Best Jacket Style BC with Tech Options

[Eric Sedletzky]

I've never seen a jacket BC that was actually used for tech diving even though some manufacturers claim their product can be.
What defines tech diving to me is the use of doubles for deeper and/or longer dives where many times the diver puts themselves into deco, which would also mean the use of slung deco bottles.

A long time ago I had a Seaquest Black Diamond that was touted as a "tech" crossover back inlate BC. It had a cheezy plastic pack thing if you want to call it that that had holes supposedly to mount doubles (I don't even know if they where 11" centers or not).
It had huge weight integrated pockets and the air cell was neither the right size for singles or doubles, kind of stuck in the middle.
It sucked as a singles rig and I didn't see how it could really be used as a doubles rig either.
Even trying to hang sling bottles would have been tough because the D rings where all in the wrong places and the weight pockets would have been in the way making the sling bottles stick outm and in the wrong position.
As floppy as it was and all the bulk holding the tank valves that far away from the divers back it would have been next to impossible to do valve drills.
It had wide padded shoulder straps that narrowed down to a thin piece of 1" nylon for a strap connected to a plastic clip, a chest strap, cumberbun, another plastic clip over that on the waist I see no options for moving D rings around.
All the other Jackets or rear inflate crossovers I see in stores look about the same to me.

It's obvious that the people who design this stuff aren't tech divers or probably divers at all.
I don't know how they can get away with their marketing claims.

 

[DivingEnthusiast]

The knife was just "icing on the cake"...the OP was discussing the idea of a jacket BC for Tech diving applications....and the photo of the bc a few posts later assisted in showing how funny the idea is....Tech divers would not consider the jacket bc for tech...only the marketing "minds" in the dive industry could ever be foolish enough to suggest this type of mis-match.

For 60 foot dives, these jacket bc's are fine....for all practical purposes, they can be fine for 130 foot dives, as long as you don't have big currents.
Once you get in to significant currents, and begin to need double tanks, stages, etc., a jacket is just the wrong tool for the job.

Gotcha.

 

[-hh]

Sorry! I guess I didn't do a good job of explaining my needs.

It happens.

I have been diving since 1975 and I am quite familiar with the advantages of wings, jackets and BP's.
What I'm not familiar with is any new BC's that have come into the market in the last few years that might be a better option.

My Diverite covers my wreck penetration dives so what I'm looking for is a non-wing type BC that has plenty of attachment points for all my camera gear accesories, the purpose of all the attachment points is to have a place for everything and everything in it's place (no dangling gear).

It would not be used for caverns (I'm not into cave diving) or wrecks or anywhere else that may have entanglement hazzards, just for shooting videos and having instant access to all my camera gadgets.

I hear ya.

I've been loathing my current BC and have been debating how to go back in time to the '80s to the one that I've liked the best...unfortunately, within the turnkey "Rec" (and "Tek-Style") rigs, the gimmicks continue to be weight integration (which steals away side pockets) and back inflation (which screws up surface floats while carrying heavy cameras).

Since I know better than to injure my back again, doubles are out, so what I'd personally be looking for is a Jacket that has good side pockets (which assumes that weight integration will be deleted) and then decide how feasible it would be to add a couple of D-rings myself...pretty much a repeat of what I did with that '80s gear back in the 90s. FWIW, if the BCD doesn't have all that great of a tank strap, the ScubaPro cinch strap can be a candidate for refitting too.


-hh

 

[LouieLouie]

For 60 foot dives, these jacket bc's are fine....for all practical purposes, they can be fine for 130 foot dives, as long as you don't have big currents.
Once you get in to significant currents, and begin to need double tanks, stages, etc., a jacket is just the wrong tool for the job.

In strong currents, I'd choose my Seaquest Pro before my BP/W any day. The jacket is simply much more streamlined than the wing. For doubles BP/W is the only way to go.

 

[danvolker]

In strong currents, I'd choose my Seaquest Pro before my BP/W any day. The jacket is simply much more streamlined than the wing. For doubles BP/W is the only way to go.

