Weight between double and singles on and off the boat

[MB NZ]

In order that I tried them...

• Twin 10L steel - just horrible to trim
• Twin 12L steel - good, but heavy to cart around
• Twin 7L steel - wonderful, but only good for one dive
• Single 15L (x2) + AL40 side slung
• Single 12L (x2) + 3L aluminium side slung

I settled on a single 12L + 3L aluminium side slung sometime ago. The least cool option, but it suits my needs which is solo recreational diving to 30 metres. Your experience may vary.

 

[rx7diver]

Found this to be an interesting thread but I have a question about the overall weight. Being a older diver, I opted not to dive doubles due to shoulder mobility issues (Valve drills) as well as back and knees (Overall weight of complete rig). I was wondering how the older divers deal with it. Or do you kit up in the water? Thanks.

If it's more about shoulder mobility, then have you considered BM inverted doubles?

A Luxfer Al 80 weighs ~32 lbs, I think. And an old-school 72 weighs ~27 lbs, I think. Add the weight of the gas (2 * 77.4 cu ft and 2 * 71.2 cu ft, resp.), the valves or manifold, the SS doubles bands and hardware, Al back plate, and 2 * regulators.

If you're wearing a 3mm or 5mm single-piece wetsuit and a weight belt, and slinging an Al 40 (for deco), you're not talking about an extremely heavy load if you intend to lean forward, stand up, shuffle to the back of the boat, and fall in. You can clip off the Al 40 and hand up your weight belt before you reboard the boat, wearing your several lbs lighter doubles, after you've ended your dive.

A lot of warm water tech diving can be had with this configuration.

Inverted doubles (either manifolded or independent) should work wonderfully in the case of shoulder mobility issues.

rx7diver

 

[grantmac]

Double 72s is a rather nice setup although I'd take SM over inverted.

 

[divezonescuba]

Found this to be an interesting thread but I have a question about the overall weight. Being a older diver, I opted not to dive doubles due to shoulder mobility issues (Valve drills) as well as back and knees (Overall weight of complete rig). I was wondering how the older divers deal with it. Or do you kit up in the water? Thanks.

I have shoulder problems. My left shoulder has been dislocated maybe 10 times while my right should has been dislocated at least 100 times from an old army injury. One time I had to relocate my right shoulder by standing on my right hand and then standing up.

I am also an older diver.

What I have found out is that moving slowly with valves, limiting weight as in deco tanks, and avoiding having to stand from a seated position make a big difference. I made this video a while back when I became concerned about this issue. It may give you a few ideas.

Note that one of the tables that I use does not have a weight capacity listed and some people have expressed concern about that.

 

[Gone for diving]

Double 72 or lp50 are very nice.

You do have to remember that you need to add your weight belt into consideration when climbing onto the boat. Especially bad with dry suit and thick underwear