advice for diver changing to BPW

[tep]

OK, I did it. After decades in various regular jackets, I bought a DGX BPW - stainless steel BP and EXP 35 lb wing. It's assembled, (mostly) fitted, and I'm taking it diving this weekend. Boat diving the Ruby E wreck (80-90 ft at the bottom) in San Diego - expecting water temps of 55-60F at the bottom.

With a 7mm suit+hood and a steel 100 cf cylinder, etc I use between 18 and (lately because I GOT FAT) 20 lbs of weights in a ScubaPro KnightHawk. As the weight comes off my flabby dad bod, I would expect to get back to 18 lbs or so.

With the BPW, that's 6-ish (5.5) lbs in the plate, so ... go with 14 lbs of lead in the weight pockets? At least for the first few dives, until I get a solid weight check? I hope that over time the overall lead need will go down, as the BPW should be less buoyant? And some weights may move to an STA or attach to the cam bands for trim?

Any other things anyone wants to warn me about, or tell me to watch out for, as I make this transition?

 

[BabyLitigator]

Don't second guess yourself and then add more weight at the last minute. I did that my first time diving open water in a BPW and was quite heavy on the dive. Normal weight minus weight of the steel. Don't feel the need to add more.

And Wreck Alley is much more comfortable in a drysuit. Just sayin'. Check out the Coronados - the sea lions are very cool this time of year.

 

[happy-diver]

Better to be overweight than under and be thankful you are not diving in an unnatural sack of your own juices

 

[paddydiver]

As above, consider the weight of the BP as the weight it is, no need to mess about. Also if you've done a lot of dives in a traditional BCD you won't have quite the same feeling of 'lift' on the surface. It's no problem, but just bear in mind your face will probably be closer to the water and you may have a feeling of being pushed forward (less so with a steel tank rather then aluminium).

 

[lexvil]

The knighthawk has 3 or so pounds of float built in and you won’t have that with the plate, as for actual pounds of weight, you need what you need and it will change from time to time, pay attention when you dive and add of subtract a little at a time.

 

[Johnoly]

Any other things anyone wants to warn me about, or tell me to watch out for, as I make this transition?

You said the correct word. It's a transition, not a single purchase. The best part of a BPW is that you can adjust and customize it to solve any problem you have. So dive it 5 times and make notes what you 'wish' it did or what problem you had with it. Then come here and see how other members solved it. A perfect example is 'D' rings>> Solutions include welded, bolted, double D's, bent D's, short D's, strange looking D's, crotch D's, Butt D's and many more. There is no such thing as a perfect BPW because we all dive differently so keep testing and trying new stuff to see if it solves a problem and you like it.

 

[BabyLitigator]

You said the correct word. It's a transition, not a single purchase. The best part of a BPW is that you can adjust and customize it to solve any problem you have. So dive it 5 times and make notes what you 'wish' it did or what problem you had with it. Then come here and see how other members solved it. A perfect example is 'D' rings>> Solutions include welded, bolted, double D's, bent D's, short D's, strange looking D's, crotch D's, Butt D's and many more. There is no such thing as a perfect BPW because we all dive differently so keep testing and trying new stuff to see if it solves a problem and you like it.

There is also the matter of weighting. If you can get all the weight onto a cam band, you can get away with no weight pockets, assuming you are comfortable being non-ditchable. This leaves your harness clean for d-rings and other uses.

With one cam band that maxes out at ~10 lbs, with 2 at ~20, but you can also use weight plates to attach up to 6-8 lbs directly to the harness without the bulky pockets.

 

[happy-diver]

bear in mind your face will probably be closer to the water and you may have a feeling of being pushed forward

Well if you can't counteract that "feeling" with a little less air in your wing maybe you can try what I do

Yesss!

 

[Rickk]

I converted from jacket to BPW about the same time I stopped wearing neoprene and just dive wearing rassie and gym shorts. I dive in Moalboal Cebu.

With shortie and jacket I was 5 kg in salt water. Dropping the 2.5 mm shorty allowed me to drop 1 kg. Switching to PBW allowed me to drop 2 more kg. I then switched from AL to SS backplate and no longer dive with any lead.

With twins, no lead needed with AL plate in rassie and gym shorts.

This allows me to be at 5 m, 50 bar and no air in the wing and stay neutral. At the start of the dive I am heavy by the mass of my air and as the dive progresses just release air from my wing to compensate. Fine tune buoyancy with just lung capacity.


Best is to experiment with different configurations, find what works for you in buoyancy and trim, for your dive environment.

Definitely do a weight check with only reserve air in your tanks.

A jacket wraps you with lift on the surface, a BPW only has lift on your back, tends to push you face forward. It just takes a little practice getting used to, especially in rough surface conditions. Again practice is the key here.

 

[tep]

Thanks for the comments. My rule has always been "change only one thing at a time", but this time, I'm changing a lot at once.

I expect to make minor changes on almost every dive.

As to back inflate and pushing me forward, - well, I learned with an AT-PAC I think it was the original "back inflate"! And I would say that the Nighthawk is "mostly back inflate" for some reason it doesn't seem to push forward as much as other back inflates I tried.

I'm going with essentially the same amount of weight as with the jacket, in pockets for now. I like the ideas of moving some of that to cam bands, especially if it will help me trim out.

Again, thanks for all the advice!