Question Do you ever practice dropping weights and handling the unexpected ascent?

[WillieJustice]

If properly weighted, not an issue. You'd lose about 5 lb of wetsuit buoyancy (relative to safety stop depth) and at the beginning of the dive you would have 5 lbs of air that you'll breath later. On the plus side, you should be able to compensate for at least 5 lbs with lungs alone, so you'd need to swim up about 5 lbs initially. (The wetsuit expands/helps as you make progress.)

OTOH, if you use bad advice for weight (e.g., 10% of your body weight), you could have a problem.

Take it on yourself to empty your wing at max depth and see how hard it is to make progress. (Be careful not to stir up the bottom, though!)

The bottom isn't the bottom. It is a sulphurous cloud. Roiling that or even getting into it is a seriously bad idea in my estimation. Overweight? With no lead at all I don't know how to be less overweight if I was overweight with that configuration. Hence the questions. In this one, my weight was nearly perfect, if maybe an eyelash overweight. If I was using a SS BPW configuration, I might have been different but I don't know how a Zeigle Stiletto compares to a BPW setup that way.

 

[Belzelbub]

OTOH, if you use bad advice for weight (e.g., 10% of your body weight), you could have a problem.

Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. That was the rule of thumb in my first OW course long ago. In reality, my ballast requirement is nowhere near that.

If I was using a SS BPW configuration, I might have been different but I don't know how a Zeigle Stiletto compares to a BPW setup that way.

I like to have some ditchable weight. For me, it’s not for swimming up. It’s for extra buoyancy at the surface should it be needed. I like my Stiletto, but out of the box, it’s not set up for being able to trim it out well. The main pockets are positioned fine. It’s the rear trim pockets that are in the wrong spot. As delivered, they are on the bottom tank band. It’s a simple fix to move them to the top band though. That definitely helps.

 

[boulderjohn]

he main pockets are positioned fine. It’s the rear trim pockets that are in the wrong spot. As delivered, they are on the bottom tank band. It’s a simple fix to move them to the top band though. That definitely helps.

It helps, but it does not fix it.

I started working for a shop that sold Zeagle not long after they went to that system. It was very frustrating for me. The shop used me primarily for the more advanced classes, and students would come to me with their newly purchased Zeagles. It was very frustrating. I learned that you really can't use those trim pockets to trim the diver for horizontal diving. I had to MacGiver a way to trim them out without saying anything bad about the BCD they had just bought from my employer.

I honestly think Zeagle put the pockets where they are in order to help the diver be comfortably vertical whilst floating on the surface. I don't think they are at all intended for horizontal trim while diving.

 

[Belzelbub]

It helps, but it does not fix it.

Did for me, but may be due to the little I usually dive with. Didn’t need much. I can see how this may not be enough in some configurations, but the Stiletto is not for that. While never officially marketed as such, the Stiletto was designed for Spearfishing. Specifically the west coast FL type of spearfishing. I don’t get the reasoning for the original positioning, but not sure vertical positioning is it. A buddy of mine uses a Zeagle Covert XT. That comes with trim pockets on the upper band.

 

[WillieJustice]

It helps, but it does not fix it.

I started working for a shop that sold Zeagle not long after they went to that system. It was very frustrating for me. The shop used me primarily for the more advanced classes, and students would come to me with their newly purchased Zeagles. It was very frustrating. I learned that you really can't use those trim pockets to trim the diver for horizontal diving. I had to MacGiver a way to trim them out without saying anything bad about the BCD they had just bought from my employer.

I honestly think Zeagle put the pockets where they are in order to help the diver be comfortably vertical whilst floating on the surface. I don't think they are at all intended for horizontal trim while diving.

So far, it is working OK for me, but then I am not 100% dialed in for all circumstances. Your comments are giving me things to notice and consider. Thanks.

 

[boulderjohn]

So far, it is working OK for me, but then I am not 100% dialed in for all circumstances. Your comments are giving me things to notice and consider. Thanks.

Let me expand on this a little.

My first BCD was a Zeagle Ranger, which had no trim pockets--I don't think they were even a thing back then. I used it for years before going on my first Liveaboard trip, and for reasons I don't remember I ended up using a weight belt to strap a weight on the top of my tank. It was a revelation. Diving was so much easier when I was trimmed out that way.

I started working for a shop that sold ScubaPro, and I got professional pricing on a ScubaPro Nighthawk, a back inflate BCD with trim pockets at shoulder level. I found it trimmed out like a dream if I had the same amount of lead in each of the hip pockets and trim pockets. I used that until I switched to a backplate and wing system, which offers the same even trim.

When I then started working for a shop that sold Zeagles and saw the bizarre system they created that has been described above. You can only like that if you have never experienced the ease of diving with good trim.

 

[WillieJustice]

Let me expand on this a little.

My first BCD was a Zeagle Ranger, which had no trim pockets--I don't think they were even a thing back then. I used it for years before going on my first Liveaboard trip, and for reasons I don't remember I ended up using a weight belt to strap a weight on the top of my tank. It was a revelation. Diving was so much easier when I was trimmed out that way.

I started working for a shop that sold ScubaPro, and I got professional pricing on a ScubaPro Nighthawk, a back inflate BCD with trim pockets at shoulder level. I found it trimmed out like a dream if I had the same amount of lead in each of the hip pockets and trim pockets. I used that until I switched to a backplate and wing system, which offers the same even trim.

When I then started working for a shop that sold Zeagles and saw the bizarre system they created that has been described above. You can only like that if you have never experienced the ease of diving with good trim.

I will be thinking about that. I believe the trim pockets can be moved to the upper band. I don't remember. I am a little nervous about being top heavy in a drysuit, but what you are saying makes perfect sense based on today's warm water dive with 2lbs in each pocket on the tank band and 2lbs in each ditchable pocket. I will do the last two dives this trip tomorrow and will think about this and what it means.

 

[Belzelbub]

I will be thinking about that. I believe the trim pockets can be moved to the upper band. I don't remember.

They can. Takes just a few minutes. You need to remove the lower band, and unhook the Velcro tabs that are secured to the slot just above the lower band. Then flip the trim pockets over to install on the upper band. The Velcro tabs will now secure to the slot just below the upper band.

 

[BoltSnap]

My first BCD was a Zeagle Ranger, which had no trim pockets

Current version of the Ranger still doesn't have trim pockets in the back like other BC's do?

 

[Belzelbub]

Current version of the Ranger still doesn't have trim pockets in the back like other BC's do?

Current versions absolutely do. Appears that just about all Zeagle BCs have rear weights. Even the Scout, which doesn’t have front releasable weights, has the rear pockets.

Side note. You can get a feel for when someone was first certified by the term they use. Apparently, those of us certified last century learned to call this thing a Buoyancy Compensator. At some point, someone decided that wasn’t descriptive enough, so they called it a Buoyancy Compensating Device. That just seems inefficient. It will always be BC for me.