BC Innovation

[dschonbrun]

OK folks, since a few recent threads have panned the attempted "innovations" from Mares and Sea Quest (HUB system, and i3 system)... what do you suggest the companies do to improve BC's and how should they execute those improvements?

I learned on a standard reg setup, and simple jacket style BC with an over the left shoulder LP hose connected to a corregated rubber hose for BC inflation.... and purchased gear very similar to what I learned on.

BC's are fundamentally 4 pieces; a backplate, bladder, straps, and a weight belt. What is there to improve?... cable/hose routing perhaps? Comfort? Bells and Whistles? Honestly, I see the inflator valve and LP hose routing as somewhat inelegant and reminiscent of older technologies (ones that did and still do work).

Personally, I feel getting rid of the ribbed BC fill hose would be nice. I could see the manual oral BC fill to be separate from the LP BC fill valve. the integrated dump valve is unecessary as many BC's have dump valves on both shoulders and one or more at the base for use while inverted. These elements don't need to be co-located. as they are never used together.

So, what else can be improved on modern BC's? What innovation can be driven here at SB?

Cheers,
David

 

[Thalassamania]

How about a hover switch?

 

[DeNomad]

Personally, I feel getting rid of the ribbed BC fill hose would be nice. I could see the manual oral BC fill to be separate from the LP BC fill valve. the integrated dump valve is unecessary as many BC's have dump valves on both shoulders and one or more at the base for use while inverted. These elements don't need to be co-located. as they are never used together.

I believe there is a reason for the ribbed hose - it allows the hose to be flexible while providing structural reinforcement. If a tank falls on that hose, that reinforcement will be handy. The trade off with having the ribs versus a thicker hose (to achieve the same strength) is introducing stress concentrations versus flexibility. These stress concentrations should not affect the life of the hose to much though.

 

[MBH]

How about a hover switch?

Touche!

 

[Nick_W]

If someone could somehow genetically engineer a monkey with the tail of a dolphin - a mermonkey if you will - and then strap a couple of those bad boys to the back of a BC, I think that would be pretty sweet.

As long as they also trained the mermonkeys to not throw their poo at me. I'd be pretty upset if a monkey spent the entire dive slinging feces at me.

Oh, and the mermonkeys would have to have little mermonkey regulators so they could breath. I may have found a use for spare air bottles!

But I guess that's just too many new points of failure I'm adding just to strap a mermonkey to my BC.

I'm going to have to lay some researchers off in the morning I guess. And what the hell am I going to do with all this mermonkey food?

 

[Thalassamania]

Touche!

I'm mildly serious, the technology is here to be able to do it rather easily, what we'd be arguing about is the human interface.

 

[tstormdiver]

I just got a ladies' Hera BC. It has a hybrid bladder. It has a bladder that is both a back inflate & also some of the bladder wraps around inside of the jacket (all part of the same bladder). The back inflate portion helps with stability when horizontal & the wrap around part helps with better stability on the surface & a little feeling of how full the bladder is. By having a bigger bladder it allows for more lift. I've only dove this BC a couple of times, but can say that I love it! I must say that it is well cut for the female form.

 

[evil_xander]

So, what else can be improved on modern BC's? What innovation can be driven here at SB?

Awareness that BCs are not life preservers, they should be modular & free of unnecessary gimmicks, as one size/approach doesn't fit all, and in the end, should not be used/designed to compensate for lack of proper training/skills, but as its name says, to compensate for buoyancy changes. It's not a swiss army knife of diving.

 

[DepthJunkie]

depth integration w/computer. Get neutral @ depth and then...set and forget it.

 

[scuba70]

depth integration w/computer. Get neutral @ depth and then...set and forget it.

Maybe Ronco could enter the BC business.