Reason for diving with two reg's?

[IJS]

If it makes you feel any better ive been diving for 3-4 years and been hanging around divers all my life and i had never seen a tank with a H valve i.e. twin post manifold in my life until one of the guys in my club bought one off the internet second hand. We all find it an incredibly bizarre thing.

I do see alot of guys diving with pony bottles though which ive never really understood. Even if the worse happened and your 1st stage stopped functioning surely that's one of the reasons why we dive in pairs. It seems that the pony bottles cause more incidents than they solve through the added complexity they bring. The amount of equipment these divers are carrying for fairly shallow dives is absolutely ridiculous sometimes.

For some people it is just a security blanket. No real reason to have it but it just makes them feel better.

 

[HenrikBP]

Sorry Mossback - didn't mean to get your hackles up with the 2-reg comment (kidding - really)

I think it's important to realize the we all dive in very different conditions, and what works for one site and set of conditions may or may not apply to another.

For me, I'm working on skills for deeper (soft overhead - deco) dives and overhead environments. People with much more experience and smarts than I have done a lot of work coming up with systems that minimize risk in those conditions. So I currently (locally) "practice" as I hope one day to "play". I.e. doubles with isolation manifold, 2 1st stages etc. etc.

I am however just thrilled when I get the chance to don a 3 mil suit and do a leisurely shallow dive in a single tank rig on a Freedom plate. One day the plan is for that single reg to be my PRAM

Henrik

 

[cloudflint]

true enough, different conditions and dive profiles will require different levels of equipment. So long as people feel safe and ARE safe then by all means im not going to complain, i would rather be ranting that people have to much redundancy than two little

 

[oldmossback]

Thanks guys...Y'all have varied thoughts on this....I'm speaking of a second regulator, 1st and 2nd stage on a separate duel post or tank valve..........perhaps you don't see many folks in the sport with this unless they are diving with a specific task in mind, like some of you apparently do........but the manufactures have moved their way..........thus encouraging this redundancy in all diving.........

True, most of the money is in tourist diving...not in specialized parts of the sport like wreck diving etc........and there isn't a lot of change there......especially with needing twin tanks..........however, when a new diver wants to invest in twins for whatever reason, they are lead to buy a second regulator. Why? There are two valve posts on the manifold!

A single reg can support a octo..........don't need a separate second reg do you? If your buddy is needing your octo or takes your primary, he has a problem and both of you need to surface........not continue to dive.............

Diving alone or with a buddy.......perhaps the bailout bottle is necessary..for out of air situations, but that is due to poor planning, poor monitering etc....not equip malfunctions......but you don't need a 80cuft for a shallow dive to 60 feet if your dive is planned, do you?

So where is the sport diver training now?

 

[Nemrod]

Oldmoss, small double sets in the past were used, not to provide redundancy nor to increase air capacity, but instead to produce a low profile rig with good balance that could be worn low on the back for use with double hose regs. Today, the ONLY reason that divers go to doubles is for redundancy and increased capacity. That is the answer to your question.

N

 

[JamesBon92007]

Today, the ONLY reason that divers go to doubles is for redundancy and increased capacity. That is the answer to your question.
N

I just want them so I'll look "cool."

I'm with oldmossback on all this--I just look and wonder what all that stuff is supposed to be for. My dilemma is that my two daughters want to learn how to scuba dive. I have looked into training and have come to no conclusions other than my wife and I are probably going to teach them how to dive before they take a dive class. Then they can decide for themselves if and what additional stuff they might need or want. Of course my wife and I can't teach them about Nitrox or computers and maybe a couple of other things but we want to be sure they get the same thorough training we got. They can have an octopus and BC and computer and all that if they want but at least they'll know how to buddy breathe and do the dive tables and figure out how much weight they need without the BC. I have piles of electronics that don't work and didn't last very long and didn't work all that great to begin with so I'm having a lot of trouble accepting the idea of counting on an electronic gizmo that is going to be subjected to salt water under a lot of pressure and getting banged around.

 

[formula1mb@aol.com]

As far as I know too, back in the early days of diving, there weren't any huge steel tanks available today like the HP 100's, 120's, 130's, and 149's. So if you needed more gas the only choice would be to double up.

You can still do that today but if you want to keep it simple and have a good amount of volume, you have the option of getting one of the single steel tanks.

 

[oldmossback]

Nemrod,
Twin 38's hold 76 cuft of air at the plus rating........about the same as an al 80. which is bout 77cuft at 3000psi and twin 40's beat an al 80 hands down at 79cuft.
I continue to dive with twin 38's to this date......I am not a tall fellow so the short tanks are really comfortable, I can sit down in a boat or on a bench and these do not ride up like a 72 or 80...and they balance well on my back, as others who have used them can attest too..I have used a wing and backpack but now just mil. straps and a horse collar...however, I do use al. 80's when I go on trips cause that's all they have.

I'd like another sent of modern thirty eights or 40's.....prefer steel, but Wellington does not make them anymore.......and there are no modern single post single valve twin manifolds made!

I believe that if there were some enterprizing manufacture or manufactures who could develope a light weight tank in steel rated at 2475 std pressure or higher that there would be an interest in the lighter shorter tanks for normal sport diving............of course one would need a proper manifold as well..........they'd be cheaper as the extra valving would not be needed.

But it seems the trend to double redundency is making it's way into the sport diving community in general and I just wanted to know why?

 

[Nemrod]

Nemrod,
Twin 38's hold 76 cuft of air at the plus rating........about the same as an al 80. which is bout 77cuft at 3000psi and twin 40's beat an al 80 hands down at 79cuft.
I continue to dive with twin 38's to this date......I am not a tall fellow so the short tanks are really comfortable, I can sit down in a boat or on a bench and these do not ride up like a 72 or 80...and they balance well on my back, as others who have used them can attest too..I have used a wing and backpack but now just mil. straps and a horse collar...however, I do use al. 80's when I go on trips cause that's all they have.

I'd like another sent of modern thirty eights or 40's.....prefer steel, but Wellington does not make them anymore.......and there are no modern single post single valve twin manifolds made!

I believe that if there were some enterprizing manufacture or manufactures who could develope a light weight tank in steel rated at 2475 std pressure or higher that there would be an interest in the lighter shorter tanks for normal sport diving............of course one would need a proper manifold as well..........they'd be cheaper as the extra valving would not be needed.

But it seems the trend to double redundency is making it's way into the sport diving community in general and I just wanted to know why?

You are preaching to the choir, I fully understand what you are saying but you asked why and the answer I gave you is the why.

N

 

[duckbill]

oldmossback, diving muddy Texas lakes is technical diving. You really should be diving with two regulators, or three or four.