Should I veto the 'free' boots that come w/tank?

[Lemonade]

Steel tanks unlike aluminum have round bottom and will not stand without a boot.
If you plan on ever diving off a boat you're going to want tanks that can stand on the bench.

Less or none of an issue if the tanks are doubled up.

 

[wedivebc]

they're not necessary. The arguement for protection, standing them up and so forth are the usual marketing hype the LDS uses to get you to buy them

Pretty sure he said they were free

 

[Lemonade]

PST Tanks come with boots from factory. But if customer doesn't know that: "hey, buy a pair, I'll even throw in free boots"

 

[alemaozinho]

I'm going to buy my first cylinders (Pressed Steel). The place I am going to buy them from puts boots on at no additional charge. Should I ask them not to? I hear they interfere with cleaning off the tank, possibly leading to corrosion. Personally, I'm not crazy about their appearance. And my pu truck bed has longitudinal grooves that I think would prevent the tanks from rolling (plus I could get one of those rack things). Do any dive boats insist that tanks have boots for cushioning purposes? How easy is it to remove and install boots? I am thinking about asking to ship but not attach them.

Thanks,
Dave

have you ever seen someone removing a tank boot other then getting it ready for hydro or DIR

 

[DEEPLOU]

Single tank, right?

Get the boots.

I always stand my tank on a wall or a bench to don and doff it when diving the dive park, or on most dive boats. Likewise, I stand it up when putting the BP/W on the thing... the tank stands up, the wetted BP/W slides on. I even store them in the garage standing up. Had my 130 for about a year, and my HP100 for 5 years... Never a tip over, a knock over or a careless accident. I don't get all the hoopla.
K

A steel tank w/o a boot there is no chance for it to tip over or get knocked over. .... That's cause it can't stand in the first place!

Be careful, be smart and you won't have a tip over incident (the tank, not the beer...)

Why just the tank, don't want to lose that beer either.

I keep the boots. Knock them off every so often and clean the bottom and put them back on.

 

[hantzu701]

Depends on the diving that you're doing.

I like the look of the tanks without the boot. If I need to squeeze through a tight spot, I feel comfortable with squeezing through since I know that I don't have a lip to snag or catch on.

However, I do not like the inherit instability of trying to put on a bp/wing on a tank which doesn't have a boot, then trying to put the whole rig on. It's much easier to set the tank down (w/ boot), slide into the harness and off u go. Most of the places that I get airfills also do not like filling my tanks without a tank book.

so I guess, get the tank boot if ur tank bottom is round. Don't bother if it's flat (eg. AL80's)

As for placing the tank down, I have seen tanks fall over. Usually it's because someone was careless and bumped into a standing tank. There was one tank that was left standing on a picnic table while the owner went to change. Someone set their tank on the table too and the standing tank went flying.

 

[bridgediver]

Pretty sure he said they were free

Yeah he did but the argument for using boots comes from marketing hype IMO.

Boats should have a system to secure a tank whether it has a boot or not so you shouldn't need to worry about standing them up - unless the captain is a moron

I've also heard of situations where a diver ditching a weight belt can have the belt get hung up on the boot lip - obviously not a good thing

 

[Green_Manelishi]

Get 'em. They are free (yeah, right)

You can use them to stand the tanks in your cellar, unless you don't mind them lying on the floor.

If you have them and don't need them you can remove them but if you have no boots and the LDS or dive boat, etc. requires them, for any reason, you'll be SOL.

 

[Former FLL Now MSP Diver]

Take them if they're free. You can always sell them, or give them away to someone if you really don't want to keep them.

Marc

 

[wedivebc]

Yeah he did but the argument for using boots comes from marketing hype IMO.

Boats should have a system to secure a tank whether it has a boot or not so you shouldn't need to worry about standing them up - unless the captain is a moron

I've also heard of situations where a diver ditching a weight belt can have the belt get hung up on the boot lip - obviously not a good thing

I like to stand my doubles up in the back of my truck or on the boat while getting the harness on. There was no marketing hype required to get me to want boots.
I don't use a ditchable weight belt so no problem there.

So any boat captain who doesn't have the ability to secure unbooted tanks is a moron?