bp/w non ditchable weight question

[ProfessorAronnax]

To each their own I guess.

 

[Cacia]

I probably should not open my mouth on this one. It is confusing for a couple reasons.

(just my informal, common sense thoughts) True "tech divers" never want to ditch wt. because that would be certain death. So, if you are using a "tech rig" like an eclipse, as I do, for the trim properties, as a recreational -limit diver, then my OWN opinion is you need ditchable weight. (surface tow, etc)

I think Halcyon advocates a ratio of droppable vs what is inherent to your backplate.--don't they? I seem to remember asking the Halcyon guy at DIMA a couple years back. I hate harness weights, cause I do not want my "default" position to be..."girl sink like rock". My little mantra is "Think about how YOU dive"


Dry-suit diving sounds like a different ball game to me.

 

[grazie42]

Continuing in the common sense "school of thought"...

If you can swim up your rig without dropping weight, when bc is completely empty, then why would you ever drop weight?

I just don´t see any benefit in doing so (except for a surface tow)...

 

[dumpsterDiver]

The answer is to try it.

Ditchable weight is not necessary unless you're overweighted. You should never be more negative than the combination of wetsuit compression and air in your tank. Worst case is you're in a 7mm wetsuit that loses 15 pounds by the time you get to 100 feet, and you have a big steel 130 with 10 pounds of gas in it. If you lose your BC at the beginning of your dive, you're suddenly -25 pounds and basically screwed.

So, I suggest that on your next dive, at the beginning, when you're at a hard bottom, empty your BC completely and see if you can swim it up. If you can, then you never have to worry about it again.

I dove a lot in Maine in the summer with a lot of wetsuit. To snorkel I would wear about 24 lbs of lead. This weight kept me bouyant at the surface and very heavy on the bottom in 35 ft. For Scuba with a BC and aluminum tank I would add 3-4 lbs weight in the pocket to be able to dive comfortably in the shallow water. With my 27 lbs of lead at a depth of 80 ft, my BC would be almost completely filled to capacity. I rise 10 feet and could hear the overpressure valve blow off. The BC was supposed to have like 30 lbs of lift.

The point is that if youy have a lot of wetsuit, you can have an alwful lot of suit compression and you will need a lot of ditchable weight under these conditions. Diving in warm water with a thin suit is a totaly different animal.

 

[Vayu]

The point is that if you have a lot of wetsuit, you can have an awful lot of suit compression and you will need a lot of ditchable weight under these conditions. Diving in warm water with a thin suit is a totaly different animal.

Thats true. Wetsuit compression can really get you. Thats why everyone should move to florida.

-V

 

[ProfessorAronnax]

The point is that if you have a lot of wetsuit, you can have an awful lot of suit compression and you will need a lot of ditchable weight under these conditions. Diving in warm water with a thin suit is a totaly different animal.

Thats true. Wetsuit compression can really get you. Thats why everyone should move to florida.

-V

At least for the winter

 

[Darnold9999]

But then you miss the great vis in one of the best places to dive

 

[rockjock3]

I probably should not open my mouth on this one. It is confusing for a couple reasons.

(just my informal, common sense thoughts) True "tech divers" never want to ditch wt. because that would be certain death. So, if you are using a "tech rig" like an eclipse, as I do, for the trim properties, as a recreational -limit diver, then my OWN opinion is you need ditchable weight. (surface tow, etc)

I think Halcyon advocates a ratio of droppable vs what is inherent to your backplate.--don't they? I seem to remember asking the Halcyon guy at DIMA a couple years back. I hate harness weights, cause I do not want my "default" position to be..."girl sink like rock". My little mantra is "Think about how YOU dive"


Dry-suit diving sounds like a different ball game to me.

You are right. Dry-suit diving is completely different. I prefer to continue diving the watars of Oahu in my wetsuit. I too dive the Eclipse for rec diving. I however wear no weights so for those of us who don't wear weights what are we to do. I have no weights on me or the rig and am using the AL plate and an AL tank so I am not carrying extra weight there.

As for somebody who had a BC fail at the bottom. If they are weighted correctly and they have to be brought to the surface, they should only be negative if their tank is mostly full. Worse case, drop their tank. We are talking about trying to save a life. That is what you would have to do for me if something happened to me at the beginning of a dive and I had most of the air in my tank. Once you got me up you would have to drop my tank.

 

[Ben_ca]

I think it's time to do a search for "Balanced rig" threads

 

[Cacia]

I think it's time to do a search for "Balanced rig" threads

I tried but I guess I did not have the right keyword. I use two 2#ers, and I feel squared away.