Building a rig for a 10 yo diver to be... looking for opinions.

[elan]

Look at the Comfo-bite mouthpiece. Has a part that goes across the bridge of your mouth. Don’t have to bite down quite so hard. DGX sells a good version of it. All I use.

Marie do they make a small version ? I do use them too (Apeks) on many of my regs but they are of a regular size. I might need to talk to my LDS.

 

[johndiver999]

Thank you John, this all aligns with my thinking. She has been freediving with me in summer to shallow - 10 ft depth. We have been also our with her in the quarry sitting in a 3 ft water in the 5mil suit with lead and breathing off a long hose so you are absolutely correct it has to be done to build the comfort.

The deal I made with the shop is they will do the pool sessions in the fall then I will be going with her to the pool over the winter and build her confidence diving it to 15 ft (max depth of the pool) and she will do the checkouts in summer (local lake - 25 ft max).

I am even thinking to rent her a BCD for the pool sessions if it's easier then move her to BP/W. The shop mostly certifies in Jacket style but they are not opposed to BP/W.

I think that is the perfect approach. Most 10 yr olds could not handle this very well, so she must be special!

If she can freedive with all that stuff on now, the scuba class should be pretty easy for her.

Don't sweat the BC or the regs. The crotch strap of a BP/W will help a lot in tightening up the rig to ensure it fits adequately. As mentioned above, the right size mouthpiece is going to be way more important to her, than the size of the second stage.

Also, keeping the kids active and happily engaged and doing something that requires attention, learning and discipline with their parent(s) is soooo valuable - way more important than scuba.

 

[Marie13]

Marie do they make a small version ? I do use them too (Apeks) on many of my regs but they are of a regular size. I might need to talk to my LDS.

They might. I’m not sure. Talk to your LDS. AquaLung has a version I liked better than the one from Apeks. Yes, I could tell the difference! I actually removed the ones that came on my Apeks regs and replaced them with the DGX version, which is identical to the AL version, as far as I can tell.

 

[CanadaDan]

My kids took to BPW easy after certifying in BCD. Been in them since dive 3.

 

[divad]

My kids took to BPW easy after certifying in BCD. Been in them since dive 3.

Lucky kids.

 

[CT-Rich]

You are going to be replacing the wetsuit almost every year. She is going to out grow them faster than she wears the out. Go cheap as you can, same thing with booties. My kids went through a bunch until they were in their late teens.

 

[elan]

You are going to be replacing the wetsuit almost every year. She is going to out grow them faster than she wears the out. Go cheap as you can, same thing with booties. My kids went through a bunch until they were in their late teens.

Thanks Rich, thats the approach we took. The LDS has a white labeled suits which are the cheapest we could get. It will most likely be passed down to her brothers so we will get some use out of it

 

[drk5036]

60 degrees in a 5 mm wetsuit? Sounds awful.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@elan

My best OW student was a 14 year old girl, but she was a competitive synchronized swimmer. It sounds like your daughter is comfortable in the water, which is hugely important for learning. My only concerns would be her strength and warm. I'd recommend taking OW in a dry suit if at all possible.

 

[stepfen]

For second stage consider scubapro's c370. It has top performance (similar to G250 etc), while it is much smaller, lighter and probably cheaper than the rest.