Some Thoughts on Independent Doubles

[Akimbo]

This is a solo thread after all.

Must they suffer the horrors of a pony, or the tribulations of 'complex' sidemount? Can they not use ID?

They can use a Spair Air if they want. By definition, there are no Scuba Police around.

 

[2airishuman]

And don’t forget about the more likely possibility of people with back/knee/ankle issues that can’t handle 100lbs + of steel tanks on their backs. But who gives a flying fig about the gimpy people, right?

See now I'm not sure that SM is the best answer for that. It's your answer, sure. Dive the way you want.

Most divers can don and doff any kit in the water. Don't want 100 pounds of tanks on your back? Throw them into the water first (on a line), jump in, put them on. Take them off and tie them to a line before climbing the ladder.

Now, if the boats you dive on have set limits on how much help they will give you, and they will not help you haul your tanks aboard, well with sidemount you can haul them up one at time by yourself while the DM watches. I don't think very many divers are in that specific situation.

 

[Marie13]

See now I'm not sure that SM is the best answer for that. It's your answer, sure. Dive the way you want.

Most divers can don and doff any kit in the water. Don't want 100 pounds of tanks on your back? Throw them into the water first (on a line), jump in, put them on. Take them off and tie them to a line before climbing the ladder.

Now, if the boats you dive on have set limits on how much help they will give you, and they will not help you haul your tanks aboard, well with sidemount you can haul them up one at time by yourself while the DM watches. I don't think very many divers are in that specific situation.

I wasn’t even thinking about boat diving. I haven’t boat dived since I switched exclusively to SM.

 

[Raphus]

See now I'm not sure that SM is the best answer for that. It's your answer, sure. Dive the way you want.

Most divers can don and doff any kit in the water. Don't want 100 pounds of tanks on your back? Throw them into the water first (on a line), jump in, put them on. Take them off and tie them to a line before climbing the ladder.

Now, if the boats you dive on have set limits on how much help they will give you, and they will not help you haul your tanks aboard, well with sidemount you can haul them up one at time by yourself while the DM watches. I don't think very many divers are in that specific situation.

There is no way i could don my d12 in the water. At least not without help.

I dive DIr harness, which makes it a bit difficult to put it on. Floating in the water? No way.

 

[AfterDark]

Thats something that comes to my mind aswell..

If someone can lift doubles, they should be able to manipulate manifolds. Of course there are always exceptions..
But the amount of people prefering ID is surprisingly high.

I dont want to be rude, but i learned, that if someone cant manipulate his valves, he should not do ( advanced) tech diving.
Like i said, there are always exceptions. I just try to understand.

I am not a tech instructor. Just recreational instructor. But sometimes i show people how to dive doubles. Not as a course, or tech related.
Most of them told me, that they cant reach their valves. 2 of them wanted to quit doubles and change to SM. After 10 min in the water they were able to manipulate valves and manifold. Not really because i am good or sth. Just because no one showed them the correct way, which is not hard.

So i am always interested in learning. Thats why i am asking

My choice to use IDs was made during the 1980's and I have since used IDs whenever I require doubles. My diving is rec although I did "tech" diving in my youth when it wasn't called tech diving.

Not everyone using doubles is a tech diver. Some divers like myself need doubles to reach our NDL at most depths. After 3 shoulder operations I couldn't reach behind my head and turn valves on a bet or if my life depended on it. Also, I am not very large and old now so handling doubles is difficult because of the weight. Handling 2 single tanks however is doable. The answer to these issues for me at least has been IDs, and after hundreds of hours of use I can say for me they are as safe as anything else I use.
And finally, IDs give me options I couldn't afford, like having 3 sets of ID doubles and 6 single tanks of various sizes. When I need a single tank, I take one, when I need doubles, I take two. I can have 50, 72, or 96cuft doubles or as singles. Flexibility.

I'm certainly not going to stop diving just because I can't dive the way others think I should. And I'm certainly not going to spend hundreds of dollars on SM gear at my age, not when I have thousands worth of gear already. I'm going to enjoy my "twilight" diving years with the gear I have for as long as I can.

 

[rx7diver]

OP here. I recently got my HP 120's hydro'd. (See attached pic.) Manifolded, these are excellent for the type of diving (extended-range Great Lakes shipwreck buddy diving) I did for a few years, a while ago. And as ID's, they work well, but are WAY overkill for the MO/AR deep solo diving I did for a couple of years, a while ago. I am almost certain I will never again dive these cylinders as doubles.

Those of you who followed my posts pertaining to baby doubles for my double-hose reg, are aware that I now have doubles bands for 5.5" cylinders. As soon as I can source a pair of Faber HDG LP 50's, I will try them as ID's. I suspect that these will hit the sweet spot for me for the type of deeper solo MO/AR diving I would do now.

P.S. If I could source a second old-school 72, and modern doubles bands for these 6.8" cylinders, I might try the 72's as ID doubles. I suspect they will work even better for deeper solo MO/AR diving in a wetsuit.

rx7diver

 

[Gone for diving]

I dive manifold steel 72s,
If you're interested I can give you drawings for the bands,
And you can get your local fab shop to shear and weld them,

 

[rx7diver]

There is no way i could don my d12 in the water. At least not without help.

I dive DIr harness, which makes it a bit difficult to put it on. Floating in the water? No way.

@Raphus ,

I don't understand. I drysuit dove manifolded HP 100's using a Hogarthian configuaration before I replaced the HP 100's with HP 120's (same hogarthian configuration). Doffing and donning either set in water--without assistance--was/is straightforward (for me).

Are double 12 liter cylinders different enough to cause problems doing this?

rx7diver

 

[Marie13]

OP here. I recently got my HP 120's hydro'd. (See attached pic.) Manifolded, these are excellent for the type of diving (extended-range Great Lakes shipwreck buddy diving) I did for a few years, a while ago. And as ID's, they work well, but are WAY overkill for the MO/AR deep solo diving I did for a couple of years, a while ago. I am almost certain I will never again dive these cylinders as doubles.

Those of you who followed my posts pertaining to baby doubles for my double-hose reg, are aware that I now have doubles bands for 5.5" cylinders. As soon as I can source a pair of Faber HDG LP 50's, I will try them as ID's. I suspect that these will hit the sweet spot for me for the type of deeper solo MO/AR diving I would do now.

HDG LP50s don’t exist. Only the dark grey painted ones. Someone I know asked DGX about them. They’ve tried to get Faber to make HDG ones and Faber is NOT interested.

 

[rx7diver]

I dive manifold steel 72s,
If you're interested I can give you drawings for the bands,
And you can get your local fab shop to shear and weld them,

Thank you for the kind offer, @Rol diy . I think I will continue to pursue the LP 50 option first. I am reading that people are finding that, increasingly, shops are refusing to fill 72's.

rx7diver