DAN advocating using drysuit for buoyancy control while diving

[DENFSEA]

I took care of that problem years ago by using the wing with a double bladder so if one fails you can use other bladder

 

[decompression]

Just got my DAN Safety Stop in and am very baffled by this comment

1. Buoyancy – Use your suit for primary buoyancy control rather than your BCD. Use your BCD for surface support or if your suit buoyancy fails

Does this bother anyone else? The suits form a bubble that is difficult to control, difficult to vent quickly, etc etc. I get they are appealing to the new recreational divers and the general though is let them control one bubble instead of two, but come on, don't make that your #1 drysuit tip. Enough air in the suit as necessary for thermal comfort, the rest should be taken up in the wing....

Uggh, just frustrating when stuff like this comes out.

I agree, T bone.....it's just wrong all over the place.


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---------- Post added March 24th, 2015 at 04:15 PM ----------

This is a popular topic for discussion, I had a thought on perspective. This, like many other debatable procedures are viewed differently from an instructor view point to a divers view. For the individual they see the technique, whatever it is, as singular in which only they and their experience is concerned. Where as the instructor sees it from the multitudes of dives his students do and will do. This amount is exponential. 10 years of teaching, certifying 80 students a year, each student averages 50 dives (numbers hypothetical).......the importance of reducing any possible risk is a primary concern. Just a thought..........."squirrel!"


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[RJP]

As I personally found out not long ago, it really makes a lot of sense to have a redundant source of negative buoyancy...

Like two weight belts?



---------- Post added March 24th, 2015 at 08:31 PM ----------

If my boots pop off, I just lose my fins.

I think he meant the boots/socks built into the suit.

---------- Post added March 24th, 2015 at 08:34 PM ----------

New divers and new drysuit divers are not overly task loaded managing the suit and the BC if properly weighted and trained. To insinuate that they are is insulting to them.

Agreed. We teach OW students in drysuits every weekend. We teach suit=exposure protection approach. They get it, no problem.

 

[SubAquatix]

Learned it both ways!!! Do what works for you and go dive.

 

[kr2y5]

As I personally found out not long ago, it really makes a lot of sense to have a redundant source of negative buoyancy... and some even argue it is warmer this way... so, I am definitely putting more air into my drysuit than just to avoid the squeeze.

Like two weight belts?

No, like two bubbles of air, each of which you can independently vent, so that in case you fail to vent one (e.g., because air got trapped in your wing), you can still vent enough of the other to achieve negative buoyancy when you need it.

 

[TSandM]

Should you use your BC or your dry suit for primary buoyancy? Yes!

I found it easier, as a new diver, to keep the suit fairly tight and put most of the air in the BC, because it couldn't get very far away from me, and I could vent it fast. I was cold.

As I got more facile with the suit, I could put more of the air in it. I had to be more on top of depth changes, but I was much warmer.

But if the tanks get big enough (or there are enough of them) the suit just can't contain that much air, and I have to go back to using both.

But as Bob says, a precisely weighted diver with a normal sized tank will just about get neutral with the air it takes to loft their undergarment. Overweighting them so they can put some gas in the BC would be wrong; making them dive shrink-wrapped (anybody remember the concept of the 20 foot squeeze?) is going to result in some cold dives.

 

[clownfishsydney]

My wife and I and virtually everyone else I know who dives dry uses their drysuit as the primary buoyancy device. Very easy to do and has not more problems than using the BCD. The only time I actually use BCD is on dives over 40 metres when I need to add a little air to counteract the depth.

 

[knotical]

Seems as if much of it is personal preference, perhaps based on how early in your dive career you met a dry suit. I had been diving for years with wetsuits and was comfortable using the BC for the two different functions – compensating for wetsuit compression and tuning for neutral buoyancy. When I started diving dry, I simply shifted the compression compensating function to the dry suit and continued using the BC for neutrality.

My theoretical rationale for not using the drysuit for neutral buoyancy is two-fold:
It could change my shape/profile, affecting movement through the water
I might need to let more air out of the suit than I wanted for warmth.

ymmv

 

[Peter Guy]

The new SDI drysuit materials have a section titled "Your drysuit is not your BC". I know because I wrote it that way.

. Guess I won't be doing a cross-over to SDI any time soon!

I too started as a BCD primarily, dry suit only for squeeze person. Then I started doing both about evenly so that I was warmer. Now, heck, go ahead and unscrew my dump valve AG -- ALL my air is going into my suit -- the more the merrier (and warmer). About that HP 130 and being too heavy -- "lead is warmth" when it comes to dry suits -- and yes, I dive an HP 130 as my preferred (?) single tank. The BCD is inflated for the surface only.

Heck, even in warm water caves, if I'm diving dry, I'll use my suit almost exclusively -- with BCD only when issues of "verticalness" come into play.

As for my students, I just tell them -- DO WHAT WORKS for you. I figure they have enough to worry about when doing their first few dives.

BTW, just finished doing a "skills class" this week and one of the students, who was a squeeze only, BCD primarily type, tried switching to suit primarily. His comment -- it is so much easier to just use the suit. YMMV

 

[kelemvor]

Hmm... I never really thought of using drysuit for primary buoyancy until reading this thread. I'll give it a shot. Seems like it might be a good idea.