Tank choices, or just screwing around!!

[ajtoady]

Had a thought the other week, how about side-mounting a couple of Faber LP 50's. Well, I ordered the tanks and when I finally got home after a couple of jobs, there were here! I usually SM a couple of HP 100's and thought why not on the 50's. Any one else tried smaller tanks and how did you like it? Headed out to the shop to set them up with bands and clips. Also looking for a reasonable priced set of 5.5 inch stainless bands to use them as twins with my BP/Wing set up also.

 

[northernone]

I've side mounted them in a pinch.... feels nice and nimble in the water.... a little added redundancy without much extra weight compared to a single 'regular' tank for short dives.

For my regular SM diving I'm still using a pair of lp131s.... so it's whatever is suited for your dive style.

How are you liking them? Got wet yet?

Enjoy,
Cameron

 

[tbone1004]

I have a set of 45's, wish they were 50's, but couldn't pass up on the deal. Enough gas for me to do the same dives with most people diving a single al80. They're very nice for super tight caves that are shallow and sidemount only, so you can squeeze around. Perfect little tanks for zipping around. Lots of people I know have a set of them doubled up for the same reason.

 

[rhwestfall]

There was a guy here that was using them SM for our 50 minute shallow (<30') drifts on the Niagara River. Looked like a nice rig, and easy to handle on the land. I'd like a BM set of them, but not on a modern manifold. Think they would go great with the DH. My twin 63's give me enough gas for two drifts, so they seem overkill (you have seen that rig of mine). Thing is, it becomes 2x the upkeep with visuals, and hydro's, so it's expensive.... It's the reason my 63 set hasn't been used in a year....

need to find a fabricator for a set of bands to fit a Military Solid Bar Manifold...

 

[The Laconic]

That sounds kind of fun for the shallow solo diving that I do once in a while. A couple of AL80s are overkill for puttering around a quarry.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Been using a set of LP 50's with my Dive Rite LT tech rig. In the pool and for OW checkout dives with students. Like having nothing on.
Easy to get in and out of the water on a ladder even without banging stuff.
My HOG and Manta SM rigs are overkill for them though and if I use them I need to adjust the bungees. Smaller diameter causes them to hang too loose if I try to use the same length as I do for LP75.5's, 85's, and al80's.
If you fill them to 3200 you get 60 cu ft in each. Or so the numbers say.

 

[Dive Right In Scuba 2]

I picked up a set a couple of summers ago myself. Found them to be amazing for diving off of my kayak. Put on the sidemount harness, stow the cylinders in the storage area on the kayak, paddle to the dive site, jump in, grab each tank one at a time and strap them on. Reverse the operation to get back into the kayak post dive. They're light, nimble and a great deal easier than wrestling a BCD with AL80 and weights out of and into the kayak. I have yet to try them for anything deeper than say, 40 feet but I'm sure they'll work well for anything recreational since combined they give you 100CF of gas.