Stage Cylinders

[Robert]

A little while ago I looked at some DIR advice and bought an older style 7l aluminium stage cylinder (newer style are a little heavier) - it has served me very well and I like its buoyancy characteristics.
What's the current favourite for larger cylinders (10l perhaps) and where's the best place to get them?
Thanks

Robert

[Bob Cooper]

I (and a few of the others) use DOT AL80's.  These are about 10.5L and are perfect as far as buoyancy is concerned.  Trouble is, you will have difficulty getting anybody to fill them here in UK. I have heard that somebody in Germany has imported some and got them CE marked for Europe, but I don't have the details.

If you are ocean diving, you shouldn't need anything bigger than an Ali 7L for deco gas.  The AL80's we use for cave diving and they double up as deco gas when ocean diving.

Bob

[Bear]

Oh dear Bob tsk, tsk,
A similar comment nearly got me flamed the other day.
If you are going past 80m for longer than 20min you need bigger than that or more than 1 of each deco gas.
                               Bear. (giggle)

[Bob Cooper]

80m for 20 mins?  The Channel isn't that deep.

Most of our diving is up to 65m this end of the channel, even way offshore.  You need to go West to get depth like that.

Bob