| When you sit down and think about a single and a stage you will see that it is essentially a set of independent twin tanks... without the nice carrying frame of bands and bolts.
Therefore all the drawbacks of a set of independent twins apply plus the added joy of one bottle swinging around on the stage straps. Unless you have real experience with the moving bottle, the doubles will definitely be easier.
Second point I wanted to look at is cost. In addition to the AL80 bottle..
to use the stage you'd need:
Stage kit
Reg (1st and 2nd stage)
40" hose
6"HP hose
O2 clean gauge
Stage markings etc.
To build a set of doubles:
Manifold
Tank bands
Reg (1st stage only use your octopus from old rig as backup - just swap the faceplates)
22" LP hose
Larger wing (40lb for AL80s is plenty usually.. but I see from your posts you'll do the math.)
I am not sure that (using e-bay judiciously) there is much difference in cost outlay..
If it were me I'd either look at the larger steel bottle to counteract the wetsuit, or a set of Al80 doubles.. which have got to be about the easiest set to dive. I was in AL80s a couple of weeks ago in Asia, and they're so nice to dive.
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Even a "bad" day diving beats a day in the office...
Keri
The more I learn.. the more ignorant I realise I am.. |