Tank Prices

[Empty V]

What would having a galv tank painted do? I like the idea of having glow in the dark tanks.

Billy

 

[Mo2vation]

What would having a galv tank painted do? I like the idea of having glow in the dark tanks.

Billy

Why? Why on earth would someone want to paint over a Galv tank? If its visibility, that's a poor reason. Do you want to look like a Sandals ad or a SoCal coldwater diver?

Leave the day glow tanks for the multi-colored Coz divers. Gray is the new black.

---
Ken

 

[Empty V]

I'm just curious. I thought blue was the new black? lol

 

[TheRedHead]

The only paint you'll find on a tank in Coz is a strip of blue around the valve for air and green around the valve for Nitrox.

You could get a tank skin, Billy.

 

[TheRedHead]

I'm just curious. I thought blue was the new black? lol

PINK is the new black!

 

[limeyx]

The first one is easy to get on. The second one, not so much.

But the DC's can be found for about $75 on eBay, TDS and other sites, or $140 delivered new from COVCI.

Once you get a big tank and a drysuit, and your SAC is in the .40's and you're doing dives in the 70's, 80's and 90's in this 50-something water, there is nothing like dry gloves to improve your safety and comfort. Plus, your feet warm up... amazing side benefit!

I've been diving the dry gloves year round for a couple of seasons, and I just love them. I'll never dive with wet hands in my DS again.

---
Ken

I have a buddy can get them on in less than 10 seconds a glove. I can only wish to do it as easily

I dont think my SAC will hit 0.4's. I can get 60 mins on an LP80 filled to 3000 psi if I do a 30 foot dive or so.

 

[HBDiveGirl]

It almost seems to me that an individual's air consumption doesn't get better, their tanks just get bigger. Except for Claudette and her ability to dive with air trapped in a McDonalds straw

Hi Billy! Thanks for your faith in my anaerobic abilities. :lol: And you're right, I could do many of my usual dives with a smaller tank. Ken and I have about the same wacky low SAC rates: .4 to .5 on most dives. It's not a competitive event for me, it's just how I breath and dive. I've gotten 90 minutes from 80 cu.ft. Shallow dive. Had fun.

But....

I LOVE my Worthington hp E8-130.
And I'm willing to carry its 56 lbs of plumpness on
...every boat,
...every deep beach dive, including the Point at Old Marineland, and
...whenever I want max. grab-time with delicious legal lobsters.

Ken covered most of the benefits: Long dives; spectacular trim (really! Gotta feel that water-heater underwater to fully appreciate this!); excellent geometry; safety; good volume with lower psi Boat-fills.
He spent months nudging me gently toward this tank, and he was absolutely right. (He says he hates it when he's right... but he hides it well )

I would add just one more significant benefit: Additional Safety with hard-breathing buddies.

When I dive with a buddy whose SAC rate is significantly higher than mine, wearing the smallest tank I can just doesn't make sense. The team owns my air supply. My little hp80, approaching rock-bottom psi at the end of a dive, is not going to give me AND the Big-Stressed-Guy-Breathing-on-My-Long-Hose very much time to solve a problem and ascend safely. I won't go below rock-bottom, but the usual starting calculations assume the team will solve a problem and get moving upwards efficiently.

Every problem scenario I faced in Fundies and RecTriOx took me 3 or 4 times longer to solve than I anticipated. (That partially explained buddy #3's complete disappearance during one memorable scenario, but that's a whole 'nother story...."Hey! Isn't that #3's mask that MHK is holding? Darn...")
Having that spacious-skies-full-of-air 130-missle-silo snugged up against me gives me and my buddy more time to Really Stop-breath-think-act.

The Thrilling 130 is all about time underwater. Time to enjoy. Time to accomplish the goal. Time to explore. Time to solve a problem and get home. It's about time.

When my buddy's SAC rate matches mine, and we're BOTH on Mighty 130's?
We're more like a team of submarines! Let the diving begin and practically never end. Ya like diving? Get a Whompin' 130 and prepare for your dive cup to runneth over and over... and over! Wow!

You'll wanna budget for those dry gloves, 'cause the Endless-130 dives will popsicle your hands and feet to a whole new single-tank level.

THAT said.... I like to match the tank to the dive:
When do I NOT choose the Wondrous 130?

• Mulitiple beach dives at accessible cliff sites such as Marineland. Love those hp80s on the 3rd (and 4th) time up the long hill.
• Goat-trails and rappelling. Some Palos Verdes dives are at the bottom of goat trails. I have a hard enough time climbing them with a bag full of.... well, whatever :14: ... they are long steep trails. Haggerty's requires backing down a near-vertical section with most of my weight on the rope. Ascending is a guided rope climb. The hp100 is perfect. Filled, it's about 13 lbs lighter than the filled 130.
• When my Sweet 130 is empty . . . I'll eventually get a second one.... shhhhhh!... Ted doesn't need to know...

Now that Claudette is diving a 130, I believe she did her first 80+ minute dive at OML with me last time we dived out of Long Point. I also believe that was the LAST dive she did with wet gloves.
---
Ken

Yup... and... almost!
87 minutes in 51F at my most favorite Marineland pinnacles was wonderful. My hands were useless blocks upon exit.

I did a 56F dive at Anacapa with wet gloves, practicing how to handle and measure urchins for ReefCheck surveys. I had been warm and comfortable for the previous 4 slow-moving dives, from my dry-gloved hands down to my single-socked feet.
With wet hands on a non-moving dive, (didn't exactly have to chase urchins,) I was almost shivering by the end, and my toes were numb and pale on return to the boat. I lose a lot of heat through my hands if they're wet. Dry gloves are just a better way to dive-dry in cold water.

Yeah, you were right...

The E8-130 3442psi tank is a magnificent beast! Worth every penny.
Claudette

 

[riguerin]

If maxing out on gas capacity is so important, then why not go for the real Big Kahuna; the Mother of all Tanks; the Holy Grail, itself: the FX-149? It's only a couple inches longer, ~4lbs heavier (empty), and only costs ~$11 more ... but can hold 14.5% more gas.

 

[CompuDude]

I have a pair of HP100s that I intend to pair up at some point for doubles, but at that point, yes, I'll probably pick up a 130 as well. Doubles is a serious investment... you need a second regulator (as good as your first, pref. the same, not a cheapie!), in addition to the bands and manifolds. Easily get into 4 digit territory, even if you already own the tanks.

You definitely want galvanized. PST or Worthington. Fabers are good tanks, but they're HEAVY, and well, as others have noted, paint scratches.

If you want day-glo tanks stick with aluminum.

Note: Once you have nice big tanks, I suggest you find a buddy with similar tanks, else you'll find yourself lugging a lot of unused air out of the water. I love my HP100s, but it's pretty annoying when your buddy is diving and old 72, and has a similar SAC.

One option you may not have considered: Buy used. I picked up both of my HP100s for less than the cost of one new one, let along a new 130. Boats can fill your tank over and over, so you only need one, but if you want to go on a second dive with us at Marineland, you're going to need a second tank handy, unless you have a low enough SAC to squeeze two dives out of your 130.

 

[Empty V]

Is there a good place to purchase a HP130 used? They seem to be a hot commodity. I dive with a yoke 1st stage, do I need to switch over to a din? I hope not.

Billy