Some notes, because I saw some people asking/commenting.
We spent the first three hours configuring the BP/W – getting the webbing close to right. (As it turns out, the only way you can get it right is in the water). Brian did all of the work. After gearing up in our drysuits, we donned our rigs and went for a dive – or so we thought. After a few minutes in the water, we had to return to the beach to adjust the webbing on Emily’s BP and my weight belt. Round one
You can absolutely get it right on land, but you DO need at least the undergarment and sometimes the drysuit to do so
(which we had). We had two issues here:
- Emily's rental drysuit and undergarment were more than a bit too long for her, which made it a bit difficult to see the crotch strap adjustment on land without getting way more personal than I was interested in getting. Her crotch strap was farther off than yours was.
- The weight belt issues (which were a theme for the day) will largely go away once you get the triglides on there to hold the weights in place. You'll never forget those again.
Lesson learned on my part - you can either rely on somebody else's definition of "snug, but not too tight" with respect to the crotch area, or you can get it right the first time.
On the second round in the water, we found the real problems. Emily did fine, she almost is ready to use the BP/W but I had tremendous difficulties. My configuration was a 17 lb BP (includes two 5 lb weight plates, one on either side of the BP), a steel HP100 tank, and 10 lbs on the weight belt. This was enough weight to descend fairly easily, but when I got down (20 ft or so) I had a tremendous squeeze and as soon as I put air into my drysuit I began rolling and ascending. I just felt like any air in the DS immediately went to whatever portion of my body was highest (left side, right side, feet, shoulders, etc.) and I could not maintain horizontal face-down position. In addition, my left shoulder strap was loose. It was extremely disconcerting, water got in my mask, I was bobbing up and down, and several times was momentarily panicked.:shocked2: I never got down and “OK”.
That's exactly what air in a drysuit will do. It was more difficult to deal with because of the looseness in the crotch strap and the shifting weight, but part of getting comfortable with the drysuit is learning to control that bubble, in no small part through your posture in the water. You may also still be a few pounds light, but we'll need to finish a dive and do a proper weight check to be sure.
With Brian’s instructions, I doffed the weightbelt and the BP/W, and he went down and adjusted it again. (I was never sure why he had to descend to do this). Then it was a bit too tight.
I had to take it to the bottom because with the wing inflated it was next to impossible to do anything on the back-side of the plate. Since your BC was quite negatively buoyant, it was way easier to take it to the bottom, fully deflate, and adjust it there. FYI, both your shoulder straps were the same looseness (and we can loosen them a bit from where they ended up). The necessary adjustment was to tighten the crotch strap down more, but I couldn't manage to adjust that with gloves on. The rubber inserts in the plate slots, which are both a blessing and a curse, DID allow me to adjust the shoulder straps, so I did that to try and get things at least somewhat under control that dive. It didn't help the tank riding up a bit, but your main issue was rolling side to side, and it DID help a bit with that.
Some comments on the BP/W thing: these are not easy system to use the first time, maybe not even the third time. Now I know why jackets are so popular. First of all, they are very difficult to configure properly. You cannot adjust straps independently – if you adjust the shoulder strap, that will affect the waist strap, and vice versa. And the straps are not easy to move through the openings. Quite frankly, that seems to me a basic design flaw with the BP/W system. Secondly, you cannot loosen a strap once you have it on or to get it on – no loosening or disconnecting the shoulder strap to don or doff the BC & tank. Yes, you can wiggle out of it – but why not make it easier? Not optimal. What about a drift dive where you doff the BC before re-entering the boat? Third, the straps stretch when they get wet – and you cannot tighten them on the fly. Fourth, the straps have no padding. For this 62 y.o. guy, carrying a 60 lbs tank and backplate is do-able – but my gosh, can I have a little help here?
When the crotch strap is adjusted properly, the shoulder straps can be looser than we ended up with your BC after the in-water "emergency adjustment". While it can take a bit of getting used to, you ultimately shouldn't find it very difficult to get in/out of. The webbing does stretch a bit when wet, but that tends to be an issue the first time only (if at all), and is really only terribly relevant to the cam bands if you don't/can't get them REALLY tight initially.
The inability to make adjustments "on the fly" while wearing the harness with tanks/weight in place is a double-edged sword. I understand the thought that it's a flaw, but the flipside is that it also cannot move or become unclipped on its own, and once adjusted properly, it STAYS adjusted properly - even between dive days.
After talking with Hepcat, I think I might know why I was rolling around so much – the steel tank, and maybe the weight plates. I remembered that I had this problem – though not nearly as much --- when I dove a steel tank with drysuit and jacket BC. At least that BC has most of the weight in your front, easier to swim face down. But when I added air to the DS, that portion of my body went “zing” -- and if it was my left side, the air immediately vented.
I think the remaining issues are ultimately going to be solved by three things:
- Tightening the crotch strap more to lock down the harness properly
- Getting triglides on the weight belt, so that your weight is not able to shift so easily
- Getting more comfortable with controlling your posture underwater
It's definitely true that having more weight on your back (e.g. a steel tank) can make it easier to "turtle" on your back, especially once you've already started rolling to the side. The weight plates are really not at fault though, and neither is the steel tank. It's the fact that weight was shifting around, due to weights that could slide and the loose crotch strap, which exacerbated any rotation or movement you made with your body.
We did enjoy the day, though! It felt good to get out, and even if I did not have a successful dive, Emily did (more important, that). And with no surf, we didn’t fall down! YAY!!
And we *really* enjoyed our dinner with Brian – it got us all re-excited about diving, after our stressful day. Yes, we want to try it again. Thanks, Brian!!!
This is the most important part, I'd like to think. One more day of diving with a tightened crotch strap, properly secured weights (and maybe a few relocated weights), and we'll get you both squared away.
