7L Deco Cylinders

[Smalley]

Hi all, after some help and info please!

Looking at a 7L deco cylinder and the argument between steel and aluminium keeps cropping up.

I've read about Ali's being between about 2kgs to -0.5kgs in the water and weighing about 9.5kg on land.

Steels seem to be lighter on land between 7.5 to 8.5kgs for 232bar, but i cant find anything to say about weight in water.

reports of personal experiences greatly appreciated, want to acquire one but wanna make sure i get it right.

cheers

[Dave Sydenham]

Why not see if someone will lend you one of each to try and see what you like?

Cheers!

Dave
:)

[Nigel Hewitt]

Why not see if someone will lend you one of each to try and see what you like?This is the best way as some people like the way Alis float up 'out of the way' while I prefer my steels that stay down in a consistent place. It is just personal taste and we don't know which you will turn out to be.

My steels are 1.3Kg in water fully rigged with a reg and harness empty so add another 2+Kgs for a gas fill. The bare cylinder is 8.8Kg. Alis tend to be roughly the same weight but are more buoyant.

[Stephen Hodgkins]

I dive with a 5.7 ali (old 40ft) and it is absolutely perfect for acc. deco. In the water it is neutrally buoyant so there is no need to worry about it.

In other words there is no need to change weight config on other kit. Only slightly irritating thing is that when empty'ish it floats nose down as the valve weights around 1kg.

Its also a nice size as a side slung and gives me something to stroke when I get bored !!!!

It also gives plenty of gas for the deco I want to do. I tried a 7 (both steel and Ali) but found them to be a little too big.

Just my opinion.

[Darren Morgan]

I hate steel stages and would go for ali every time..... and as soon as I have the funds I may even buy one!

I often end up borrowing steel 7s and find them to be a pain on the weighting side. Ali's make a much smaller difference to buoyancy. I hardly have to consider the change in buoyancy when passing or receiving an ali cylinder but steel makes a huge difference.

[Smalley]

There arent many guys in our branch with stages to borrow, i did use a steel 300bar 7L on the weekend and that was very heavy in the water, so wont be getting one of those.


Thanks nigel, good to hear your steels only weigh about 1.3Kg that gives me something to think about.

[Richard Whitcombe]

See http://www.subaqua.co.uk/cgi-bin/cylinder-buoyancy.cgi

for an idea of how negative they'll be in water.

[Twinsetmad]

The 232bar Alis behave very much like steel cylinders... 207 bar Alis are lighter all round... and a real pleaure to dive with.