Steel 120's

[JFS]

I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of dive ops here do not own their tanks - I think the tank itself rental price is 10 pesos on top of the fill cost. Pro Dive fills their own so I assume they more than likely own them - other ops own tanks too as rental tanks can be short supply in high season but theft of tanks and misplacement causes issues.

A steel tank here is about $400 (verses 200 for aluminum) and about 25% of that cost is getting it here - there's stories of boat motors and steel tanks falling out of peoples private airplanes back in the day. The steel tank lifespan is shorter also, especially the painted ones.

There's two filling stations here and the one I hear is a PITA getting consistent HP fills, the other is OK. Aldora put their own filling station in to cut thru that problem and IMO their tank fills are extremely consistent at 3450psi.

The cost of tanks, compressors and operating costs combined with the market rate for per dive cost here - you have to be filling a lot of tanks to make it a break even thing.

Tanks are expensive here. Never seen one for $200 on island. I've seen $500 aluminum. If you buy bulk through meridiano you can get a deal. There is 3 fill stations. Meridiano, Lin Mar, and Thatis full station ( he is across from Aldoras fill station.

 

[ChuckP]

Tanks are expensive here. Never seen one for $200 on island. I've seen $500 aluminum. If you buy bulk through meridiano you can get a deal. There is 3 fill stations. Meridiano, Lin Mar, and Thatis full station ( he is across from Aldoras fill station.

Where is Lin Mar?

 

[Sloeber]

I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of dive ops here do not own their tanks

From what I have seen it is a 50/50 mix. The quality shops that stay busy own their tanks because they know getting rentals in high season is challenging. If a shop here uses rentals exclusively, you can be assured they are not a busy shop.

 

[Sloeber]

Tanks are expensive here. Never seen one for $200 on island. I've seen $500 aluminum. If you buy bulk through meridiano you can get a deal. There is 3 fill stations. Meridiano, Lin Mar, and Thatis full station ( he is across from Aldoras fill station.

Stathis' shop is called Aico, fwiw.

Also, I buy my AL80's for $185 each from an island source not named Meridiano.

 

[ChuckP]

From what I have seen it is a 50/50 mix. The quality shops that stay busy own their tanks because they know getting rentals in high season is challenging. If a shop here uses rentals exclusively, you can be assured they are not a busy shop.

What's up with your boat? Maybe I'm loosing it but it almost looks like it changed color!!!

 

[Sloeber]

It is worth noting that Aico has 120's available for rent. We provide them to our clients upon request, which is pretty limited. Maybe once every couple months a client asks about them. But if needed we can get them.

The 120's have a really small following. That's the main reason why they are not more popular. Of the nearly 200 dive centers in Cozumel, exactly 3 use 120's on the regular. People just don't want them. If they did, we'd all have them. For now, I'm happy renting them for the 3-4 divers per year that request them.

I think some might be overlooking that many people simply dont want to do more than 60 minutes because by 45 minutes they are cold and ready to end the dive. Most divers come to the Caribbean expecting to (wanting to) not have to wear 5-7mm of neoprene to stay warm during a dive.

 

[Sloeber]

What's up with your boat? Maybe I'm loosing it but it almost looks like it changed color!!!

Which one?

Mental Floss hasn't had any changes. Some fresh bottom paint between hurricanes but that is about it. Living The Dream we found a stress crack in the transom during Hurricane Zeta prep. Like everything around here, its taken much too long to get it back in the water. Always manana. But the aft of this boat was completely replaced. Maybe you saw it in process?

 

[ChuckP]

Which one?

Mental Floss hasn't had any changes. Some fresh bottom paint between hurricanes but that is about it. Living The Dream we found a stress crack in the transom during Hurricane Zeta prep. Like everything around here, its taken much too long to get it back in the water. Always manana. But the aft of this boat was completely replaced. Maybe you saw it in process?

I think the one I'm seeing is the transom one, the other day when I went by, it dang near looked blue - I thought they were maroon!! I'm thinking it's been out of the water so long, it's changing colors!

 

[scubadada]

It is worth noting that Aico has 120's available for rent. We provide them to our clients upon request, which is pretty limited. Maybe once every couple months a client asks about them. But if needed we can get them.

The 120's have a really small following. That's the main reason why they are not more popular. Of the nearly 200 dive centers in Cozumel, exactly 3 use 120's on the regular. People just don't want them. If they did, we'd all have them. For now, I'm happy renting them for the 3-4 divers per year that request them.

I think some might be overlooking that many people simply dont want to do more than 60 minutes because by 45 minutes they are cold and ready to end the dive. Most divers come to the Caribbean expecting to (wanting to) not have to wear 5-7mm of neoprene to stay warm during a dive.

I'll take the 100s or the 120s, thanks. You can dive your AL80s, no problem. I would have no with problem with them. In fact, for 4 dives a day, might go for it.

 

[Sloeber]

I think the one I'm seeing is the transom one, the other day when I went by, it dang near looked blue - I thought they were maroon!! I'm thinking it's been out of the water so long, it's changing colors!

Ah okay you saw it when they were grinding years and layers of old bottom paint off. It made the whole boat look quite... interesting?