Solo diving in heavy gear

[nielsent]

Until recently i have been diving solo with an AL80 and a slung AL40, and have been considering doing deeper diving. As a result, I was thinking about using my doubles. However, my doubles are pressed steel LP120's. Though heavy, I have no trouble working with these tanks shore diving, and I have done enough dives with them to be comfortable with these tanks.

I was curious if there are other solo divers out there that use heavier setups while solo diving, or if there is some sort of consensus to use light equipment? Also, if you do use heavy equipment, is there any special planning in yours dives in order to help mitigate the risks of using big tanks. (e.g. keeping your reg in your mouth during entry/exit in case you fall on your face and can't immediately get up.)

Thanks in advance all.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Is the gear in this pic heavy enough...

There's another tank on my right. Actually, I was going light that day. Usually I have 2 more tanks on the right.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I'll typically solo dive wearing double 119's ... I will also usually be carrying a camera with dual strobes, and sometimes an additional AL40. Depending on conditions I may or may not enter the water with a reg in my mouth. But I always have one safely stowed on a necklace just underneath my chin, where I can find it in a hurry if needed.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[Stoo]

I don't understand the OPs question? Do you rely on a buddy to carry your gear or something? I ALWAYS wear doubles diving solo. Usually LP 80s, but I also have LP 95s and HP 130s. I also dive from my boat almost always. By Significant Other/Boat Tender (who literally weighs 98#) isn't much help other than for steading tanks while I slide into them, and clipping stages on.

My most common configuration is using the 80s and a sling 30 or 40 with some deco juice...

Solo diving "demands" a more complex configuration I guess... You need to wear your buddies gear as well.

 

[nielsent]

Stoo,

Until recently I have only been doing solo dives to relatively shallow depths using a single AL80 with slung AL40 stage. I have only used my doubles for buddy diving, but really enjoy diving with them and was thinking about starting to dive solo with them. My doubles are heavy, simple as that. Even though I am capable of donning and doffing them on my own, I had a concern about their weight, and thought i would ask people here if they used a similar configuration for solo diving. I was curious if other solo divers tend to stay away from heavier gear for safety reasons, or if they use the same gear all the time.

I hope that clarifies the question.



I hope this

 

[DaleC]

I dive the same gear buddy or solo; twin Al 80's or St 72's. The only time I dive a single tank now is shallow vintage dives.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Hi nielsent,

I think the consideration is whether or not the extra weight of doubles will make it more likely for you to have a problem on entry and exit.

And I think this consideration applies equally to diving solo or with buddies.

There are shore dives I do here in Hilo that might be difficult with doubles on, simply because you have to climb in and out of the water on our lava coastline.

I have to consider:

1. Can I physically get in/out of the water with the extra weight on my back?
2. Will the extra weight "unbalance" me and make it easier to slip and fall walking across uneven, slippery lava surfaces to and from the shore entry point?

My feeling is that if you are comfortable buddy-diving at a particular site with doubles, there should really be no difference solo.... your chances of falling don't increase just because you are solo, but the consequences of falling and injuring yourself when solo could be significant....

It is good to work through all the "what if's" however.

Best wishes.

 

[AfterDark]

Another question to ask is whether you'll be able to drop any lead with the doubles config. I just bought a 102 steel with allowed me to drop 10 pounds of lead, it actually lighten my config. Sometimes the gain is in the trade off.

 

[Stoo]

I hope that clarifies the question.

It does. Sorry, I'm a little slow! I'm also a big fan of redundancy, but almost of my diving is deep-ish...

I agree, that the figgin things are getting heavier with time. I'm thinking of racking up a set of twin AL40s... All the redundancy and none of the bulk!

 

[r4e]

Normally I dive with doubles and one sling tank. Today I had two. I also have a large camera. Typically I dive from my 7.8m/26ft RIB boat out at sea without anyone watching the boat. I do carry a personal EPIRB that is stowed into a watertight (to 150m/450ft depth) canister attached to my backplate.

I place the deco tanks and camera on a line before rolling into water. I wear a dry suit both for warmth and extra security. When in water, I attach the remaining gear.

On the way back, I remove all gear in water before climbing to my boat. As an extra caution I have additional ropes hanging from the boat. Since my bp/w has a very tight (DIR) fit, it might take a while before I have succesfully flipped the bp/w over my head and gotten my hands freed. Thus it is a good idea to hold to the rope in order to minimize chance of drifting away from the boat.

I do not have any weights on me. Thus no weights to discard apart from the dive lamp, its battery, my spare lamps, the Argon bottle, the EPIRB and the sling tank(s).

When shore diving, I try to undress the gear as soon as poss, e.g. at waterline. Just to minimize any postdive effort.