Quote:
| Originally Posted by [b Quote[/b] (siltmonkey @ Nov. 22 2003,17:40)]Wetlettuce - If you have 2 stages on the left, zero visibility and no light, how do you select the correct one? Or is "no light" not acceptable, given a main light and two backups?
Mark - do you ever dive with just one stage, and if so do you have the unbalancing issue?
I'm curious...show me how deep the rabbit hole goes!
cheers
r |
I very rarely dive with one stage for reasons of bail out. That said when I do I alter the position of the stage I normally clip from a D ring on the twin set to the left nipple for my left tank so if on a single stage I would clip from hip D ring to my right nipple d ring. This moves the centre of gravity more central and over comes the problem.
As for steel V ali
A 7ltr steel is Negative 1.8kg full and 0kg empty. So tanks left I have 3.6Kg neg on my left reducing to 0 when empty.
A 7ltr Ali tank is Negative 1.1kg full and Plus 0.6 kg empty so there is less of an imbalance. The 2.2KG for two 7ltrs on the left can be (and is) off set by the torch canister on the right hip in DIR. BUT I already had lead off set to balance the torch canister so this had to move for diving stages. Now my torch is centrally mounted on the twin set so this is no longer an issue.
Ali cylinders are expensive and difficult to maintain in the UK so I didn’t opt for them. Also CE registered Ali cylinders have thicker walls than the American Luxfor items and I am told the characteristics are much the same if not worse than steel. They are definitely heavier and bigger than steel tanks. As a result the serious DIR lads import their non CE marked tanks from the US and then have to find a very friendly local test house willing to touch them. You might have a few problems getting them filled too. These problems are not insurmountable but its too much hassle for me. I will stick with steel tanks.
ATB
Mark Chase