Aqualung twin back pack

[treasureman]

I was transfering over the twins from a Mil harness to a aqualung bac pac with single set of twin bands.

Upon placing the twins in their new home, and lowering them to what i believe was the correct height, I found that the Dh reg cant be put on the manifold. I have the solid bar with the air opening beneath the on off knob.

Boy do I feel like a knob.

Ok now for those more experienced, except for having the tanks sit higher which would result in minor mod to the bac pac, How do I get around this. I had used this for a set of twin 72 30 years ago, but had the yolk with the air orifice on top with the on off below.

Did I say I feel like a knob.

Help!!!

[William]

I ran into the same problem. I got me a very nice Aqua Lung 3 Piece Twin Tank Valve Assembly and mounted it so the Regulator was on Top. Doing this also allowed the tanks to be worn lower and the regulator moved lower too. With my Aqua Lung and Voit Twin Tank Back Packs there is a little clearance between it and the regulator bottom so the Back Pack can be mounted higher. It works and looks very nice with the Regulator looking like it is mounted properly as compared to the reverse mounting. The Sportsways back pack is a Must for the 3 piece valve assembly so the regulator can be mounted on top and on/off knob underneath, because there is No Clearance between the Regulator and the top of the back pack at all. The Bac-Pac sits very close in on the tanks. When you adjust your Bac-Pac Straps, make sure you adjust them so the bottom of the bac-pac is way down at your belt line for best comfort in and out of the water. When worn higher the bottom plastic presses in on your back and is uncomfortable. I recommend a Twin Crotch Strap like Mike Melson wore in his Show Sea Hunt too. A single crotch will do very well too. On one of mine, I Y-ed off the two plastic waiste belt attach areas and came through the legs with it turning into a single strap. It works excellently to keep my twin tanks in position. You do not want to be drilling any holes in your lower bac-pac just for a crotch strap to be mounted. William

[1969ivan1]

Treasureman, why do you want to forsake the best double set up ever devised? The military harness is PERFECT in it's simplicity and funtion! The reg sits super close and low to your back and the harness is suprisingly comfortable. Many of those backpacks can crack and shatter where the old mil harness just keeps on trucking.
If I am to understand the problem and the manifold you are using the "suggestion" given you by William will not work unless you forsake the solid one piece USD manifold (another thing I would not suggest).
The mil harness is the DM30 of double harnesses IMO!

[William]

Well Rob is right about the things here. I just really like and prefer to use the Aqua-Lung and Voit Twin Tank Back Packs. Just to me ,they are much nicer looking on and off the diver and the function they provide is very good too. But I have seen quite a few with cracks in them. The ellusive Blue Voit Twin Tank Back Pack seems to never come up on Ebay, so I am going to make my own and out of a Stronger Type of Bi-Lateral Fiberglass Cloth that is extremely durable and strongly resists cracking, and solve 2 things at one time. After the mold is made, then I will just need to Tint the Resin with the Blue shade properly in a few test runs. Galvanized Tanks and well, really White and Black Tanks look really Nice with the Voit Blue. I might even make a Yellow one for my little diving buddy to use with her yellow 38 cu ft Aqua-Lung steel tank. William

[1969ivan1]

Well, William if you do make an improved back pack out of stronger material you may be able to sell them to other divers that have broken ones.

[William]

They may be nice in that they could be made out of any Color. Yellow ,Red Blues even very bright Silver Metal Flake. But if the mold worked out good, what I would do is to just sell it at cost, which would Not be very much at all, to someone like you or Karl. You guys do very well in provioding things for the Vintage divers and it would be much better if I let you'll handle any commercial types of things like that. William who would

[boogerdave]

I took a hair dryer and applied a little heat to convince the backpack to bend a little for clearance.

[William]

Well that was really smart. A little clearance can make a Big difference. There (is) a difference in clearance from one Bac-Pac to another Bac-Pac of the same make, model and year. So carefully useing a Heat Gun to add a little clearance is a smart idea. If you did damage it, better to damage a plastic bac-pac, that can Easily be repaired, than to damage an Expensive Regulator. William