need help with finding a tank

[monofin_diva]

hi all..

i'm having trouble finding a tank that fits me. i'm rather small 5'0 and each tank i've ever worn comes far too low on my butt and far too high up where the valves hit my head. they're very heavy for me both on land and underwater. plus i cant really swim wearing one.

typically i freedive and just buddy breathe off my dive buddy. but there HAS to be a tank small enough for me. my diving partner suggested that we use two pony bottles seeing that i dont use much air anyway. would two ponys work?

i swim with a monofin, but i can't use monos when i'm wearing a tank. i can't get that undulation with a tank on. then again i also can't swim without the monofin and a tank on.

i've honestly tried about 5 different sized tanks both aluminum and pressed steel. nothing seems to fit. and i find both tanks to be very heavy.

maybe i'll just stick to freediving. any help would be greatly appreciated. i'm trying to get certified this summer and i dont think i'll find a tank that fits me well enough to pass the test.

thanks in advance

[Jon]

I went scuba diving with a monofin on- once! It was a pain in the butt; however, I might like to try it with a 40cuft. bottle held out in front of me like the finswimming racers do.

You may want to look through ebay for one of the old US Divers (Aqualung) manifolds that allow you to connect a couple of pony bottles together. They made them in 2 tank and 3 tank models and you could just put a couple of
30's in there instead of the 40's they originally came with.

Otherwise look at one of the new manifolds from OMS, with the tank bands, that lets you put pony bottles together in a set of doubles.

Double 30's, or even 20's, are very short and would give you as much air as a standard aluminum 50- which is plenty if you don't use much gas to begin with.

Jon

[Jon]

This isn't exactly what I was talking aobut- they have a much newer version, but you get the idea.

http://cgi.ebay.com/U-S-Divers-doubl...QQcmdZViewItem

Jon

[Spam]

Can you not just jack out the bottom of the cylinder so it leaves room for your body to flex? I think it would be easier all round to alter the harness rather than compromise yours and your partners dive time etc

[Jon]

Here's a picture of the OMS mini doubles. the old Agualung system is still smaller, but this has DIN vlaves and allows you to use two seperate first stages for back-up.

It has a standard 3/4 neck valve so you could swap out the steel 46's with any size pony bottle you want.

Jon

[monofin_diva]

wow.. thanks you guys..lol i wont lie, most of what you guys said has totally gone over my head.. BUT with that being said, i'll show my partner this thread. he's been SCUBA diving for like 30 years and he knows the ins and outs of it.

he will know how to rig stuff up. he's the MacGuyver of like SCUBA. he's been working with me in a 9ft pool to get me used to like diving with a tank on and we have gone out into the ocean before. i feel comfortable in the pool, but honestly i just sit on the bottom. i dont even need weights, the tanks weigh me down enough!

even when i'm freediving i dont start getting bouyant until like over 12 feet deep. i think my butt weighs me down to be honest.

i appreciate all that you've guys said. and jon.. that pic looks like the ones he told me about. i like the idea of the shorter tanks with the same capacity. because i don't really use a lot of air. i'm a very shallow breather i guess. when we're down i use SO much less air than he. we both go down with full tanks and i come up with like 1/3 gone after like 45 min and he'll only have like 1/3 left.

i think two ponys would be best and NOT interfere with my breathing at all. i'd be the one diver pissed off at all of her buddies for needing air and ending a dive early.

i really appreciate this help. i need a tiny tank FAST!

[jimdoe2you]

Gee, I wanna throw my two cents in!

I have found that the best tank for shorter than average people is the older and out of production, but still available on eBay, Faber HP (3300 PSI) steel 72. I have a few of these and they are by far my favorite tanks. These are just 20 inches tall (sans valve and boot). Ditch the boot because it is really tall and would be a pain in your butt .

Pictured here are some of the more common tanks around, and I placed them in order of size. I was going to layout a graph showing each tanks Availability, Capacity, Service Pressure, Diameter, Length, Weight Empty, Weight Full, Buoyancy Empty, and Buoyancy Full, but it would be much easier on me if you just take my word on a recommendation .

IMHO, the best tank for you depicted here is the white one with the word Scubapro in blue letters on it. This is the old Faber HP 72 and it has great weight characteristics (about -12 lbs in water when full and -6 lbs in water when empty) so you probably won't need a weight belt at all. Watch eBay as they come available all the time.

Good luck and I hope this helps out,

Jim

P.S. Pressed Steel Tanks makes a high pressure 65 that may serve you well also.



I have added a third photo, remember, this tank without the valve is a very short 20" long and a narrow 6.75" diameter.

[monofin_diva]

the white tank with the words Scuba Pro does indeed look like (without the boot) that it would fit nicely. the red one next to it doesnt look so bad either.

and to think, i thought it was hard to find a good pair of jeans to fit me without being too long, a nice fitting SCUBA tank is even worse.

12 pounds for the weight of the tank shouldn't be too bad. i dont know how much the other tanks that we use weigh or their sizes, but i know i can't lift it off the ground when it's completely full. i probably can lift 12 pounds.

i'll keep my eyes peeled on ebay

thanks..

[Jon]

The Pressed Steel HP65 is a very short little tank, but good luck getting one- Pressed Steel is on it's last legs and may go completely under before too long. They are just down the road from my a ways and it's pretty sad what happened to them- forced out by the city they were in for years and unable to find a new location that doesn't cost an arm and a leg to open up.

I'm not sure what worthington has too offer fro little tanks, but I know a bunch of locals that are switching over to them from Pressed Steel.

The little Faber tanks that Jim mentioned, which were sold by Scubapro, are nice and tiny- plus a whole lot thinner than the HP65 so more streamlined in the water. AGA used to have some really nice double steel tanks that were tiny- but had a fill pressure of 4400psi!

[monofin_diva]

why is pressed steel going the way of the dodo bird & twin hosed regulators?

lol it seems like all the things i either need or like aren't that popular (sorry, can't quite fork over $500+ for that new twin hosed mistral twin hosed reg)..

so it seems we may have found a nice small tank for me.

is there a risk buying a used tank?

also 4400psi.. geeze, i could breathe off that for like 4 hours!

[Jon]

THIS is the system that I was talking about!

This is for sale on EBAY right now- but the owner wants way too much money for it.

US Divers made a couple of different versions. This is the
3-tank version, but they also had a 2-tank one. They made them with and without the plastic casing- which is how I would recommend using them. You could change out the bottles that are on there for something MUCH shorter.


Jon

[monofin_diva]

that's how i sort of pictured it. too bad it looks like i'll have a hard time finding that scuba pro tank.. it does look like the perfect size for me

[mannydib]

i know this is an old thread but it caught my attention

has anyone tried a monofin with sidemount tanks?
i bet it would work. probably feel like driving a truck compared to a roadster (freediving) but it would probably work.