Steel or ali stages

Nigel W

Hi, just finishing off the practical side of my MOD2 combines with Open circuit Trimix. Very good course and learned a lot of new stuff on how to use my unit.
Anyway to the point. I have tried out 7L, 10L and 12L ali stages. 7L is not enough for the types of diving I want to do, however there seams to be some disagreement between ali and steel stages.

1. Ali - Almost neutral and some can be removed, no removal of weight.
2. Steel - heavier but weight can be removed to compensate. Difficult to rmove stages during the dive due to bouancy, how ever some say "why do you want to remove them?".

My question there fore is what are others out there doing for stages at Mod2 level diving to 60m?

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Bobmac

I've used both steel and aluminum stage tanks and own both. I like the way aluminum tanks trim and tuck in out of the way when I sidemount them. The steel always dragged on me.

se2schul

Wreck Penetration for one.
There are lots of other reasons too, like off-loading some of your stages onto support divers.


I use all Luxfer aluminum stages. They ride really nicely while scootering and provide less drag than heavier bottles. Of course, it seems that sidemounting with CCR is very popular among many on RBW, and that is less drag yet again - regardless of the bottles you use.

Another thing to consider is that if you are doing a serious dive with multiple steel stage bottles, your lift requirements might be considerably more than if you were to use alum bottles.

sailor

second that

Gary Graham

I use Ali stages, for 60m dives it would be Ali 80's. Although they are big and heavy out of the water, once underwater they trim out nicely.

A bailout cylinder full of trimix will be quite bouyant, I normally fit a 1kg shot weight to the cylinder band, I find it helps with trim and balance when carrying a nitrox cylinder for deco.

It is a matter of personal choice; I would look for the chance to try out both ali's and steels before paying out for tanks though.

Hope this helps,

Gary

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CK#103

breals

Also, in cave diving it's common to leave your 100% bottle at 6m/20ft or sometimes in the cave entrance to keep the local yahoo's from stealing them while you are diving.

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Nigel W

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stuey

Yep same here although with a light mix I find I need 2 weights on the trimix to offset the Nitrox, I can only get Ali's in Thailand which isn't a problem as I think they're perfect for the job.

Hanssing

Hi,

Beeing a newbie, my approach to kit on the Rebreather is:

• If it's permanent attached during the dive, it should be made of as strong material as possible (steel) and as negative boyant as possible whithout hindering functionality.
• If it's kit thats not a part of normal setup, or could/should be dumped during the dive its should be as close to neutral in normal diveconditions.

Please note that I dive dry in coldwater and therefor still need weightbelt. If I was overweighted without belt, priority would ofcourse change.

For this reason its only ali or carbon-stages, and only onboard steel.

Regards
Nicolai

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zzzzzzzz

Dear list,

Another secondary reason to carry aluminum "bailout" is for transfilling to the Rebreather bottles in remote locations.

If you carry LP steels on the Rebreather and 3000 psi aluminum tanks for bailout, you can still pump the steels full, depending on how things are setup. The point is that it is not hard to make it work very nicely. This can allow you to remain fully operational in the most remote location.

Use a booster to maintain 3000 psi O2 aluminum 80 supply, a couple of options for diluent and you are set for adequate diving anywhere.

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