BCD has no shoulder dump

[Stacey9292]

Hi all,

I'm nee to Scuba and very close to doing my first open water dive.

Iv been given a BCD to try out, it's a ND Guardian BCD and it doesnt appear to have or ever had a shoulder dump - is there a reason for this that I'm missing? Iv attached 4 photos for you to see .

Sorry for my naivety!

 

[Ski_Lounge]

It's rare, but not unusual, for some entry level BC's to not have the right shoulder dump valve. I don't see one on the Cressi Start, for example. I'm guessing just cheaper to manufacture?

I do think it's easier and nicer to have that, I certainly remember using my shoulder dump a lot initially. Do you have an option to switch out to a different BC, one with said shoulder dump valve?

 

[grantctobin]

Hi all,

I'm nee to Scuba and very close to doing my first open water dive.

Iv been given a BCD to try out, it's a ND Guardian BCD and it doesnt appear to have or ever had a shoulder dump - is there a reason for this that I'm missing? Iv attached 4 photos for you to see .

Sorry for my naivety!

The top of the elbow appears to be a dump triggered by pulling on the inflator itself. An additional shoulder dump isn’t necessary when you can simply raise the inflator over your head when vertical to deflate (or better yet, use the left butt dump when horizontal).

 

[Stacey9292]

It's rare, but not unusual, for some entry level BC's to not have the right shoulder dump valve. I don't see one on the Cressi Start, for example. I'm guessing just cheaper to manufacture?

I do think it's easier and nicer to have that, I certainly remember using my shoulder dump a lot initially. Do you have an option to switch out to a different BC, one with said shoulder dump valve?

Hi,

Yes I have an aqualung pearl also. The guardian felt more of a comfortable fit (the pearl ladies BCD has a different fit than I'm used to so on dry land it was a bit odd) however I did try out the pearl in the pool last week and it did feel much more comfortable in the water than it did on land. I was hoping to try the guardian to compare but I do use the shoulder dump a lot when pool training. I'm going to try start using the kidney dump more though.

Thank you for replying

 

[johndiver999]

Hi,

Yes I have an aqualung pearl also. The guardian felt more of a comfortable fit (the pearl ladies BCD has a different fit than I'm used to so on dry land it was a bit odd) however I did try out the pearl in the pool last week and it did feel much more comfortable in the water than it did on land. I was hoping to try the guardian to compare but I do use the shoulder dump a lot when pool training. I'm going to try start using the kidney dump more though.

Thank you for replying

Did you understand that the inflator IS the pull dump. ??

In a lot of respects it makes sense because if you accidentally over inflate the BC, then you just keep your hand on the inflator and give it a tug downward. If you have a pull dump on the other shoulder, you need to drop the inflator, move your hand to the other side, find the sting/ball for the pull dump and then pull.. and if you dump too much air, then you need to drop the pull dump, move your hand to the other side of the BC, find the inflator and then press the inflate button.

Having it all in one integrated unit always provides some distinct advantages, especially for people who do not dive every week and may not have super sharp muscle memory skills.

 

[brsnow]

It is a preference, it also is another failure point. I have set up with and without, tend to not use that dump valve in general.

 

[rongoodman]

Whether or not the inflator hose has a pull dump(which this one obviously does), all you need to do is to raise it and press the botton on the end to dump air. Once you're used to being flat in the water you probably won't use it much anyway. There's cerrtainly no need for an additional one on the other shoulder.

 

[Chavodel8en]

For what its worth, I went through 2 BCs (before I got a BP/W) and neither had a right shoulder dump.

They may have had "pull the inflator hose" dumps, but I never used them. I just used the dump on the hose when I was vertical, and the kidney dump when I was horizontal (and tipped my rear end up a bit to aid in dumping).

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

No problem with asking questions. As people have said, in the first picture, there is a dump valve at the top of the inflator hose for you to pull and dump gas.

While you are located in the UK, I do not know if you will be diving in cold water locally or only warm water location. The reason I bring this up is that I noticed that your BCD has a single cylinder strap. While a backplate and wing is preferable for cold water diving as with a stainless steel backplate and single tank adapter, you eliminate 6 lbs of lead that you'd require otherwise. Also, you'd have two cylinder straps to which you could attach trim pockets.

Weight distribution is an important aspect of proper weighting. You should be able to float effortlessly horizontally regardless of whether you are in a jacket style BCD as shown here or a backplate and wing. You may be interested in a 3-part blog series I wrote where the links are provided here: Teaching Neutrally buoyant and trimmed.

If you are a warm water diver only, your current BCD may work fine. Just be cognizant of the importance of proper weight distribution.

I realize I went off topic, but I hope you still found this useful.

Good luck!

 

[Snusmumrik]

Hi all,

I'm nee to Scuba and very close to doing my first open water dive.

Iv been given a BCD to try out, it's a ND Guardian BCD and it doesnt appear to have or ever had a shoulder dump - is there a reason for this that I'm missing? Iv attached 4 photos for you to see .

Sorry for my naivety!

It have had "pull the inflator hose" dump, as i see on photo.