Diving Without BCD

[Eric Sedletzky]

dive trackers is a thing???

Yeah. You drop a pinger over the side of the boat on a string and the diver has component B on a leash or wrist which blinks more rapidly when pointed towards the pinger. They work pretty damn good especially on night dives.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

We need a “minimalism” section for divers wishing to learn to dive with no BC using all modern gear.
They always want to lump us into the vintage section even though there is a BRAND NEW movement towards minimalist diving that is different from vintage diving in many ways.

 

[sdavo]

Wow, lots of great responses!

I appreciate the safety concerns raised; it’s good to know that people here are looking out for each other’s safety. Here are some of my thoughts:

• I always dive with a buddy
• Rip tides, strong currents, and long surface swims are common here, and I’m comfortable navigating them
• In the event of an emergency situation/injury – dump weights and gear if necessary, work with buddy

An old horsecollar or even a larger DSMB would work. In an emergency and you're sure of staying positively buoyant you dump the SCUBA rig and swim in.
Or make sure your family understands the risk and you have a good insurance policy. BC's were actually developed to make up for poor training and improper weighting. Mike Nelson never used a BC and he didn't die. All he used for emergencies were CO2 powered small lift bags.

Any recommendations for a CO2 dive float that is pretty compact when not inflated? Something that folds/rolls up like an airline life jacket, perhaps.

'cept people still dive these and they are available new.View attachment 457217

Does anyone have experience using one of those trident backpack setups? The straps look like they might be uncomfortable on bare skin. Would the harness that goes with a backplate be much different?

New divers shouldn’t just decide one day to jump in with no BC without thoroughly understanding what they’re getting into, and how to properly and safely do it.
Find a mentor to show you.

This is a great suggestion. Anybody in the San Diego area interested?

I don't think what you're looking to do is silly, crazy, or suicidal. I do find it laughable that you describe San Diego water as warm (listen up all you FL divers), but that aside, I spent plenty of hours as a kid in SoCal waters body surfing and what not without a wetsuit.

I grew up north of San Francisco – summer water in San Diego feels like a swimming pool!

 

[drbill]

Dove for many years without a BCD. Dove my first one because it was required by a Cousteau dive team... but it didn't work (autoinflated). Didn't get one for 27 years. However I'm glad I've used one the last 30 years!

Diving without a BCD "requires" that you weight yourself according to the depth you plan to dive to. Can be a bit trickier than diving with one.

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

Seems to me the way to train for this would be to start out trying to deal with a completely empty BC. That way you can always abort but develop your sans bladder skills with a back-up.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

One thing’s for sure, gear cleanup is a snap. No BC to rinse out and fanatic over. I just lay my stuff out on the driveway and hose it down. The S.C.U.B.A. gets a hose down all assembled and charged. Spray some water into the 1st and 2nd stage of my Conshelf, give the tank and pack and shot and good to go.
My wetsuit is a skin-in freediving suit so the inside dries in minutes, never smells. I used to sometimes just do all this right at the dock in 5 minutes and I was done. Everyone else goes home and spends hours cleaning and primping all their gear, drysuit, BC, etc.
Minimalist diving sure makes it easy to set up and tear down gear!

 

[Rich Keller]

Does anyone have any tips on how to get my weighting dialed in? Any recommendations for tank harness? So far I've been looking at a plastic backpack (Trident), a back plate and harness, , or a back inflation travel BCD with the wing removed (weight integration would be nice).

Before BCDs were invented I would weight myself neutral with half a tank of air. This way you were slightly heavy at the start when you want to be on the bottom and slightly buoyant at the end when you want to be on the surface. Using a 50cu/ft tank you are only talking a couple of pounds either way. I would suggest a commercial diving harness rather then a backpack. Miller Diving Adjustable Backpack Harness This is light weight and very low profile making it easier to do a surf entry. I would suggest a very low profile snorkel vest for emergency flotation on the surface if needed. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...b-b8a4-5371-b5a1-2ff427f17fca&pf_rd_i=3406541 This could be warn under the harness if it is only to be used in an emergency. Last suggestion would be to have all your weights on a belt. Without a BCD to help get you to the surface in an emergency being able to dump all of your weight is your only other fall back position. I use the same configuration when diving from a kayak in shallow water except I use a 30cu/ft tank and no snorkel vest. I am towing the kayak behind me as I dive so the kayak takes the place of the vest for flotation help on the surface.

 

[northernone]

Wow, lots of great responses!

I appreciate the safety concerns raised; it’s good to know that people here are looking out for each other’s safety. Here are some of my thoughts:

• I always dive with a buddy
• Rip tides, strong currents, and long surface swims are common here, and I’m comfortable navigating them
• In the event of an emergency situation/injury – dump weights and gear if necessary, work with buddy

Any recommendations for a CO2 dive float that is pretty compact when not inflated? Something that folds/rolls up like an airline life jacket, perhaps.



Does anyone have experience using one of those trident backpack setups? The straps look like they might be uncomfortable on bare skin. Would the harness that goes with a backplate be much different?



This is a great suggestion. Anybody in the San Diego area interested?



I grew up north of San Francisco – summer water in San Diego feels like a swimming pool!

Glad to hear it, you'll get on fine!

To spark your imagination here is a link to a minimal bcd idea similar to what I use. (I put -+400 dives on an airline life vest, just check it doesn't get holey from unuse.)

DECO - Dive Equipment Company - Sidemount Bladder 22#

For the traditional backpack the raw webbing straps on bare skin is ok underwater, uncomfortable if you're hiking a distance wearing it. That said, shoulder skin toughens up after a dozen hours or so. Padding to me is added drag and isn't a significant improvement in comfort. I'm a wimp when I'm not in my drysuit so mostly a wetsuit takes away the chaffing.

Hope you meet up with some SD divers. Perhaps try the various clubs? San Diego Dive Club, Bottom Bunch, Power Scuba.


Cheers,
Cameron

 

[Charles2]

Does anyone have experience using one of those trident backpack setups? The straps look like they might be uncomfortable on bare skin. Would the harness that goes with a backplate be much different?

This picture is of my buddy, Wayne, and me back in 1965 or so. You can see two different backpacks. The one I am wearing is almost identical to the one shown in post #7. My buddy's backpack is very similar to the Freedom Plate that @Eric Sedletzky makes today. (Here is where I will insert a shameless plug to be at the top of Eric's list when he makes another run of them) Frankly, if you could get one of Eric's plates, I think it would be perfect for what you want to do. The tanks that we are using are steel 72's. We usually weighted ourselves to be neutral at whatever depth we planned to be. That would mean using a little less weight when deeper in order to compensate for wetsuit compression, but we would have to swim down the first bit. When using the rig in this picture, I don't remember wearing any lead. I don't remember the straps being uncomfortable either; however, at that age we were also bulletproof.

Best of luck.

 

[Ghetto Diver]

Yes backpack harness on bare skin will not be comfortable.
I am glad to others interested in minimalizing (new word)
Backpack, twins, no bc