Zeagle Ranger / Tech with doubles

[Buccaneer]

Hi All

I am thinking of putting twin alum 80s on my zeagle ranger. I have never dove twin before, however, a few of my friends are starting to get into it and I thought that I might give it a shot (so I can keep up).

Do I need to have the metal backplate? Can anyone offer some info as to how I go about setting things up?

Thanks
Gerry

I am not sure about the Ranger, but you may be able to order a backplate thru Zeagle designed to be used w/ your BC specificlly for diving doubles. I know my Recon can be fitted w/ a backplate for this purpose. Good point on the bladder size, my Recon is a 75#. You probably need at lease 45# and a dry suit for redundancy.

 

[MikeFerrara]

There are several methods attaching doubles to a ranger.

You can use the Zeagle backplate.
You can use the long cam bands which you can get from Zeagle

You can bolt the tanks to the back pack using a spacer. Zeagle has the spacer and the dive rite one should work too.

The ranger normally comes with I think a 45 pound wing which should be more than enough for double Al 80's.

 

[nalfein]

I used to dive a Zeagle tech w/ twins... I used the Dive Rite spacers with no problems. The tanks were held securely to the BC, no issues with shifting or trim. I've since switched to a bp/wing setup, I found the Zeagle a little busy, but it was a nice enoough piece of kit to dive.

 

[scubafanatic]

...Roakey is right.......you're trying to drop a V12 engine into a Volkswagen Beetle and call it Formula I race car.....(by the way, I own 2 Zeagle Rangers, and dove one in Cozumel as recently as last Oct.) The Ranger is a limited 'platform'......using it for doubles is taking it beyond it's design limits.....it can be done in the laboratory, but it's ineffective in the real-world.

I still use my Rangers ( smaller singles only ) but for doubles now I'm using a Deep Outdoors Matrix with 55 lb wing......and have just added a Dive Rite Dual Rec Wing with 51 lbs of lift to it ( since I didn't want the Deep Outdoors redundant wing, 85 lbs of lift is just too much.)

I know this isn't the answer you wanted, but more advanced diving isn't cheap.

I have a feeling you're gonna try to 'upgrade' your Ranger anyway.....sometimes people just have to find things out the hard way......best of luck to you though.

Karl

 

[nalfein]

Hi Karl,

I don't think taking a 44 lbs lift Ranger and using it for twin Al 80's is excessive hot rodding of a limited platform. The tanks mount securely, there is sufficient lift, and Zeagle states that the unit may be used with either a single or double tank configuration. Now some manufacturer claims can be out to lunch, but this isn't one of them.

I could see your point if someone were planning on using large steels, or carrying stage bottles, tech diving and the like. There are several tech divers here that use the Ranger for tech diving, but with the 65 lb bladder. And some of them have tried the bp/wing and gone back to the Ranger. However for recreational twin diving, the Ranger is not an unreasonable choice.

As for the cost factor, I purchased a bp/wing setup last year for much less than my old Ranger Tech set me back.

If you like your Ranger, keep it.... I prefer bp/wing, but that's me, the Ranger will suffice for the Al 80's.

chris