1800psi 38’s for Deco Bottles?

Just how well do steel 38’s for deco stand up against modern aluminum cylinders?

I have a couple steel 38’s (1800psi) that were manufactured in the early 1970’s. For years, I dived them as doubles with a J-valve manifold as was common practice back then. Eventually I split them (long, uninteresting story) and have been thinking about putting them back together to use with my old double hose regulators.

Before I do that, I’d like to know if anyone out there has experience using this size cylinder as a deco bottle. Typically, steel tanks are considered too negatively buoyant to be comfortably used slung. But, these, being only 1800psi tanks are only about 2 pounds negative when full–not too bad.

I thought I’d reach out to the tec diving world to see if anyone has used LP 38’s for deco. I’ll probably go ahead and sling one and just see how it rides, but if you’ve ever used a similar rig, I’d like to hear your thoughts.