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

[elan]

@elan you going to replace that blue H webbing with the pink H webbing?

If she finishes the year with bunch of A

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

Thank you Marie. I was checking around and found the whole eclipse system sold here for about 750US with a local pickup plus our tax. I think shipping from US will add another $100 to DGX (plus they still charge us tax) so 500 vs 750 I might just go with Halcyon as I already have one set and really like it.

Take a look at the Sub Gravity BP/W system. They make a short stainless steel backplate, it's a lot cheaper than Halcyon. Greg at Fully Tek Marine and Matt at Dan's Dive Shop are both dealers for Sub Gravity.

Paragon Single Tank Package - SubGravity

We understand what the active diver needs from a single tank rig. Simple, streamlined, balanced, and easy to travel. We built the Paragon single tank package to offer a modular and customizable BCD to best suit single tank diving needs. At the heart of the Paragon Single Tank Package is the...

sub-gravity.com

 

[elan]

Take a look at the Sub Gravity BP/W system. They make a short stainless steel backplate, it's a lot cheaper than Halcyon. Greg at Fully Tek Marine and Matt at Dan's Dive Shop are both dealers for Sub Gravity.

Paragon Single Tank Package - SubGravity

We understand what the active diver needs from a single tank rig. Simple, streamlined, balanced, and easy to travel. We built the Paragon single tank package to offer a modular and customizable BCD to best suit single tank diving needs. At the heart of the Paragon Single Tank Package is the...

sub-gravity.com

Thanks a lot! Dan’s shop is the one I frequently visit, I will check with them

 

[davecampbell]

Thanks a lot! Dan’s shop is the one I frequently visit, I will check with them

yep... matt and the crew are great. it's my choice of local shops...

 

[Still Kicking]

Sounds like you are on the right track and you have an awesome daughter. I didnt read every post so this may be redundant advice. Let her set the pace as much as possible. If she is pushed too fast it could backfire.

From personal experience, most of the gear is secondary as long as it is decent quality, fits well and is in working condition, but children must have good exposure protection. Cold kids are not happy kids. If they dont enjoy the experience there are plenty of more comfortable distractions for a 10 year old.

Lastly, dont overlook the "wow factor." At at about that age, i took my daughter snorkeling at the Coronodos Islands (Mexico, just south of San Diego) and she got to play with 100s of sealions. It wasn't her first ocean experience by far, but based on her reaction i suspect it cemented her bond with the ocean and she breezed through OW when the time came.

This may not apply to your daughter but after dealing with other people's children going through certification, i can say, in many cases, that if kids don't see a tangible benefit to "toughing out" the cold, boring checkout dives, they may not stick with diving long term. Hope your case is different.

Best of luck!

 

[elan]

Sounds like you are on the right track and you have an awesome daughter. I didnt read every post so this may be redundant advice. Let her set the pace as much as possible. If she is pushed too fast it could backfire.

From personal experience, most of the gear is secondary as long as it is decent quality, fits well and is in working condition, but children must have good exposure protection. Cold kids are not happy kids. If they dont enjoy the experience there are plenty of more comfortable distractions for a 10 year old.

Lastly, dont overlook the "wow factor." At at about that age, i took my daughter snorkeling at the Coronodos Islands (Mexico, just south of San Diego) and she got to play with 100s of sealions. It wasn't her first ocean experience by far, but based on her reaction i suspect it cemented her bond with the ocean and she breezed through OW when the time came.

This may not apply to your daughter but after dealing with other people's children going through certification, i can say, in many cases, that if kids don't see a tangible benefit to "toughing out" the cold, boring checkout dives, they may not stick with diving long term. Hope your case is different.

Best of luck!

She went through the pool dives yesterday and she was the only one (besides instructors) wearing a wet suit. 5 hours in the water she was warm and was not shivering and was not running to hot shower every break. So I agree with you on the water protection. luckily the local lakes are warm - in the 70-80 during summer so we will have plenty of places to dive in her depth limit.

 

[elan]

So she completed her confined water dives this weekend. Everything was great except few things we need to work on. We had her mom's BC that fit her. I rebuilt the inflator and took it to the pool last Monday to test that everything is working and nothing is leaking. I am glad I did. 15ft down I found the tank dangling on my back. First thought was the tank slipped out as I did not tighten it up properly. We used to use it with 7.25 tanks before and it developed groves on the tank strap already. Her tank is LP66 which is thinner. SO I thought the strap got loose backing into the grooves and the tank fell out. I took the BCD off to find out that the plastic plate that is sewn into the bladder and that holds the tank just shattered into pieces. The next thought was I am glad it happened to me while testing it and not in her class. The very next though was - "I went against the "scubaboard God" not providing her a proper BP/W and was cursed" . Anyways the BCD is trash now. Cannot complain as it's 13 years old and I got it for $150 on a sale back in the day.

We got her an aqualung jacked BCD for the class (they did not even charge us). May be because I ordered her BP/W from them the same day . Hopefully it will be delivered soon and we can start practicing.

 

[johndiver999]

Thanks for the update. My first thought when reading your report was that it is a shame the failure didn't happen to her. It would have been a great lesson - don't depend on the gear too much, nor assume it will always work. Hopefully she gets to see the failed gear and the lesson can still be reinforced.

Was it a Mares - they seem to break a lot?

 

[elan]

Thanks for the update. My first thought when reading your report was that it is a shame the failure didn't happen to her. It would have been a great lesson - don't depend on the gear too much, nor assume it will always work. Hopefully she gets to see the failed gear and the lesson can still be reinforced.

Was it a Mares - they seem to break a lot?

Oh she was there when it broke , she was skin diving and saw it first hand. When in her class an instructor asked them why would one wants to take a BCD off in the water she responded first that it might break and you need to do something about it it happened to my dad So she remembered

It was Sherwood Solaris, I had Mares as my first BCD but but luckily sold it after a year switching to BP/W

 

[elan]

Thank you for the sizing @Marie13 we received her BCD and at her 5’3’’ the small plate fits perfectly.