Steel 95 and overweighted....

[TheRedHead]

Agreed on the last resort thing Redhead. But answer me this...If it doesent matter what agency you are trained under, then why do I need to turn in my PADI card? FYI, my OW is NAUI, my AOW and Nitrox is YMCA, and my cavern is NACD. thanks for your nonsense advice Redhead, I really don't want it if thats what this board is about.

Fill out your profile and people will not assume that you are a rank newbie. Cavern diver? You know you don't run out of air. C'mon.

 

[Sideband]

I don't want to either, I have read too many books about what happens. I could think a lot of reasons to ditch weight in shallow depths, one being OOA. Why risk drowning in shallow depths when simply dropping your weights could solve the problem. That is, if for some reason your buddy can't be found at the moment...and yes ESA's are an option to.

Not exactly on topic, but you brought it up. I'd love to hear "a lot of reasons" to ditch weights, especially at depth.

I would suggest that you try the ESA before you go for the uncontrolled Emergency Buoyant Ascent when you do have ditchable weight.

There is NO excuse to ever run out of air aside from maybe a tank O-ring failure, in which case your buddy would have zero excuses for not realizing and reacting due to the amount of noise made. To use an old addage, "Failure to plan is planning to fail", so yes, people do plan to run out of air.

As for your situation, I dive a steel 95 all the time. You should still be able to swim it up with little problems. Try it in a pool to be sure. If you can't you should switch to an aluminum tank. You are probably only getting an extra 5 to 10 minutes of bottom time anyway.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

If you are worried about being overweighted, then a 1mm suit will not do much to add bouyancy, especially when you might really need it.. at depth. I dive a single big steel tank with zero lead, athin suit in the ocean and I am a little overweighted sometimes. I can swim the rig up with a full tank, although it is not easy.

If you are really worried, don't use the steel tank. Other viable option might be to carry a lift bag that could be used to provide redundant bouyancy in an emergency, but this is a solution to a problem that you have caused by using the wrong tank.

I feel more comfortable having some ditchable weight.

 

[all4scuba05]

Go to your local LDS. Out back you might find a discarded aluminum tank. Take it but don't fill it. Just cap it. Sling it and now you're 4 pounds more buoyant.
Or go on Ebay and buy large 5 mil+ wetsuit that doesn't cost much. wrap it into a ball and duck tape it to your tank.
Or better yet, spend some money and change your tank or BC.

 

[GrandpaScuba]

I regularly use steel 95's (not as a set of doubles) in springs and plan on using them in water that is too warm for a 3 mil wetsuit. When in cold water, I wear a 5 mil wetsuit and 4lbs of weight and I am perfectly weighted. When I wear just a swimsuit and t-shirt in warm water, AND NO WEIGHT, I am overweighted. Any suggestions? I will be diving in 85 deg. water....

If these tanks are the only choice you have, then you probably already know the answer: put some air in your BC. If other, less negative tanks are a choice, then switch. (I suppose you could glue a couple blocks of styrofoam to the sides of the 95's. )