BP/W or BCD

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DIR practitioner in SB just means you have opted into the DIR forum, can mean you did it just to explore and learn what DIR means, does not necessarily mean you actually subscribe to the tenants of DIR or dive DIR style.


Oh...it doesn't mean anything.
 
There is an almost overwhelming bias on SB in favour of BP/Ws. To be honest, in many ways they do offer a lot of advantages, but one solution does not solve all problems.

If you have the option of trying the Zeagle BCD, then I would recommend that you try it. It may be exactly what you are looking for. Zeagle makes some very good BCDs and it is something to consider.

If, however, you decide to go with a BP/W, as others have said, there are options in how you rig it. I have mine rigged a little differently than the standard "Hogarthian" rigging (which is kinda ironic since my last name actually is Hogarth). Instead of running the webbing from the shoulders down to the bottom of the BP, I have small loops of webbing (about 12 inches) that I have looped through the bottom of the BP with a D-Ring. I then threaded the main webbing through the D-Ring. This allows me to tighten the harness as tight as I want. Purists will say that I have introduced 2 potential points of failure, but I am willing to see it as an acceptable risk.


Here is how I have rigged the bottom of my harness (on both sides). The black webbing is a section about 12-18 inches long. It is threaded through the bottom slots in my BP. The blue webbing is my main harness webbing. It is threaded through the D-Ring (from behind). This allows me to have it as loose as I want to or to cinch it as tight as I want. It also makes getting out of my BP/W incredibly easy.
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I do something similar as above, but the reason I don't rig as above is that the strap can too easily twist 180 degrees or more in those large rings fixed at the waist location. Which is a pain when you can't see it. The ability to instantly adjust the shoulder tension and get in and out of the rig easily, is a big deal to me.

Instead of the ring, I replace each ring with two (stacked) metal non-serrated (i.e., smooth) 2-inch belt slides. They cost 75 cents so the mod costs, $3.50. You could use them singly without stacking, I am sure they are strong enough.

They provide just enough friction to be manageable. For clarity, the fixed belt loop at the waist is routed through one of the slots, and the sliding belt (shoulder/waist strap) is run through the other slot.

DGX S/S {2 in | 5.1 cm} Belt Slide | Dive Gear Express®
 
I am in the market for a new BCD to replace my warm water BCD with enough lift for cold water diving.
I am mainly looking at the zeagle stiletto and the aqualung dimension but tried a BP/W a few days ago.
The BP/W dove very nice (I felt like I was freediving) but I had several problems while walking to the water. The narrow shoulder straps dug painfully into my shoulders. The shoulder straps kept sliding further apart almost to the point of sliding off my shoulders. The backplate kept sliding down until it was almost on my butt instead of on my back.
What was wrong to cause this.


I would say that you should ask yourself “What kind of diving am I going to be doing?” If you see yourself headed down the tech rabbit hole then go with a BP/W. They are not as easy to adjust as a regular BC, but they are a whole lot more flexible when it comes to changing things around. I have mine sized for diving in a 5 mm wetsuit in colder water and so it is a bit loose diving in warmer water with a skin but not really problem. I for one will not ever go back to a regular BC even if I was only doing warm water 50 foot fun dives.
 
I visited my three favorite dive shops on the weekend and looked at the Zeagle Stiletto and the Hollis Elite 2 package. I really liked the Stiletto but I like the elite 2 package a little more because it is a donut not a horseshoe and seems more streamlined. However the elite 2 is more expensive, almost double the price once I add weight and trim pockets.
 
I am in the market for a new BCD to replace my warm water BCD with enough lift for cold water diving.
I am mainly looking at the zeagle stiletto and the aqualung dimension but tried a BP/W a few days ago.
The BP/W dove very nice (I felt like I was freediving) but I had several problems while walking to the water. The narrow shoulder straps dug painfully into my shoulders. The shoulder straps kept sliding further apart almost to the point of sliding off my shoulders. The backplate kept sliding down until it was almost on my butt instead of on my back.
What was wrong to cause this.
Like most responses so far, I'd only consider buying a backplate and wing bc. But I'm not sure about the premise of your question. Are you looking for a new bc because your current jacket bcd doesn't have enough lift? I don't think I've ever seen a jacket bcd with insufficient lift. They're all hugely buoyant. This is especially true if you're diving a drysuit. Unlike thick wetsuits, drysuits don't compress at depth (well they do but you just add gas to fix that), so you don't need your bc to compensate for the buoyancy change with depth.
 
There is an almost overwhelming bias on SB in favour of BP/Ws. To be honest, in many ways they do offer a lot of advantages, but one solution does not solve all problems.

If you have the option of trying the Zeagle BCD, then I would recommend that you try it. It may be exactly what you are looking for. Zeagle makes some very good BCDs and it is something to consider.

If, however, you decide to go with a BP/W, as others have said, there are options in how you rig it. I have mine rigged a little differently than the standard "Hogarthian" rigging (which is kinda ironic since my last name actually is Hogarth). Instead of running the webbing from the shoulders down to the bottom of the BP, I have small loops of webbing (about 12 inches) that I have looped through the bottom of the BP with a D-Ring. I then threaded the main webbing through the D-Ring. This allows me to tighten the harness as tight as I want. Purists will say that I have introduced 2 potential points of failure, but I am willing to see it as an acceptable risk.


Here is how I have rigged the bottom of my harness (on both sides). The black webbing is a section about 12-18 inches long. It is threaded through the bottom slots in my BP. The blue webbing is my main harness webbing. It is threaded through the D-Ring (from behind). This allows me to have it as loose as I want to or to cinch it as tight as I want. It also makes getting out of my BP/W incredibly easy.
View attachment 591894


View attachment 591896

I understand, at least I think I do, the additional comfort provided by your setup with regards to being able to adjust the snugness of the shoulder straps on the fly...but it seems to come at the expense of a couple of things:

1. it does not seem like you can don your rig even temporarily by just the shoulder straps, this would mean you have to hold or buckle the waist while you grab and maneuver your crotch strap into place.

2. It seems like with your setup you cannot tighten your waist strap independent of your shoulder straps...I prefer a certain degree of looseness for my shoulder straps but like snug waist strap, I don't know how that would be achieved with your setup.

3. Your setup looks like it would require a partner to lift your tank and plate to assist in donning it or that you would need to position the rig on an elevated surface to facilitate donning it...as opposed to lifting and slinging one arm through and then the other.

I played around with a bunch of ways to make my shoulder straps easily adjustable...there were various drawbacks to the functionality gained by each method, and in the end I found that once I zeroed in how loose/snug I needed/wanted the shoulder straps that I did not need to toy with the adjustment. I dialed in and marked the the fit for my wetsuit and did the same with my drysuit to make it quick and easy to adjust the harness and the position of the d-rings, and allows me to make my waist strap as snug as desired.

The above is granted that I do not have any shoulder issues that inhibit me donning/doffing my rig, but if I did, I think I would probably opt for a setup with a QD buckle on one shoulder or one of the comfort/adjustable harnesses.

-Z
 
My BP is a Hollis solo harness with the padded shoulder bits. I wear it reasonably loose, dry suit, 5mm, 3mm, 0.5mm, I never adjust anything but the waist strap. I've just started adding some side mount bits to it, not to dive SM but to manage stages better. Diving SM has taught me some things I can take to back mount.

That's a lot of the advantage of a BP&W, the ability to really personalise it to your style and the specific dives. But, they're not the rapture. Jacket BCs are by far the dominate BCD style, and they work. You can over think this, go with what makes you most excited to dive.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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