wetsuit with doubles

[GregV]

I'm sure this has been answered before on this post,but cant seem to find it. I just bought a set of used steel 72's, and have thought about doubling them up but I get mixed answers from my local lds's. Some say that you dont want to dive twin steel 72's with a wetsuit, and others say you can but wont have any ditchable weight so I will rely on my bc more. I currently dive using a 7mm wetsuit and a steel backplate. I also have an al80> Would it be a better choice to just buy another al80 and pair those up? I dont like the Idea of have to swim a heavy rig of the bottom or having to dump it if I have a problem with bc inflation.

 

[PerroneFord]

I wear twin AL80s with my wetsuit.

What you want to look at is how negative the tanks will make you. If you still need a weightbelt to dive with the twin 72s (like I did last year) then they will not overwieight you.

You just need to make sure you can swim those tanks up, should your BC fail.

 

[st1650]

Spare liftbag maybe?

 

[Sideband]

I have a set of doubled 72's. They are heavy as heck in the water. I don't need any additional weight even with a dry suit if I wear them. I use about 28lbs with a single AL80 diving dry. Also, you will very likely need ankle weights even in a wet suit. The tanks are so short that all of your weight is well above your hips. I called my first dive with them after about 5 minutes because I was tired of standing on my head. If you dive them wet be sure to have a redundant means of buoyancy.
Not perfect, but rig one up as a pony bottle and take them both out. That will give you an idea of how negative they are together and help decide if you want to double them. Remember you will have another pound or two in the manifold and bands.
I like them but I know I would like a set of LP85s better. I understand that you HAVE the 72's though. OH well. If you have any questions on them feel free to ask.

Joe

 

[H2Andy]

well, two things come to mind:

1. get redundant bouyancy, either a separate wing or a lift bag. that way, if your
wing fails, you'll be able to offset it

2. try getting to 30 feet or so. get rid of all your air on the wing. see if you can swim your tanks to the surface. if you can, you're golden.

i can swim my twin LP 85's no problem. i also dive dry (mostly) and with a lift bag,
just in case.

 

[GregV]

Yeah I have been thinking of just buying another AL80 and twinning those up I'm going to dive this weekend in a local quarry I'll dive with one of the 72's and sling the other just to see if I'll have to carry a load of air in my BC to stay neutral.and to see if I can carry any ditchable weight. I have a OMS dual bladder with 60 lb. of lift so I doubt that will be an issue

 

[Curt Bowen]

I dive all the time with sidemount steel 95's and a 5m suit

No weight needed No problems, I hate weights

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I used to dive double 70's a long time ago and my wife recently dives single 71.2 steels. They are excellent tanks! but too small for a lot of people and applications.

They are much nicer tanks than the 67 aluminums because they don't float so much, have a smaller diameter and they are easier to handle than an aluminum 80 because they weigh less. Plus you can drop a few pounds from the weight belt when using a 70 steel compared to say an 80 aluminum. My wife comes up with a bigger reserve in her 70 than I do on an aluminum 100 cu-ft tank, so for her the single 70 is an excellent recereational single tank. The old galvanized 70's also seemed to have relatively little external corrosion problems compared to the newer, say OMS tanks.

The bouyancy difference between a single 71.2 (2250 psi) and a 80 aluminum is not huge, maybe 3-4 lbs, I guess. In any case, they are much less negative than a big Low Pressure steel tank which probably should not be doubled up for diving with a wetsuit in the ocean (due to bouyancy issues)

In my opinion, making doubles with 70's is not worth the trouble now, since you can get a single LP 125 tank that will hold more air if pumped up. But I guess running a pair of old 70's might be a lot cheaper than buying a new steel tank for $300.

 

[scubaxris]

I dive my double 72's in a 7mm wetsuit all the time. Admittedly I have never had a wing failure in them but am able to swim them north with a completely empty wing at the beginning of my dive.
-Christopher

 

[JimC]

Steel 72's are not create equally. Mine are only -2 or so empty and I dive my double 72's all the time in a 3mm with an AL plate and and without stages. I also know I can swim them up if I need to and carry redundant lift in the form of liftbag.