Scubapro Tank Cam Bands

[mahjong]

Here's the saga: I have only ever dove Scubapro tank cam bands. When I dove Scubapro BC's, the cam band length was never an issue with any tank. I eventually switched to BP/wing/STA, and suddenly the cam band length became an issue. With my own Scubapro Steel 95's, no problem. But when I left for HK and started diving local AL80's with my BP/wing/STA setup, the Scubapro cam bands were too long. In HK, no problem: I had my local dive shop owner simply shorten the cam bands using the sewing machine he uses to make custom neoprene wetsuits.

Now I'm back in the US and looking to setup a warm water rig for when I travel--Caribbean or SE Asia or the Mediterranean. I was for several years a minor Scubapro collector and during that time acquired an S-Tek Harness (brand new with tags) and a used but in excellent condition Trav-Tek wing. This rig has two brand new Scubapro cam bands on it. I don't own an AL80, but I'm wondering if these cam bands might be too long to grab AL80 tanks. I do know that these bands are too long to grab an AL80 tank if they were threaded through a simple STA.

Does anyone have any experience diving an S-Tek harness with AL80 tanks? Are the cam bands too long? Or do they work just fine?

Many thanks!

 

[aquaregia]

I'm going to be at Monterey Breakwater on Saturday, diving an AL80. If you were going to be down there anyway, you could see if your BC fits my tank.

 

[knowone]

The circumference of an AL80 is around 21 inches.

 

[halocline]

The cam bands are adjustable, aren't they? Mine are. I cannot imagine any of those style bands that are not adjustable. Mine have a long velcro strip, others have a pair of keepers.

 

[redacted]

My original Scubapro cam bands are on the long side on my BP when I use an Al80 or HP100 but they still work OK (that is there is some velcro overlap). I have rebuilt some older SP cam bands using metal triglides rather than stitching for fasteners. They work fine and would even work on smaller diameter tanks like and LP72.

Those SP bands look like they are made to accommodate the rather complex weave through the pack on a conventional BC and get a little long on a BP.

 

[cheeko8080]

I've found that with my ScubaPro super cinch cam bands on either the BP with no STA or with the STA I need to slide the buckles all the way to my left shoulder. With Al80s they work fine for both for me.

 

[mahjong]

Exactly.