Which tank to buy my wife- 80cf or 63cf?

[Fourseventeen]

about to go buy my wife a new aluminum tank. debating to buy her a 63cf or an 80cf. The reason....shes small. 110lbs and 5'6. Thinking of getting her a 63 to save her a little weight and the extra length of tank that hangs down.

Any cons to buying her a 63 for local diving here in AZ. When we use rental tanks I go down to 1000psi and she has about 1400psi left in hers. Should I buy her a 63 or stick to the standard 80 and make her deal with the added bulk/weight?

Advice from woman is ideal or men with a lot of dive experience. Thank you.

 

[joystershell]

I like the AL 63's for beach diving, saves my back from lugging around the larger, heavier tanks. But for diving the deeper wrecks and reefs, I prefer to dive with AL 80's. You just never know when somebody may get into trouble, and having the extra gas on your back could come in handy.

 

[Fourseventeen]

yeah I think thats the PRO side of this...having the extra gas incase I run out...which is VERY slim chance but you never know. Our local diving is lake...nothing to exciting.
I am also considering buying her an 80 just because a majority of the time when we go vacation diving shes going to end up with an 80 anyway so why not get her use to using the 80. I know she wants the 63 but I am leaning a bit more towards the 80 i think

 

[joystershell]

Well, for me, it's a no brainer. I'm fortunate to have a garage full of tanks, of all sizes and configurations. So I simply grab what works best for the dive I'll be doing.

 

[Fourseventeen]

If I lived in Florida I to would have a garage full of scuba goodies lol. BUT here in AZ there isnt much diving around and not any good diving so we have to fly places to dive and rent tanks when we get there. I just want to have a tank for her so we can keep practicing skills in the lake or pool when we cant get out to dive destinations.

 

[Straegen]

What about an HP80 for her and at some point and HP100 for you? Don't know if you need weight on your belt but this would pull some weight off the belt, give you both about 20% more time down and give you both shorter tanks. The only real rub is that they are MUCH more expensive. If this is a practice thing, I would stick with AL80 so she gets used to what she will likely be diving away from home.

 

[Fourseventeen]

yeah these tanks will rarely get used. Mainly just for pool use with the occasional single tank lake dive to keep skills fresh. If we lived near the ocean I would buy use both HP steel tanks but for what we are using these for I cant justify that cost.

 

[scubafanatic]

Most rental/tourist tanks (in the Western Hemisphere at least) are either AL 80's or AL 63's, and AL 63's are reasonably common. I'd get her the AL 63 as that's what SHE wants, and you can pretty much get AL 63's in all the places that offer AL 80's. She can keep up with you in air consumption even if she's on the AL 63 and you're on an AL 80, and if she's unhappy diving and gets annoyed/pissed off, you'll likely end up with TWO AL 80's of your very own while she sits at home....seems kinda common sense to me.

 

[h2oSkier]

Is there any reason you're limiting the options to aluminum?

Like Joyce, my wife and I have a pretty large assortment of tanks. My wife started with AL63's and I don't think she's touched them since she bought a pair of HP80 steel tanks.

The characteristics and physical size of an HP80 would likely be ideal for your wife. As a bonus she'd be able to drop 5-6 pounds of lead.

Worthington HP 80: 19.7" tall, 28# empty, buoyancy full/empty -9.0, -3.0
Catalina AL63: 21.7" tall, 27.5# empty, buoyancy full/empty -2.8, +1.8

 

[scubafanatic]

...while I'm a big fan of 'steels', the reality of the world is they're rare in rental/tourist situations and mostly you're gonna get AL 80s/63s, might as well accept that !