BP/W Weighting for Young Daughter

[Charred]

My daughter is 13 and going to be doing OW next month in Cozumel (I screened instructors during a Feb trip).

My wife and I both dive DSS bp/ws. I am planning to buy the same for my daughter. We have steel plates. My daughter is 5'0" and 95 pounds. She is negative in a fresh water pool. Does anyone or do any instructors have any personal experience with how much weight a tiny girl like this needs in a 3 mm? I fear she would be overweighted with a steel plate. I am leaning towards a Kydex plate for her. I'll bring some trim pockets to balance out the weight.

Thanks,
-Mike

 

[tbone1004]

if she's diving in salt with an al80 she's going to need some negative ballast from something. Granted at 5'0 diving an AL80 is far from ideal.
The DSS plates for her height will be essentially just enough to offset the buoyancy of the tank with an al80 so she may be just about right with a 3mm. Worst case she'll be a pound or two negative with an al63 which I wouldn't be particularly concerned about.

 

[cool_hardware52]

My daughter is 13 and going to be doing OW next month in Cozumel (I screened instructors during a Feb trip).

My wife and I both dive DSS bp/ws. I am planning to buy the same for my daughter. We have steel plates. My daughter is 5'0" and 95 pounds. She is negative in a fresh water pool. Does anyone or do any instructors have any personal experience with how much weight a tiny girl like this needs in a 3 mm? I fear she would be overweighted with a steel plate. I am leaning towards a Kydex plate for her. I'll bring some trim pockets to balance out the weight.

Thanks,
-Mike

Mike, Your daughter is likely close to neutral in Saltwater.

Add a buoyant al 80 (+4 empty) and a 3mm suit (~+3 for a petite person) and she will need 6-7 lbs of ballast.

A small SS Plate and harness is about -5 and a reg is ~-2 (probably a bit less, but close)

The kydex plate makes sense if she wants to dive with no wetsuit or with less buoyant tanks, but with a 3mm and al 80's I'd stick with the SS plate.

Tobin

 

[67macoshark]

My 14 year old son did 2 discover dives last Christmas in Cancun. He was wearing a 3 mil shorty, and a rental Aqualung BCD that was not weight integrated. He forgot to put on his weight belt on the second dive, and was slightly negative at dives end with 500 psi in an al 80. He was 5'9", 110 lbs at the time.

 

[Charred]

Mike, Your daughter is likely close to neutral in Saltwater.

Add a buoyant al 80 (+4 empty) and a 3mm suit (~+3 for a petite person) and she will need 6-7 lbs of ballast.

A small SS Plate and harness is about -5 and a reg is ~-2 (probably a bit less, but close)

The kydex plate makes sense if she wants to dive with no wetsuit or with less buoyant tanks, but with a 3mm and al 80's I'd stick with the SS plate.

Tobin

Tobin and Tbone,

Great feedback. Exactly what I was looking for. Though I do admit I was hoping Kydex was the right answer so I don't have to carry 3 plates through the airport I guess dear daughter needs to learn to manage her own gear during the trip while only my wife gets a pack mule.

Semi-related question: Can I roll the Taurus 17 wings to put in my carry on? I use a Patagonia Black Hole duffel/backpack for my gear. The plates go on the bottom, then my wetsuit and then wings. The wings are against my back when wearing as a backpack and on the top when carrying as a duffel. Any issues rolling them up?

Thank you,
-Mike

 

[tbone1004]

rolling is arguably better than folding them. One thing I tend to do when flying is removing the dump valves so the wings don't try to inflate themselves when the pressure decreases. Won't hurt them to inflate, and the OPV's will still go off, but it's a bit less risk if you're cramming the suitcases full

 

[cool_hardware52]

Tobin and Tbone,

Great feedback. Exactly what I was looking for. Though I do admit I was hoping Kydex was the right answer so I don't have to carry 3 plates through the airport I guess dear daughter needs to learn to manage her own gear during the trip while only my wife gets a pack mule.

Semi-related question: Can I roll the Taurus 17 wings to put in my carry on? I use a Patagonia Black Hole duffel/backpack for my gear. The plates go on the bottom, then my wetsuit and then wings. The wings are against my back when wearing as a backpack and on the top when carrying as a duffel. Any issues rolling them up?

Thank you,
-Mike

Roll. fold etc. For foreign shipments we often stuff a wing in a 10" x 10" x 4" box as it save a few dollars in postage. Folded, rolled and stuffed.

Removing the corrugated hose makes the package smaller, and is less likely to unscrew the "through hull" fitting. Just be *very* careful not to lose the seal between the face of the fill elbow and the fitting on the wing. This seal looks like a thick oring. Most of the time it stays in the wing fitting, but they can stick to the face of the elbow and then fall off when you aren't looking.

Best is leave all the fittings as is.

Tobin

 

[Charred]

Excellent! Thank you!

It looks like her rig will be here Thursday

 

[gbf]

I guess dear daughter needs to learn to manage her own gear during the trip while only my wife gets a pack mule.

Good luck with this. Wife, 2 daughters. I always feel like a donkey.

ah, to stay on topic... Both my daughters were like yours. We went with SS DSS bps. Worked good, still using the rigs today...

 

[Charred]

Ok! My daughter is certified. She did all her training in her rig. I put weight pockets on the upper cam band and the waist belt just to give the instructors options during training. I kept complete distance except to watch. In the end she had 2 lbs in each cam band pocket. Her trim was OK on dive 4 but she was clearly overweighted and kicking herself up.

Post cert I asked for an AL63 and took off all the weights and the pockets. Dive five and you would think it was dive 25. She was trim when she wanted and doing somersaults when she wanted . 13 afterall.

Whole family has DSS rigs and loving it.