Any comments on Halcyon ACB system?

[VTernovski]

A lot of poeple diving doubles odn;t have any ditchable weight... your Light Canister and a stage bottle is your digible weight. (Which you would ditch on the surface only anyway)

Mo2vation once bubbled...


Is ditchable weight really THAT important when there's not so much to ditch?

Confused in Cal

 

[Mo2vation]

Maybe.

Buy my can light is the Helios 4.5 - it weighs all of a pound, maybe. I could ditch one of my Turtles and have ditched more weight...and I only paid $40 for those!

I'm a rec diver. Single, steel. No stages, no O-ringesque lights, no other hoopla.

Any other ideas?

Thanks -

K

 

[ScottyK]

The conventional wisdom on no ditchable weight as I've absorbed from reading this board:

Drysuit divers- As long as either your drysuit or wing are working there is no need for ditchable weight. The chances of both having a catastropic failure at the same time are minuscule.

Wetsuit divers- As long as you are not overweighted, you should be able to swim up against the negative buoyancy if your wing tears.

Both wet and dry divers- There is almost no possible reason to dump weight at depth, and doing so will make most situations worse.

For the record, this is a summary of information I've read here. I don't necessarily agree with all of it.

My biggest concern is if I'd be positive enough (in a wetsuit) on the surface if I lose the dive boat. The obvious answer is to dump some gear. The question is do I want to be more streamlined, and possibly have to dump my $800 canister light and $300 stage/reg combo, or $5 worth of lead?

 

[Mo2vation]

I dive dry. The chances of a double failure (wing / suit) would only come from a complete colapse of my First Stage.

I've only ditched weight once in 5 years - a rental BC that crapped out and freeflowed through the inflator. Not fun. I had all of about 10 dives on me at the time....

The more I visit the situation, the more comfortable I am in thinking I eBay the ACB, eBay my Halcyon plate and get a heavier plate and STA and simplify the rig.

Hmmm... I'm such a a chick with these things. I'll mull and mull, consider and think, and mull a little more. I need to get a grip and pull the trigger.

K

 

[ScottyK]

Mo2vation once bubbled...
I dive dry. The chances of a double failure (wing / suit) would only come from a complete colapse of my First Stage.

Even then you'd be OK if you were neutrally bouyant when it happened. Two kicks up and you'd be positive, and venting on your way to the surface.

Hmmm... I'm such a a chick with these things. I'll mull and mull, consider and think, and mull a little more. I need to get a grip and pull the trigger.

K

That attitude will definitely save you money, and could save your life. You just need to find a better way to phrase it. Intstead of saying "such a chick", you could call yourself "patiently analytical".

It's all in the marketing

 

[deepdiverbc]

I struggled with this one too. My attitude is sh&% happens so be prepared so I choose to have some ditchable weight.

For drysuit divers who might consider themsleves as having redundant buoyancy and not needing ditchable weight here are some scenarios.

You won't be able to do an EBA. Most argue you would never want to but consider this. You run out of air / first stage failure. Your first reaction is to get to your buddy who unfortunately isn't sticking close to you. After a while you realize he isn't looking back and you aren't going to reach him and you are oxygen starved. Lets say this happens at 80 feet or deeper, without dumping some weight to begin an emergency buoyant ascent I doubt you would make the surface without blacking out. I know this is a prime arguement for good buddy skills but you don't always get matched with a good buddy if you go on charters and like I said sh&% happens.

You have a wing failure and reach the surface without ditching weight where you fill your drysuit for extra buoyancy. I find that at the surface I can't fit too much air in my suit without it burping out of my neck, if you're in heavy waves bobbing up and down I am not so sure that inflating the suit would be sufficient for bouyancy and some ditchable weight would come in handy unless you don't mind ditching your whole rig and watching it sink to the bottom.

If all of your weight is in your rig and you are a cold water diver like me with a neoprene suit which requires more than 30 lbs of extra ballast, placing all of that ballast as fixed weight will make donning and doffing your rig difficult when out of the water. You also won't be able to pack your ballast separately as it is all fixed so your gear bag will be a back breaker.

 

[Mo2vation]

The backbreaking bag thing isn't an issue for me... as I only schlep around 8 pounds. My bag is pretty mellow. Until I throw in my 50/50 DUI in there wet...then it gets a little heavy.

I'm a nut about the buddy stuff. Which is why in every insta-buddy situation, I make them lead, I'll stay close to them. Plus, I have the light...so it works better all around. For my regular buddies, its not an issue.

I've only recently started adding gas to my drysuit while on the surface at the end of a dive (99% of my diving is boat diving). Some folks do it as part of their routine, I'm just starting. Its kinda funky - dump the gas to ascend, then re-fill when on top, but I've never had a burping issue. Maybe because I use my wing, too.

This Sat I'm back in the water with a new plan for the ACB webbing fowled D-ring issue. If I can't make it work, the ACB is out the door and I'm rethinking my weighting.

Thanks all. I relinquish my hijack of this thread.

K

 

[TTSkipper]

Well I got the ACB 30# system in and they are big. I think that I am going to give them a try while I am in FL next week but I will bring my weight belt just in case I do not lIke how they feel while diving. Does anyone have a size comparison for the 20# system vs. the 30# system?

Thanks,

TTSkipper

 

[Mo2vation]

Arnaud uses the 30, and I the 20. The 30 has the handles, the buckle for the light, etc, etc... The pockets are much larger and they're just, well, bigger.

 

[Arnaud]

Mo2vation once bubbled...
Arnaud uses the 30, and I the 20. The 30 has the handles, the buckle for the light, etc, etc... The pockets are much larger and they're just, well, bigger.

The #30 were a loaner.

In my previous overweighted days, I was able to stuck 2 fivers in each pocket. It was ugly. Now, I only use 5 or 6# in each pocket.

The #30 have a better engineering but they create more drag and potential entanglement with the handles.

The #20 are more profiled but they're pretty much impossible to put on after donning the b/p. And I really don't like the fact that they're only held by the fastek attachment. Not to mention the space they take in my bag.

I'm really considering an STA and a soft weight belt.