Solo diving in heavy gear

[Akimbo]

From the title, I was expecting heavy gear, aka deep sea or hard hat.

In this case, I would say a solo diver in particular should be less concerned with how much weight they carry than their ability to dump gear if a circumstance arises where it can’t be reasonably handled.

 

[porgyhunter]

Dove twin 80''s once in current [which is usually the case where I dive] I felt like I was wearing a sail. The resistance and work took away any advantage of the extra air In my opinion you really have to be a bear to solo with doubles:cool2:

 

[DwayneJ]

The other technical forum here is Side Mount. You have the benefits of doubles but each tank can be handled independently. The earlier picture of dive-aholic was side mount. dive-aholic is an experienced cave/side mount instructor.

 

[Zodiacdiverdave]

I don't consider myself a minimalist but I tend to dress for the dive. Why go throught the pain of lugging around several cylinders unless the dive calls for it, ie caving, deep or deco dives? The real danger when diving alone and dressing in alot of extra gear is breaking an leg or some other appendage if you are diving from shore and nobody to help you get your sorry butt to the hospital. Also you would want to consider entanglment with lines and such and your abliaty to handle this while wearing doubles, this is a big issue here on the right coast during lobster season.
ZDD

 

[Bob DBF]

I found that using twin 72's left me less tired than diving two single tanks on my shore dives because I only have to enter and exit the water once.


Bob
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I may be old, but I’m not dead yet.

 

[CR Diver]

Last winter upon an exit on a smooth limestone beach, I slipped, fell and dis-located my shoulder. luckily, at that time, I was diving with a group and had some friends there to help get my dry suit off and drive me to the hospital. Until then I had a tendency to dive my LP98's on all of my dives, with or without a stage. Now if I'm out on a solo, single, shore dive, I will dive with my LP72's to keep the weight off.
I had never thought of the consequences of diving with lots of gear, as we do it all the time either with a buddy or on a solo mission, but after that, I think about what my objective is on the dive before I gear up.
I would not consider doing a solo jump without some kind of redundency, regardless of entry, depth or objection for the dive; but, normally our dives are beyond recreational depths and/or times.