Faber 50s

[stephenws]

Is anyone using the Thermo one-piece manifold, available from XS Scuba, with a doubles set of Faber 50s? The Thermo manifold is the only one I could find with a center outlet that would allow the use of a double hose reg. The Faber 50s double set with stainless bands and standard manifold w/isolator is available from several sources, including Dive Gear Express, out of Florida.

Thanks,
Steve

[Herman]

I suppose it depends on your purpose for doubles. To me, I see no real reason for doubles unless single tanks will not provide the amount of gas I need for an average dive, for me 72s or 80s do that normally. If I need a little more gas, I would go with larger tanks rather than twin small tanks. If larger tanks will not provide enough gas, then vintage twin 72's are fairly common, odds are you can find a set complete with bands and manifolds. Doubles bring more problems as well, you have twice the hydros, visuals and unless you dissemble and reassemble them yourself you also incur charges for that work.
Now if it's just cool factor, I prefer vintage manifolds and small tanks like 30 to 40s, there are plenty of vintage manifolds around for them.

[Bryan]

I should have made manifolds! That one is priced like it's made from gold and I'm an XS dealer.....

I agree with Herman (And I have two sets of triples) Vintage doubles have a great cool factor especially the small ones. Larger sizes are challenging and unless you drive to every place you dive they are impractical.

There have been many sets of vintage doubles traded around VDH for less than the cost of the XS manifold. Rob, Roger, any help here ? Perhaps you could find some to pickup at Portage in August and save a lot of coin on shipping?

To each their own.....Your results may vary....

[stephenws]

Oh my…..

I had no idea the Thermo manifold was so expensive - just looked it up. I expected somewhere around $300, but $800? That's crazy! Guess I can drop that idea.

Yes, I will be looking for a vintage doubles set that I can handle.

Most of my diving is in local quarries and Great Lakes wreck diving, so I'm always carrying gear in my car.

If anyone has a good looking set of vintage doubles, I would be interested. Not sure I'm strong enough to handle 72s, but anything smaller would work.

Thanks,
Steve

[1969ivan1]

I have some nice solid bar manifolds made by USD available as well as some vintage double bands. Email me or check my site for details.

[SurfLung]

- Having invested the year of 2013 entirely into the acquisition of THREE SETS of small double tanks, two sets of which underwent fairly extensive screwing around to rebuild, hydro, refinish, re-assemble and put back into service (with help and advice from VDH forum and friends)... I think I may have some expertise in at least this VDH subject!
- I dove my twin 38s and twin 42s exclusively all summer... My computer says I did 40+ dives, AND...
- I absolutely LOVE them... Here's Why:
- #1 is double hose regulator position. These little doubles put the can top level with my shoulder line and keep it FLAT Against My Back. I do a lot of GoPro self video on a stick and at all angles and swimming positions, the videos never show that can anywhere but flat against my back and shoulder level... Amazing.
- #2 is carrying and swimming comfort. Leave the tank boots off and those round bottoms ride naturally against the small of your back and butt... And they easily slip a weight belt under. Underwater these tanks seem closer to my center og gravity and balance nicely. In contrast, I have a single steel high pressure 80 that is so top heavy it will roll me over if I just hang suspended underwater.
- #3 is air capacity (believe it or not). It's plenty enough for 99% of anybody's diving needs... No need to yoke up any tanks larger than that.
- #4 is the Cool Factor. Dammit, we're Vintage Guys... Cool is Important!

As To Your Question About the Yoke...
- I'd suggest you shop the Ebay or ask the Forum members if anyone has an extra Vintage doubles yoke. They are available in the same threads as your Fabers, have the valve nozzle in the right place, and are perfectly serviceable.
- There's 1 day left on a nice yoke for $40 at http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-U-S-DIV ... 3f308093d3

The Inconvenience/Convenience Factor...
- Vintage doubles like my Twin 38's are extremely convenient for refilling from other tanks. The low pressure (1800 psi) refills easily from cascading 3000 psi aluminum tanks. My last two trips to Fortune Pond, I refilled the 38's on sight from other tanks and made 5 dives on the same Twin 38 tank set each weekend.
- If you refill your tanks in this manner, there's no need for disassembling every year just to satisfy your dive shop VIP requirements.
- And then there's This: Doubles don't roll around in your vehicle... Much easier to transport!

- Check out the regulator position in these photos.

[simonbeans]

You can still get these, well, sort of. These are Catalina 45s, with USD manifold, and harness and bands.
Tanks are available, as is the manifold and harness, but bands are not so much. You might be able to get a set of bands somewhere, unfortunately, they are not currently available. Maybe someday.


Now this set might be for sale. PM and we can talk if interested.

[Herman]

Them are cute Allan, although being white, they need Voit stickers.

Steve, take a good look at the reg placement on his doubles, right where it should be, between the shoulder blades and close to the back. Don't mean to hijack the thread but it is an excellent shot of where they should be and illustrates what we were discussing about reg placement on the other thread.

[simonbeans]

They are not white. Just aluminum, aka, silver. Didn't have any Voit stickers anyway.

[Bryan]

Steve, take a good look at the reg placement on his doubles, right where it should be, between the shoulder blades and close to the back. Don't mean to hijack the thread but it is an excellent shot of where they should be and illustrates what we were discussing about reg placement on the other thread.

In Spades


PDF on the subject by Allan K that you can download for future reference.

Click Here

[Herman]

Opps, they are silver....ah still should be Voit unless you paint them yellow.

[simonbeans]

They came galvanized also.

[Chris]

I'm a bit of an air hog. I was only getting 40min at 55 feet depth with an alum 80 (all bottom time except straight down and a safety stop coming up), so I put together two steel 72s. They are heavy so I only use them at boat ramps where I can walk right into the water. My cousin has double 80's and I can't hardly lift them into my car. I get at least one hour with my 72's at 55 foot. and they look cooler than singles. I'm also a cheep skate so getting a hp 120cf or whatever they are is out of the question. I also made my bands out of stainless strapping to save 50$. I also have miss matched tanks but my local dive shop had a cheater bar that got bent and the bend matched my height difference almost perfect. and a scroll saw blade was cheaper than buying a second plate so I copied the first one I bought (sorry Bryan, coarse now you know why I buy so many d-rings and straps). Problem is my weight to buoyancy ratio. I only use six pounds of lead so if I have a MAJOR problem and have to ditch the belt I better have a full breath of air cause I'm certainly not going to go shooting up very fast. for me it takes very little compensating if any to stay trimmed and ever since I switched them to the vdh style cross strap method they are very comfortable once in the water. I do need to try the crotch strap some time to keep them from riding up. It's there, just never tried it.

[Chris]

[quote="Bryan"]I should have made manifolds! That one is priced like it's made from gold and I'm an XS dealer.....

let me know when you have some ready for funding Bryan, I'm sure you would add some neat extra features to them.

[Creed]

Occasionally, the old Selpac double manifolds come up for sale. I think that these are just the bomb for a pair of small doubles, as I can run a single stage on the center with a Conshelf on the side post for hooking up doodads.