Why the small tanks?

[rgbmatt]

The only places that use 63s and 50s regularly are the Japanese shops, which makes sense as many of their customers are small asian women with near-zero air consumption. If a big white guy shows up asking for a tank rental, they'll understand and will point you to the 80s.

Never seen an aluminum 72 on Oahu - that seems to be a Maui/Kona thing only.

You may not have much luck renting anything larger than an 80, but it never hurts to call around and ask.

 

[tregrrr]

Bah 63's suck and I can make one last 60 mins @ 60'

We usually only let small statured, experienced women or kids with gills use them and then only if they request 'em

Anyone caught trying to pass them off as primary excursion equipment needs to be flamed and negatively advertised. Our sport is expensive enough without help from 'sweet and wonderful' operators like that.

If you provide the tar, I have an old dead feather pillow we can use

 

[KrisB]

since I was the one quoted, I should clarify that this was specifically speaking of one dive operator that I used on Oahu.

If I remember correctly, it was Waikiki Diving. We (Mark -- howard4113 here -- and I) were the only ones with 80's on our backs, and that was because we brought them. The certified divers were generally in 63's, and the students on the boat (also booked with Waikiki Diving -- *not* seats sold to another op) were in 50's.

What it boils down to is caveat emptor. Do your homework. Ask for the bigger tank. Find out if they're going to limit your bottom time, or if you can dive your computer's NDL. If you don't like their answers... go somewhere else. Contrary to popular belief, there are a bunch of operators to choose from -- some great, a lot mediocre, and a few rotten apples.

 

[Peter Guy]

For what it's worth, B & B Scuba, Kihei, Maui, has 80's standard on their dives and AL 100's are available by request (especially IF you ask early AND nicely!). I've been on at least 3 dive ops in Maui and all had 80's as the standard.

 

[TSandM]

It is funny, though. Experiences I've had make me think that tropical dive ops don't think small women can, or want to carry anything bigger than a 63. We've been renting tanks from B&B for almost three years, and they STILL look at the two of us and say, "An 80 and a 63, right?" Brad was really dubious about me using a 100 (necessary because we forgot our DIN to yoke converters, and needed pro valves). He just doesn't realize I wear steel doubles and an 18 pound weight belt into the water routinely at home -- an Al 100 seems like something I can dance in!

 

[Blazinator]

I knew that most operators would not force one into a small tank, thanks to the good recomendations from all you guys, but I certainly didn't realize that they catered the tanks mostly to training, Asians and women - which makes a lot of sense.

Like you said, Kris, its up to you to ask and make sure of what you are getting. I hope you didn't mind me quoting you.

I certainly learned something.

 

[klavdivs]

Most adult males on an AL80 run low on air just before they run out of bottom time. "Bigger" divers and the "less experienced" burn it up sooner. Running out of air is easier for the divemasters to watch than running out of bottom time, so I don't blame the dive operations for erring on that side. Kids and small women can get away with 72s and smaller, but it is sloppiness on the dive boat's part to start a full grown guy's dive with anything less than 80 cu ft at 3000 psi. Such a shop deserves to get the maximum possible negative publicity for it. I own a pair of steel 120s personally; the extra weight is worth running out of bottom time instead of air. It would be nice if a dive boat would let folks specify a bigger tank and/or Nitrox mix for a set extra fee. As a capitalist, I accept the concept of extra bottom time = extra money. Anyone else know why they don't use that tactic for the extra revenue?

 

[DiveWestOahu]

with a rmv of 0.5 myself,, an 80cubic foot tank @ 40 feet will last over an hour and a half,,,would you wanna wait for me (just think if i had a 120 on)?? at some point there needs to be a limit if for nothing else safety (is that person, lost? ok? drifted around the island? died?) or comfort of others,,, if a group charters a boat or shore dives with the intent of doing loooong bottom times or other spacific dives and everyone there is ok/ knows whats going on, sure, more bottom time to ya

 

[TSandM]

BTW, I'm pretty sure we did Lanai with Lahaina Divers, which is one of the outfits that provides small tanks (72s). However, they did NOT limit our dive time, and since my husband and I are pretty good on gas, we were the last ones in the water one day, burning up the last of our gas on the top of a pinnacle, when the whale came and checked us out.

Lahaina Divers also makes larger tanks available, at an extra charge.

 

[DiveMaven]

Lynn's experience with Lahaina Divers is exactly what we experienced this past December. Although we had 72's, our bottom time wasn't limited and we got 57 min and 59 minute dives at Lanai sites. We were typically first off and last on the boat, but it wasn't a big deal to the crew.

And they do have 100's if you want to preorder them and pay a bit extra.