Hello buddies,
I was drilling donning and doffing my BPW underwater the other day and although I survived ( ), it was a bit of a mess.
Recently I have moved to a long hose/primary donate setup and I just don't know how to neatly handle the hoses. Do you still breath from the long hose or switch to the secondary? Do you keep the bungee around the neck or?
Few details about my setup: I use an aluminum plate but my tank is quite heavy (15lt steel ). I don't have any extra weight on the BPW - only 6kg (~13pounds) on a weight belt. I use a full 5mm 2 pieces Long John wet suit (water temperatures at depth around 70F) and I'm quite a big and floaty guy.
I did the drill at the end of a dive, with about 40bars(600psi) of air left and I was neutral at about 5m (15ft). During the drill BPW/tank was quite negative and I was quite positive without it. Overall the "system" was neutral but I ended up feet up while holding the heavy BPW/tank below and in front of me. What can be done to get more balanced? Obviously I need to move some weight from the BPW/tank to myself but since there is no extra weight how? I am thinking to add 1 kg to my belt (hence some air in the wing), but that would mean that I will be diving (a bit) overweight. Also at depth where I have less buoyancy from my suit maybe that won't be needed? Or am I doing something totally wrong?
BTW I am used to and prefer the the "flip over the head" removal/replace method instead of the roll method. The reason for this is that I have long hands and I can't get used to the elbow first in/out procedure. As a result I instinctively keep going fist first and my computer and/or compass always get entangled with the webbing - hence I hate it. With "flip over the head" everything is much better.
I would greatly appreciate if somebody could give me a step by step procedure or a video. I've seen a couple of videos from older posts but they are with jacket style/ standard (octopus) setup and most if not all use the roll method.
Thanks a lot...
I was drilling donning and doffing my BPW underwater the other day and although I survived ( ), it was a bit of a mess.
Recently I have moved to a long hose/primary donate setup and I just don't know how to neatly handle the hoses. Do you still breath from the long hose or switch to the secondary? Do you keep the bungee around the neck or?
Few details about my setup: I use an aluminum plate but my tank is quite heavy (15lt steel ). I don't have any extra weight on the BPW - only 6kg (~13pounds) on a weight belt. I use a full 5mm 2 pieces Long John wet suit (water temperatures at depth around 70F) and I'm quite a big and floaty guy.
I did the drill at the end of a dive, with about 40bars(600psi) of air left and I was neutral at about 5m (15ft). During the drill BPW/tank was quite negative and I was quite positive without it. Overall the "system" was neutral but I ended up feet up while holding the heavy BPW/tank below and in front of me. What can be done to get more balanced? Obviously I need to move some weight from the BPW/tank to myself but since there is no extra weight how? I am thinking to add 1 kg to my belt (hence some air in the wing), but that would mean that I will be diving (a bit) overweight. Also at depth where I have less buoyancy from my suit maybe that won't be needed? Or am I doing something totally wrong?
BTW I am used to and prefer the the "flip over the head" removal/replace method instead of the roll method. The reason for this is that I have long hands and I can't get used to the elbow first in/out procedure. As a result I instinctively keep going fist first and my computer and/or compass always get entangled with the webbing - hence I hate it. With "flip over the head" everything is much better.
I would greatly appreciate if somebody could give me a step by step procedure or a video. I've seen a couple of videos from older posts but they are with jacket style/ standard (octopus) setup and most if not all use the roll method.
Thanks a lot...