What are Your Favorite Side Mount Tanks?

[DWMoore]

Since you are up in Canada, I can only assume you have thick undergarments & a drysuit on which could be an issue. Heavier tanks the better for you. Worthy 108s are ideal but the Worthy HP130s work very well. The 108 will hold just a bit more gas at 3,600 psi but the buoyancy characteristics are similar.

SM can be a bit of work to get it right but once you do it's very nice. Don't give up.

 

[Stoo]

Since you are up in Canada, I can only assume you have thick undergarments & a drysuit on which could be an issue..

Correct... Home base is Tobermory ("Where cold water was invented") so the temps hover about 39° - 41° year 'round below the 70' thermocline. I dive dry of course, and mostly with 400 weight undies. Currently, the 130s in BM mode are a perfect weight... a bit heavy to start, and just right towards the end of the dive. I wear my 85s the vast majority of the time, so this exercise is partly to get more use of tanks that I wear rarely.

If I find them too heavy, I'll likely sell them and get into some 100s or something.

 

[bamafan]

For me it depends on the dive. For short dives such poking around in some springs while out boating my lp 50's are sweet. I also have some true old hp100's that work great for some slightly bigger dives. But it seems to me for the majority of my dives I use Faber cave filled lp 121's. They get a little floaty in the back but the gas difference between them and my lp 108's / 112's is really noticeable. When doing long dives they are basically two full stages more of gas than al 80's. I really enjoyed diving al 80's in Mexico as they are so light and easy to handle but on some of the longer dives it would have been nice to have the 120's and drop 2 stages. I don't think you will be using just one set of tanks.

 

[Oldbear]

With few exceptions all we have available to us here on Kwaj are AL80s or AL63s. So these are what I dive the most with. I am not a real big fan of their buoyance characteristics when you draw them down, too floaty. I so have a couple of Steel 50s that I picked up and want to try. When I return to the states I will most like go with steel tanks for all my back/side gases and use my AL 80s for stage and deco.

 

[Reku]

My lp85's are fantastic! With a modest cave fill I can get all the bottom time I need and some to spare. They trim out perfectly and they are light to carry on land. Even when I am in the north and they only fill them to 3k that's more than enough air for those dives.

 

[rjack321]

For caves its either hp100s or Worthington lp85s which are about the same weight and bouyancy. Both are good and heavy to help sink a drysuit which I wear in FL and in Canada (with surprisingly slight differences in undergarments). They hold enough gas for my actual SM dives although I sometimes bring a single stage. I have done double stage SM dives and its a hot mess dropping them and switching blah blah. At that point (100s plus 2 stages) I am so big in the water I might as well dive my backmounted CCR anyway.

 

[bada3003]

...
So tell me what you dive with and why! What do you use for OW and what do you use for caves?
...

In the Great Lakes with regular fills and thick undergarment, Worthington LP85s. They are negative throughout and heavy. Less lead and no need to deal with floaty tails.

In Florida caves with cave fills, Faber LP95s. They get floaty around 1700 PSI but in most dives I exit with more than that. In the instances when I don't, it's easy to move the attachment from butt plate to waist D-ring.

AL80s and AL40s for stages and deco gas only.

 

[tbone1004]

I'm tall so I use PST HP120's, though the Faber FX-100's are pretty close in size and would be the equivalent tank that is available currently since Worthington got out of the market. Their 100cf equivalents are great if you're under 6' or so. From there, if you really need the gas, the LP121's from Faber have the best buoyancy characteristics and if you're carrying 108's, you may as well get the extra gas.

 

[shoredivr]

Like a few others are using, im rocking E7 HP100s.....great tank, great buoyancy characteristics and plenty of gas for the bottom portion of the deco dives I do, and they are nice with a DS on.

I do like to use alu80s sometimes. For single tank sidemount I use alu80s and alu63s.

This, plus Alu 40 for deco gas.

 

[shoredivr]

Gotcha... I kinda figure it's worth a try since they are the tanks I have. I have some steel LP85s as well, but they require a bit of a weight belt and it would be nice to avoid strapping lead to my SM harness. Without lead on it, I will just haul my a$$ into the boat as I do now. Strapping 14 pounds of lead back there would mean dumping the tanks and the harness in the water...

Sounds like it might be worth a try... Worst case, is my trim is all our of whack... I'm not even convinced that the benefit of SM is worth it at this point... I'm really just in that "check it out" stage.

Stoo I think you'll like it. Having 1st stages easily accessed, clipping the tanks off on a line for exiting onto the RIB...
Let's go do the Forest City as a shake out dive ;-)