rotating to one side w/ PST E7-100...is this normal?

[O'Malley]

Took my PST E7-100 on it's first dive today and, although happy to drop 6 pounds, darn tank kept rotating me to the right. Is this a characteristic of steel that improves over time or simply something I need to compensate for...thought at first I had weighted myself unevenly...nope.

 

[Furner]

If you sit it on a flat surface, will it roll by itself? If so, that would be a good sign that the tank is not balanced. Or maybe you are setting up your new tank different than your old one?

 

[teknitroxdiver]

It will most likely also roll you to the left. You have to keep in mind that instead of being only a few pounds negative and going positive like an AL80, the E7-100 will be substantially negative for most of the dive and thus will want to be on the bottom side of the balance. Pretty soon you'll figure it out and won't even notice it. I suppose there's a small chance that the tank is lopsided, roll it slowly across the floor a few times and see if the same side always faces down. However that is very unlikely.

 

[O'Malley]

...other than weight adjustment, my set-up is consistent with diving AL80's and rolling the tank ruled out lopsideness...thanks for the info; just gonna keep diving until compensation becomes intrinsic

 

[jonnythan]

What kinda BC do you use?

 

[O'Malley]

I dive a Knighthawk BC; made 3 dives with E7-100 yesterday...consistently filled to 3100 psi...12 pounds of weight evenly distributed in integrated weight pockets of BC...tank position unchanged from diving AL80's; rotated to right from begining of dives until ending dives with around 1000-1200 psi remaining.

 

[Snowbear]

With dives, you'll learn to balance the new tank without even thinking about it.
One advantage of using a wing or other bak inflate BC is that you can move the gas around so it "cradles" the tank and keeps it centered. With a jacket style BC all the gas is around your body so it can't help you out as much. That said, you can still learn to balance the tank and ater a few dives you likely won't even have to think about it.

 

[lhpdiver]

I dive a Knighthawk (it IS a back inflate) and I also dive E7-100s. I have experienced the swaying like sensation you mention. I don't know about you but I could probably dive the Knighthawk with just the cumberbund, but I do the other two clips as well. But - I often enter the water without tightening down the shoulder straps, and even when I do they often work themselves loose. When I feel the tank swaying on my back I tighten up the shoulder straps.