Thinking about running doubles

[keithdiver]

Hey guys I ruptured my ear drum last thursday so im going through withdraws in my down time ive been looking at runing doubles on my zeagle ranger does anyone do this if so how do you like it ? Also useing nitrox and double will i be able to stay keep plenty of bottom time if im not going deeper than 60 feet From what the dive shop said I will need a manifold bands and a back plate will i need a new first stage from what i can tell i will need two first stages Tell me what you can if you think doubles is a waste of time let me know All comments wll be appreciated thanks everyone

Get the doubles, but make sure you get a BP/W set up

 

[Captain12Pk]

Well the quick easy answer to your question is "yes". Assuming your going to doble up you existing tank to another "matched" tank will give you twice the volume of gas to breathe, thus extending your potential bottom time or run time.
The tougher reality is, be very careful. This is also a good way to overstay your welcome and run yourself into decompression obligations. Even with doubles, if your gas management skills aren't solid, you can be rolling the dice in a high stakes game.
Additionally, you are drastically changing the way your equipment is set up and works. Both you and your buddy need to have a real understanding of how doubles work. Do yourself a favor and find an istructor who can teach you how to properly manage this equipment. Find a UTD Essentials calss, or a GUE Fundamentals class, Into to Tech, ... something to keep your name out of the newspaper.

 

[keithdiver]

:d hey guys i ruptured my ear drum last thursday so im going through withdraws in my down time ive been looking at runing doubles on my zeagle ranger does anyone do this if so how do you like it ? Also useing nitrox and double will i be able to stay keep plenty of bottom time if im not going deeper than 60 feet from what the dive shop said i will need a manifold bands and a back plate will i need a new first stage from what i can tell i will need two first stages tell me what you can if you think doubles is a waste of time let me know all comments wll be appreciated thanks everyone

well the quick easy answer to your question is "yes". Assuming your going to doble up you existing tank to another "matched" tank will give you twice the volume of gas to breathe, thus extending your potential bottom time or run time.
The tougher reality is, be very careful. This is also a good way to overstay your welcome and run yourself into decompression obligations. Even with doubles, if your gas management skills aren't solid, you can be rolling the dice in a high stakes game.
Additionally, you are drastically changing the way your equipment is set up and works. Both you and your buddy need to have a real understanding of how doubles work. Do yourself a favor and find an istructor who can teach you how to properly manage this equipment. Find a utd essentials calss, or a gue fundamentals class, into to tech, ... Something to keep your name out of the newspaper.

very wisely put!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[ianr33]

Tell me what you can if you think doubles is a waste of time

IMHO doubles is a waste of time for you.

 

[Aqua-Andy]

At this point I would not go to doubles. The only time I will dive my doubles is where they are a necessity IE: planed deco dive or overhead environment. They do look cool but are a pain in the but to move around.

 

[speedyal]

Well the quick easy answer to your question is "yes". Assuming your going to doble up you existing tank to another "matched" tank will give you twice the volume of gas to breathe, thus extending your potential bottom time or run time.
The tougher reality is, be very careful. This is also a good way to overstay your welcome and run yourself into decompression obligations. Even with doubles, if your gas management skills aren't solid, you can be rolling the dice in a high stakes game.
Additionally, you are drastically changing the way your equipment is set up and works. Both you and your buddy need to have a real understanding of how doubles work. Do yourself a favor and find an istructor who can teach you how to properly manage this equipment. Find a UTD Essentials calss, or a GUE Fundamentals class, Into to Tech, ... something to keep your name out of the newspaper.

Thanks man usefull info can i do this with basic openwater?

 

[gsk3]

Thanks man usefull info can i do this with basic openwater?

Sure can. There's also GUE Primer, which is shorter, cheaper, and would let you focus more on the things that is seems you most want: good in-water control in doubles, and proper equipment setup.

I seem to recall reading about at least one death in an otherwise perfectly calm quarry where someone hopped in with doubles and didn't know how to deal with the valves properly and turned off their own air.

Get mentored by someone experienced, get taught by an instructor, or stay away from the dubs.

I'm also not sure you need them. Doubled AL80s give you 150 or so cubic feet of air. You can get 130 in a single tank. So just wanting more air isn't really much of a reason to get them. The biggest reason to get doubles in my mind is the redundancy of having completely separate regulators that still let you access all the gas in both tanks. For non-overhead NDL diving, that's not strictly speaking necessary, and may not be worth the complexity.

You will benefit from GUE Primer or UTD Essentials no matter what tank you're using, though.

 

[JBRES1]

Not sure where you are located, but there is a guy over on the Scubatoys forum that is looking to sell a set of worthington HP100's . They were made in 2009, and they look great. I wish I had the $600.00 he wants for the set up.

Jim Breslin

 

[Graeme Tolton]

Doubles rule. However, if you haven't taken the time to research and be able to answer your own questions, you are not ready for them. I didn't make the switch until around 200 dives and had been around others who regularly dive doubles a lot of that time. Doubles certainly have their advantages, but a few extra minutes at 60' is not worth all the extra dough. For a long time, i dove 119's as single tanks. That gave me the extra bottom time that I wanted. Eventually, I took my 119's and banded them together. Now, I have all the bottom time i could ask for. It is more important now than ever before to closely monitor NDL's, because they can sneak up very quickly.

Another solution is to start to carry a stage bottle. a slung al80 is neutral when empty and will double your gas supply. You will just need a stage strap and another reg setup for a stage.

 

[tc]

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