got used to it. I sometimes see the same problem with other tech divers with doubles for the first time--they will even roll over onto their backs as they try to get used to it. Before long, they don't even notice a problem.
I carry two deco bottles on the left, often 2 AL 80s, and I never notice it. That is because I have done it enough to get used to it. If you are wearing a standard technical diving rig, you will get used to it, too.
You see it in beginning OW classes. Some students swimming with scuba gear for the first time are horribly off balance, and they struggle with that. The problem goes away as they get used to it fairly quickly. When I started tech diving with steel doubles, I felt like I was a losing bronco buster in a rodeo. I got used to it. I sometimes see the same problem with other tech divers with doubles for the first time--they will even roll over onto their backs as they try to get used to it. Before long, they don't even notice a problem.
I carry two deco bottles on the left, often 2 AL 80s, and I never notice it. That is because I have done it enough to get used to it. If you are wearing a standard technical diving rig, you will get used to it, too.
OP
OP
I agree that I need more practice. Could you give me some tips about how to do it? Can you hover without moving your fins?
My Trimix instructor had me try it both ways ... two on the left and one on each side. He let me get a good bit of time in both configurations so that I could decide for myself which I preferred. He would have me switch configurations mid-dive to also gain experience unclipping and clipping off during a dive. I really appreciated that. I found that I preferred one on each side. So that is how I finished the course and how I dived up until I stopped technical diving altogether.
ADDITION: I only ever dived with two 40s. I have dived with one 80 on the left but not an 80 and a 40 or two 80s. I don't think I'd want an 80 on the right due to issues with the long-hose. I did find that managing long-hose deployment with a 40 on the right worked just fine.
ADDITION: I only ever dived with two 40s. I have dived with one 80 on the left but not an 80 and a 40 or two 80s. I don't think I'd want an 80 on the right due to issues with the long-hose. I did find that managing long-hose deployment with a 40 on the right worked just fine.
Are you wearing any lead at all? Where is the lead now? You can slide a 3lb brick onto the right side waist strap behind the canister light as a little bit of a counterbalance. But you can also just dive a bunch and you will get the hang of carrying two 80s on the left. I would not put an 80 on the right as it traps your long hose.
I've never done it that way because one of my early instructors calls it being slefish, and it really is if you think about it. It may be more comfortable for you having one on each side, but you're basically telling your buddy they're on their own in a situation where you need to donate the long hose since it's trapped.
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