Steel doubles - 119's or 130's

[Rainer]

How heavy are the 130's?

Empty, out of the water, a single 130 is 10# heavier than a single 100. Filled, the gap is obviously slightly greater. The difference in on land weight and in water mass is certainly noticeable.

Any specific reasons you have for wanting/needing bigger doubles? I assure you, the smaller sets, if they meet your needs, are a lot more fun. Most people doing bigger dives have multiple sets.

 

[elan]

Oh yeah on the surface that's for sure. But you can always add some helium to the wing to get some lift on the surface Won't help much though

Yeah even if you take into account the stages they are IIRC counted towards the lift reserved for the dry suit failure as you can always ditch them so if we say the suit is 20lb buoyant you can carry ~5 nitrox stages with your 50lb wing

Yeah, I have no idea why he's bothering with an 80# wing. Maybe a lot of steel deco/stages? In any case, I've been fine with a 50# wing and the 130s filled with nitrox (they usually have trimix in them, in which case, they're much less negative).

As you note, the in-water difference between the 100s and 130s is minor. Out of the water, though, it's a bit more than a 4# difference.

 

[elan]

We have a set of those, too (well, they're currently broken down for singles, but I kept the 'fold and bands). They're quite nice from shore for easy dives, but still heavier than a single 130 (which basically holds the same amount of gas).

But man they trim so nice That set is the one I love diving the most

 

[elan]

How heavy are the 130's? I lift so that shouldn't be an issue. I weighed 100's filled and they came out to 94lbs. I'm diveing with a drysuit and carry a lift bag but I hope I never have to rely on them to make it back up to the boat. If the 130's aren't that much heavier than 100's or 119's than I guess it's not any more problematic.

People get 130s and 104s when they dive as a team as they simplify gas management when you do stage diving as those tanks factor have good relation with the Al80 stage tank factor. ~7.5 for HP130 ~ 2.5 for AL80 so at 3000psi HP130 will have as much gas as 3 stage tanks. So if you dive in groups that dive stages and AL80 doubles I would go with HP130s


Otherwise if you just need more gas you can get smaller tanks say HP100, LP85 and add a stage. Logistics with stages is quite convenient. You suck the stage in one dive, then sling another stage for the second dive. You gas on the back is your reserve and used for wing inflation, and it is used very little.

Even w/o stage diving with HP100 I can do 2 good rec multilevel dives

 

[elan]

Well, few hours of stretching maybe ;-) and I'm not saying I'm not struggling anymore either
The point was, with difficulties with 7", there was no way I would have taken x8 diameter tank.


I would for sure support that statement ! As mentioned I was close to get LP72

I can never tell a difference between reaching the valves on LP72s and HP100, they feel pretty much the same

 

[iztok]

meaning the valve is 0.75"/2 away of reaching with the x8.
I agree it's small, but I felt it would still make things worse. As I said (...) I was about to get the LP72 which are even thinner, just for that reason.

Eventually, I like the x7.100 which seems a decent compromise.

How do you figure that? Bands keep the valves just as far apart as the 7.25" tanks.

 

[elan]

I believe what he was saying is that the valves are further away from the back rather than further apart form each other.

 

[aquaregia]

I think the older LP72 bands were spaced a quarter inch narrower than the contemporary bands, but they had to increase the spacing for 8" tanks. I believe most modern manifolds have the 8.5" center-to-center spacing.

 

[iztok]

I believe what he was saying is that the valves are further away from the back rather than further apart form each other.

The BP is curved (well technically just bent at an angle) so .75" would only apply if it would be flat. In reality it is less then that.

 

[The Kraken]

If you have the option, go with the 130's.

the K