Steel 72's... what are they good for?

scubnewb · Post by **scubnewb** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 5:10 pm

Been seeing some steel 72's for sale lately. Saw two sperate sets that were doubled up (a friend bought one of the set I saw at my LDS) and saw a single tank as well for sale. What do people commonly use these for.

spatman · Post by **spatman** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 5:11 pm

Scuba diving.

scubnewb · Post by **scubnewb** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 5:26 pm

I deserved that haha...

spatman wrote:Scuba diving.

LCF · Post by **LCF** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 5:56 pm

Single 72s are commonly used for students -- if you're just diving to 40 feet for 25 minutes, it's a reasonable amount of gas and a smaller tank for them to haul around. I could use a steel 72 for Edmonds.

Double 72s can be a nice set of "learner" doubles. They're also pretty good for "techreational" dives -- dives in the deeper recreational range that aren't actually going to go into deco. We have two sets. I hate them, because they don't trim out for me, but Peter likes them.

enchantmentdivi · Post by **enchantmentdivi** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:30 pm

Ohhhhhhhhhh, if they are Faber mid-pressure 72s, they are good for ME!!!! If you see any of these, I'm always interested and would much appreciate if you forwarded me the info!

Linedog · Post by **Linedog** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:51 pm

Yard gongs.

Nwbrewer · Post by **Nwbrewer** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 6:55 pm

Sidemount!

boydski · Post by **boydski** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 7:09 pm

scubnewb wrote:Been seeing some steel 72's for sale lately. Saw two sperate sets that were doubled up (a friend bought one of the set I saw at my LDS) and saw a single tank as well for sale. What do people commonly use these for.

I use a pair of steel 72's for all of my fluffy bunny dives. At 3000 psi they hold plenty of gas for two or three recreational dives and they are much, much lighter than packing around a pair of HP 100's. In fact, I was diving them on Sunday when Richard and I were diving the new wreck in Bremerton. They are my favorite tanks!

scubnewb · Post by **scubnewb** » Tue Mar 06, 2012 10:22 pm

I beleive these are LP...

enchantmentdivi wrote:Ohhhhhhhhhh, if they are Faber mid-pressure 72s, they are good for ME!!!! If you see any of these, I'm always interested and would much appreciate if you forwarded me the info!

Rooinater · Post by **Rooinater** » Wed Mar 07, 2012 1:18 pm

I use mine for recreational dives. As doubles they work great as long as you know a place to get them filled to 3k psi. They do require me to add about 5lbs more than I carry with my double pst 100's. But I can get 2 to 3 recreational dives on a set.

whatevah · Post by **whatevah** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 9:22 am

I love my LP72s - those and HP100s seem to balance out really well for me. I think I've got six or seven LP72s that I use for all manner of non-deco stuff. I've also got two of them doubled up for deco diving and they suit me perfectly for deep air/nitrox.

sitkadiver · Post by **sitkadiver** » Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:48 am

I totally dig the LP 72!! Pretty much what I dive most of the time. I can usually get 45 minutes out of one if I stay above 60 feet and then play in the shallows.

As far as doubles go, I have 3 sets of double 72's. I definately prefer the bouyancy characteristics of the 72 to an Al 80.(duhh...)

I also have a harness I use with I-bolts(no back plate). I can switch from singles to doubles in a manner of minutes using those bands and a cheater bar. The only issue with the cheater bar is being certian your tanks are at the same height with valve and boot in place.

Do you want to trade 72's for 80's? I have about a dozen 80's I'd trade you 2 for 1 72.( or 12 for 6 72's).

My last tank trade was my 108's, which DiverDave gave me 6 72's for. That was a smokin deal for me.

Northwest Dive Club