BP/W decision-question

[Dave616]

I am going to keep the SS and buy a couple of XS weight bags for my cam bands. I will probably pack the weight belt just in case the pouches don't work.

Wader,

For low pro weight pouches, I'm going to be ordering the OxyCheq Small Weight Pockets.
They are very small, lightweight, made of mesh (quick drying), and has the Velcro attachment on the back for quick attach/detach from the cam band.

...just another option, and you can always put them on a belt too.

 

[danvolker]

I have a SS BP, Hog harness with an Oxycheq 40lb wing. I am dove in a pool with it, no added weight and a 3 mil steamer. I felt slightly heavy, maybe a pound or two at the most. We are going to Fiji in March and I have some questions about my set-up, having never dove OW in a BP/W.
Since Fiji is obviously salt water, I may have to add a couple of pounds.

Would it be wiser for me to purchase an alum. bp and add some ditchable weights when diving? The advantage would be less weight for luggage (AL vs. SS and weights will be at destination), having weights that can be ditched in an emergency vs. the fact that I really like my buoyancy control I achieved in the pool.
I know the 40 lb wing is overkill for this trip, but it is the only one I have so I will have to live with it. It is the extreme model so it is heavier than a standard wing adding to my luggage overall weight.

What are your thoughts? Am I just making an issue from nothing?

You have been given good advice on this thread. I would add that the 40 pound wing is likely way to large a wing for you, unless you are a huge guy with a 7 mm wetsuit.

Not that you can't dive it, but you would be more streamlined with a 30 pound wing, and far more important, the issue of an uncontrolled ascent if you had an inflator blow and fill up your wing---as a new diver, this is a much bigger deal than the ditchable weight issue...For one, I have never seen a new diver in trouble that thought about releasing their weight belt--tunnel vision would have them kicking harder, and maybe thinking about air from their buddy--not ditching weight. The wing getting fully inflated by a faulty inflator mechanism CAN happen to a new diver, and long before most would think about disconnecting the inflator, most would be rocketing to the surface....A 40 pound wing will rocket you much faster than a 30. Plenty of divers would be perfect with a 18 to 20 pound lift wing. If you were in really cold water ( Fiji is not really cold--I just wore a 3 mm suit when I dove from Bequ Lagoon) , like 60 degrees or colder, you should be using a drysuit. Wetsuits get useless deeper than 90 feet in 60 degree water, even if they are 7 mils. Heavy wetsuits create all kinds of foolishness a diver has to deal with---massive change in the suit bouyancy from surface to 70 feet or deeper--and on deeper dives like 130 the diver could be 25 to 35 pounds negative--meaning they need some huge ridiculous BC or wing to lift them, and they are not even getting any warmth from the useless suit.
Oxycheq makes a nice 18 pound and a nice 30 pound wing....I would get one of these and be happy with the steel backplate. If you have huge bouyancy swing issues, you need a dry suit, not a series of poor solutions ( thick wetsuits and lots of lead).