No BCD diving...

[FredT]

20 feet of 3/8 rope also makes a good improvised harness, no hardware required. A fair knowledge of knots is handy though. BTDT

Rolling clove at the middle of the line (rope once cut from the roll becomes a line) just below the shoulder. Then allow enough slack to provide arm straps leading to a rolling clove about 18" below the first one. the ends for the waist strap. Complete with a spanish windlass forming the waist buckle tied off with a slip loop, and trim excess line from both ends. Takes about 5 minutes to rig on the back deck. NOT comfortable, but works reasonably well.

 

[mproekt1]

The thing I wonder about is what to do about two things that change buoyancy: compression at depth (if you wear an exposure suit) and the increasing buoyancy of your tank as you deplete the gas.

It is clearly possible to choose weighting such that at a given depth and with a given quantity of gas in your tank(s) you are neutrally buoyant with a "normal" breath. Are your lungs enough such that you can hold a 10' stop with an empty tank? Can you get down to depth from the surface?

This kind of things seems straightforward with something like a cave dive that is long and shallow, but working out the right combination of tank, exposure suit and weighting for an open ocean dive seems daunting to the uninitiated like myself.

I am surprised that non of no-BCD-diving lovers addressed this very important question. I've been thinking about no-BC diving for quite sometime. However the question about is precisely what's stopping me. I can see how no-BCD diving could work worm waters, without compressible exposure protection, and with still HP tank. How does one control changes buoyancy when you have to dive with say 5mil wet suit?

 

[W8less]

Even though BC's were not quite on the horizon in the late 60's, CO2 or oral filled snorkeling vest were always worn on any dive where bobbing on the surface for a while might be required.

See photo

 

[W8less]

Wet suits?????????? We don't need no damn wet suits.

 

[herman]

I am surprised that non of no-BCD-diving lovers addressed this very important question. I've been thinking about no-BC diving for quite sometime. However the question about is precisely what's stopping me. I can see how no-BCD diving could work worm waters, without compressible exposure protection, and with still HP tank. How does one control changes buoyancy when you have to dive with say 5mil wet suit?

It wasn't???? How about my post- see #16.
Tank type/material does not matter from a buoyancy shift standpoint (weighting is a differnt matter), an 80cf tank shifts around 4 lbs reguardless of make/model/material or anything else.

Just realized this is your first post, welcome to the board.

 

[W8less]

Wet suits?????????? We don't need no damn wet suits.

Both photos were taken in early 70's . The 130' rec. depth limit didn't exist so a lot of deep wreck dives were made with single 72's and no octo. If an extreme penetration was involved we would lay line on a series of dives and drop and park spare 72's with regs. outside of the hatches as a back up.

In my circle, the reg of choice was the Poseidon Cyclon 300 although we dove with whatever we could get our hands on.

Diving vintage or minimalist is just plain fun although safety should always drive all gear choices.

I still have some/not all of my original gear and it is still in great working order. If you are ever up for a mellow vintage dive in the PNW let me know.



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[fjpatrum]

20 feet of 3/8 rope also makes a good improvised harness, no hardware required. A fair knowledge of knots is handy though. BTDT

Rolling clove at the middle of the line (rope once cut from the roll becomes a line) just below the shoulder. Then allow enough slack to provide arm straps leading to a rolling clove about 18" below the first one. the ends for the waist strap. Complete with a spanish windlass forming the waist buckle tied off with a slip loop, and trim excess line from both ends. Takes about 5 minutes to rig on the back deck. NOT comfortable, but works reasonably well.

It would be significantly more comfortable to do this with tubular nylon webbing than with 3/8 rope. You'd have to make a couple of different knot choices, but we do it all the time for climbing.

 

[aquaregia]

I am surprised that non of no-BCD-diving lovers addressed this very important question. I've been thinking about no-BC diving for quite sometime. However the question about is precisely what's stopping me. I can see how no-BCD diving could work worm waters, without compressible exposure protection, and with still HP tank. How does one control changes buoyancy when you have to dive with say 5mil wet suit?

I have not done much minimalist diving at all. I'm sure an 'expert' will be along shortly. However, I've done several no-BC dives to 30' or so in a 7mm wetsuit and it seems to just being a matter of choosing your weight for your depth range. I'm sure deeper diving would be significantly different. Where I dive there's starfish everywhere, so you can just pick them up and put them down to change your weighting as necessary. I'm kidding about that last bit.

 

[Garrobo]

Just came back from the 'Y" pool where I was checking out some new regs. Used an aluminum backplate and harness, tank, regs, fins, mask, six pounds of lead and Speedos and that's it. Felt great in 80 degree water. ----------Need weight while minimalist diving? A small Winn Dixie/Krogers potato sack and a few pieces of broken coral or rocks or cottage cheese tub full of sand will do. Pitch or empty them when your're ready to go up. It isn't that complicated. I use an inflatable horsecollar where they'll let me and that includes about 80% of the dive shops around the Keys.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I am surprised that non of no-BCD-diving lovers addressed this very important question. I've been thinking about no-BC diving for quite sometime. However the question about is precisely what's stopping me. I can see how no-BCD diving could work worm waters, without compressible exposure protection, and with still HP tank. How does one control changes buoyancy when you have to dive with say 5mil wet suit?

Correct weighting is key. I dove a 2-piece "beaver tail" wetsuit in the 1970's and 80's (about 5mm thick), steel 72 tank, and used a "safety vest" (similar to todays "snorkeling" vests). The safety vest was used for surface flotation at the beginning of the dive, and was not necessary at the end of the dive.

I've been down to just a shade above 200' (as a safety diver) with the rig described above. At depth, the wetsuit compresses and loses most, but not all of its buoyancy. I was a skinny teenager, so even with the 5mm full suit, I only required 10 or 12 lbs of weight on a belt. We weighted for "neutral" or just slightly negative at the beginning of the dive on the surface. We often had to dive and kick down the first 10-15 feet if we were a little "light" in our weighting. At medium depth, I'd be negative, but could mostly adjust buoyancy by controlling lung volume.... but at greater depth I'd need to fin to hold depth. Most of my dives were in the 40-80 foot range, and I had no significant problems.

Safety stops were not performed back then for NDL dives, so being "light" in the final 10-15 feet at the end of the dive was not a problem since we were not stopping on the final ascent (but you could stop, with a little effort and lung volume control).

Again, correct weighting is key, and understanding how much buoyancy you'll lose at depth is also critical.

Best wishes.