I had to put on a standard jacket BC a few weeks ago, when I needed to qualify for some insurance regulations for a project ( rescue cert)....having the jacket bc on was exactly like having air brakes on....instead of a kick and a long glide, I's kick and be shocked at how little glide the jacket would allow.
I had been using a Halcyon 30 pound wing and halcyon steel bp/harness system. No intergrated weight pockets or other nonsense, just pure streamlining.....There is no way I am going to believe that there is a jacket out there that would be as streamlined....

But also note, that it is summer in florida, and we are using thin wetsuits still...meaning we are as slick as you can be in the water.....in winter-time, when I have to use my TLS 350 Drysuit, I will not glide nearly as far with each kick, and the drag from a jacket would be less of a shock...

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

In strong currents, I'd choose my Seaquest Pro before my BP/W any day. The jacket is simply much more streamlined than the wing. For doubles BP/W is the only way to go.

You must have one very bulky BP/W.
With the protruding sides and integrated weight pockets of the Jacket plus the oversized air cells they include how is that more streamlined than a simple plate with Hog straps and a skinny wing like a 30# Mach V?

 

[Splitlip]

Some of the older BC's were pretty trim. But most of the newer ones are pretty "chunky". There are mainstream BC's out there that are pretty trim. SP Sport for one. But for Tech...BP.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Some of the older BC's were pretty trim. But most of the newer ones are pretty "chunky". There are mainstream BC's out there that are pretty trim. SP Sport for one. But for Tech...BP.

Yeah, at this very moment I am digging out an old SP Classic BC for my kid. Looks like he has finally grown big enough to use the XS BC.(I still think it will be a little big on him), but I have to admit that this old BC, with very little air in it, is going to be about as streamlined as any BP/W

 

[BDSC]

Just buy yourself a Scubapro Classic BC. Great bc that can be used for a single tank or doubles if you want and very streamlined.

 

[-hh]

I had to put on a standard jacket BC a few weeks ago, when I needed to qualify for some insurance regulations for a project ( rescue cert)....having the jacket bc on was exactly like having air brakes on....instead of a kick and a long glide, I's kick and be shocked at how little glide the jacket would allow...

Unfortunately, that's an anecdotal claim, which doesn't address any of the very long history of (often heated) dialog on the question of which BC style offers better streamlining. There was a chance awhile back in 2001 to get real data, but the protagonist bailed from getting dragged behind Lee Bell's boat (out of Boyton), so there's no hard test data to put this debate finally to bed. I believe that your claim for bailing at the time was that you were afraid of "Regulator Mouthpiece Cooties" from Mike Grey in the 'swap gear' phase.

In any case, the OP is clearly experienced and has specifically stated that they just don't want another Wing, so all Wing advocacy discussions are irrelevant.

I had been using a ... system [with] No intergrated weight pockets or other nonsense, just pure streamlining...

IMO, this is real crux of the matter: those various "extras" probably contribute far more to drag than where the BC's bladder merely happens to be located.

Of course, since there's also an UW camera system, its addition to the diver's total drag probably relegates all of these "BC Differences" discussions to be a second order variable that gets lost in the noise.

..There is no way I am going to believe that there is a jacket out there that would be as streamlined....

Some of the older BC's were pretty trim. But most of the newer ones are pretty "chunky". There are mainstream BC's out there that are pretty trim. SP Sport for one. But for Tech...BP.

Most of them were. Hopefully, these current trends/gimmicks in the marketing of Rec dive gear will hopefully have the pendulum swing back towards greater common sense and away from the macho "Tek Wannabee" schtick. I'm not optimistic, though.

In any case, I do need to run down to my LDS (to check up on some modernization work on my DA Aquamaster regulator); while I'm there, I'll check to see if they have the SP Sport in stock that Splitlip mentioned and if it is old school simple and amenable for camera applications, which may be of help to the OP.

Maybe I'll even get one for myself and finally ditch my UW camera-unfriendly wing setup too.


-hh