Rear Inflation - Face Down in Water

[SmileMon]

The crotch strap will definitely solve this problem for you. I dove my Dive-Rite without a crotch-strap, and it was bad enough that I considered giving it up. With the crotch-strap in place and tightened properly, it will keep your cummerbund and the lower back of the BC where they are supposed to be, and will also keep your tank from riding up and thumping you in the back of the melon. The weights for mine are non-ditchable, although I do have weight pockets in the front, which I use for miscellaneous gear. (and for extra weight if I'm wearing a thicker exposure suit) My weights run along my sides, from just behind my armpits down to the rear sides of the cummerbund. Very comfortable, out of the way, and my trim works out nicely, too.

The only crotch straps I've seen so far are going straight on the "private parts", I don't think I want some strap to be there.

Do you know if there are straps like what they use on a parachute? If I can't find one, I'll probably make one.. I just can't figure out a way to easily disconnect it for emergencies.

 

[Skinsfan1311]

Since you're a Skins Fan I recommend a BP/W for you.

If you were a Cowboys, Mavericks, Rangers or Stars fan I would recommend a Stiletto.

Me? A Skins fan?? What gave it away?? That's just T.O.funny!

 

[bergersau]

It can also help sometimes to raise your tank in the cambands a little too. Then as the BC lifts it is counterbalanced by the mass of the tank above the waterline behind the aircell.

Don't give up at one attempt - get someone who knows their stuff to watch you and help correct your balance issues.

Rear inflate is sometimes a little tricky to set up correctly but once set up you will appreciate it underwater.

 

[DiverBuoy]

I don't know about non-ditchable, but there are front pockets which can be ditched by pulling the cord, people have been complaining its complicated to re-thread the cord, but its pretty simple, try at home when you get the BC.

The back pockets are not "ditchable", but you CAN pull them and it will drop the weights, just needs a bit more to do it, but if someone else needs to do it for you, they won't stretch a muscle (its all about angle )

The only problem I saw with mine is if the pony is connected in the back is that one of the pockets is a bit problematic to release, than again, if you have enough weight on you that one pocket won't make you bouyant, I think something is not 100%.

I need 18 pounds of weights, I used to put 6 in each side in the front and 3 in each side in the back, it took me straight to my face on the surface, I now have only 3 in the front and 6 in the back and its perfect, lay on my back on the surface, and can be in any angle in the water.

The BC fits pretty good on me, it has enough room for anything and adjusted if I want it smaller, I would go far and say it fits perfectly, its slipping only on the surface/jumping to the water, after I get wet it stays in place (maybe because it doesn't need to pull up anymore).

I'm using the Zeagle Brigade that scubatoys are selling.

I don't think your buddy could ditch the weight in the rear pockets, its certainly not "quick release". Having the majority of your weight in non-ditchable form could be potentially disasterous. Side note ... I own (but don't dive) a Zeagle Ranger ... I hate the quickrelease red cord wire path ... that design is such a pain. Try teaching student using it, technically PADI wants the student to experience quick release of their integrated weights, some instructors teaching on the Zeagle BCs will "cheat" and provide weightbelts. Those with a conscience, find themselves spending a lot of time on the deck of the pool rewiring them. Those with intelligence, ask their DMs to get on that

 

[SmileMon]

I don't think your buddy could ditch the weight in the rear pockets, its certainly not "quick release". Having the majority of your weight in non-ditchable form could be potentially disasterous. Side note ... I own (but don't dive) a Zeagle Ranger ... I hate the quickrelease red cord wire path ... that design is such a pain. Try teaching student using it, technically PADI wants the student to experience quick release of their integrated weights, some instructors teaching on the Zeagle BCs will "cheat" and provide weightbelts. Those with a conscience, find themselves spending a lot of time on the deck of the pool rewiring them. Those with intelligence, ask their DMs to get on that

The back pockets are not quick release, right, but.. given the right attitude they will ditch the weights.
It also depends on how many weights you put in there, if they are soft or hard, etc', the handles, if pulled, will open the pocket, if there are too many weights in there and they are compressed, I agree, they will be stuck in there.

The front pockets with the cord, given the wrong angle will have the weights stuck in them too.

One only has prayers that the wire will never be pulled in a real emergency, only as training/fun/trying to see how much damage can be done on a fast ascent with heliox.. etc'..

 

[DiverBuoy]

True but the point of the quick release design doesn't need to be justified ... its easy to locate, clearly marked, and once released it's easy to get around any of the snags you mentioned. In the event of a serious emergency your buddy would pull your cords 20% of your weight would drop out and you wouldn't budge. He'd scratch his hood and shrug his shoulders, he would not go searching all around your body to figure out why you weren't ascending. For many years the ditchable weight quick release design has served the scuba community, bucking the system can't result in anything good, that's my thinking.

 

[Quarrior]

The only crotch straps I've seen so far are going straight on the "private parts", I don't think I want some strap to be there.

Do you know if there are straps like what they use on a parachute? If I can't find one, I'll probably make one.. I just can't figure out a way to easily disconnect it for emergencies.

The straps are not that tight, or not supposed to be. You hardly even know it's there.

 

[SmileMon]

True but the point of the quick release design doesn't need to be justified ... its easy to locate, clearly marked, and once released it's easy to get around any of the snags you mentioned. In the event of a serious emergency your buddy would pull your cords 20% of your weight would drop out and you wouldn't budge. He'd scratch his hood and shrug his shoulders, he would not go searching all around your body to figure out why you weren't ascending. For many years the ditchable weight quick release design has served the scuba community, bucking the system can't result in anything good, that's my thinking.

That's why my instructor said part of the buddy check is to notify the other diver where are my weights and what to pull?

 

[SmileMon]

The straps are not that tight, or not supposed to be. You hardly even know it's there.

I'm not afraid of that, i'm afraid of those 3 seconds that the bouyancy of the BC is pulling you up when you first jump into the water, wrong angle and the thing is going to pull hard on your private parts instead of just streaching the BC down 2 seconds later, maybe I'm just paranoid..

 

[Double_D]

I'm not afraid of that, i'm afraid of those 3 seconds that the bouyancy of the BC is pulling you up when you first jump into the water, wrong angle and the thing is going to pull hard on your private parts instead of just streaching the BC down 2 seconds later, maybe I'm just paranoid..

Viva le Back Roll

On a different note, methinks (and I know I'm stating the obvious - apologies in advance) that if a diver is so overweighted that when they drop 20%-30% of their weight and don't budge, there's a larger problem involved than knowing where the rip cord or elevator button is. The second and third order effects of the runaway ascent and the potential AGE / LOI / DCS (hey, pick one) is way more permanent.

Best practice is to be trimmed and weighted to where you're slightly negative at the surface without any air in your BC. Can we fin our whole rig up with weights and all? Dumping MORE than 20-30% of the total weight would likely result in our hapless hero accelerating towards the surface as the pressure fell and the neoprene and residual air in the BC continued to expand.

If I'm ditching weight, I sure don't want to lose all of it at once.