diving with doubles

[LKunze]

I think it is far from everyone that is diving doubles here in MN.  Is it warranted for a single recreational profile dive to dive doubles?  Obviously the answer would be no. 

I can't speak for everyone diving doubles but for me personally I sold all of my single tanks to fund two sets double LP85's with the intention of possibly getting into deco diving.  I've since all but decided not to pursue this and so now the doubles rig is all I have since I sold the singles. For multiple rec dives though doubles do offer some advantages as you do not have to swap out tanks after each dive. They also offer redundancy with the isolator and second regulator without the need to sling a 30 or 40 which many divers do.  I think that is a good way to go too and I may have gone that direction had I known I wasn't going to pursue technical diving. 

I do like not having to switch out tanks after each dive and the 85's aren't huge heavy tanks like 108's or 130's which would be way overkill and too hard on the back for the shore dives I am doing within recreational limits.  I really don't find the 85's to seem much heavier than a single 108 or 130 with a sling bottle.  The doubles seem to be more stable and trim out nice and I like the fact that you don't have to adjust cam straps every time.  This ensures the tanks are set at the same height for each setup.

The doubles are somewhat of a PITA for shore dives that require longer walks to the dive site or have more challenging rocky entries like the Hesper.  I still haven't had the courage to try and haul the doubles over that breakwall down to the water.

My guess though is that most of the people that do dive doubles around here are doing some deco diving and for that doubles are the best option.  Some divers are diving smaller doubles like 45's or 50's for the recreational dives just so they don't have to swap out hoses on regs to configure to single tank setups which makes sense.