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>I was wondering whether a >single steel tank with backplate, wing and wetsuit would be safe to dive in >fresh water conditions. This is the problem with the authoratarian "Since X is a much better diver than you, you should accept the word of those who claim to be speaking for him without question" method of achieving safety being promogulated by some on this forum. When people speak of steel tanks being dangerous with wetsuits, they are referring to DOUBLES of the PST 95 and 104 genre, very heavy tanks, and they are right in this regard. However, there are a lot of other wet/steel configurations out there that work just fine, and must be considered on a case-by-case basis, Which is why it is good to be able to figure these things out for yourself, as you are doing, rather than defer to some improperly understood or misapplied rule. I dive wet fairly regularly with a single Faber 95. Even using a SS backplate with some extra weight in the valley, I still need 18 lbs on my belt, in saltwater, which I figure is enough ditchable weight for the depths I dive this config (in freshwater I leave off the backplate weight). With light doubles - 72's or 85's - I start getting into the gray area, so I would use an alu plate, which puts another 6 lbs on my belt. Historically, it is funny to note how for a long time all the parrots on this group were for ever so long telling anyone who would listen that the ONLY tanks to use were LP steels. Then George casually mentioned one day that he dove alu when wet. When the shock cleared, suddenly the same parrot chorus that had been yelling that anything but LP steels were the mark of a stroke began yelling that only strokes dove steel wet. Yet the physical laws regarding bouyancy were the same before he spoke as after. That's the problem with an authoritarian system, where you cannot freely question and dispute the authority, especially when that authority is capricious. No matter how much that authority might know, if the authority doesn't happen to mention the tidbit of info you need when you need it, you may be out of luck. It's not enough to follow rules - you have to understand the logic behind them, so you can deal with situations that the rules don't cover. That's why is serves no one to stifle discussion here, and why those, like Dan, who would are just plain wrong. -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@aquanaut.com'. Send subscribe/unsubscribe requests to `techdiver-request@aquanaut.com'.
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