Does everyone really need the LP BCD inflator?

[BoltSnap]

Before power inflators, there was a generation of BCDs shaped like a safety collar (much similar to the Fenzy you see in my avatar) but equipped with an LP hose and an inflator attached directly to the bladder, similar to a dry suit.
I had one from Technisub with an orange neoprene foam bladder (terrible). My wife had one, also from Technisub, made of polyurethane-layered fabric (much better than mine). Both had also a small air tank (0.3 liters), similar to the Fenzy. I mean objects like this one (this was exactly my one):
View attachment 632853

This instead was the one bought by my wife in 1980:
View attachment 632861

But the Fenzy was a superior product in every way. I learned scuba diving using the Fenzy. The other ones you mention were just Fenzy Wanna be's.

 

[Coztick]

It was a SB thread where I learned of the potential for a stuck inflator. I was toying with the idea of using oral inflation only.
After descending on one boat dive, I hit the inflater to get neutral and nothing...
Somehow between checking it on deck and hitting depth the lp hose had disconnected. Fortunately oral inflation was a skill that got practiced so I had no issues blowing a couple quick breathes into my wing.
While I did reconnect the lpi, I no longer use the power inflator until surfaced at the end of a dive. There just hasn't been a reason to. Sure it's hooked up and tested every dive in case of emergency but it's completely unnecessary for warm water dives.

Cheers, Kevin

 

[Angelo Farina]

But the Fenzy was a superior product in every way. I learned scuba diving using the Fenzy. The other ones you mention were just Fenzy Wanna be's.

I also had a Fenzy in the seventies. After experimenting with a tyre bladder attached to the backpack, the Fenzy you see in my photo was my first "commercial" BCD.
However controlling the amount of air released opening the valve of the small tank was not easy.
And the resulting trim was terrible.
My previous home-made "wing" was way more hydrodinamic and provided better trim...
Really a pity I have no photo of it.
I remember that I used half of the tyre bladder of a car arranged as an horse-shoe bladder, attached in two points to the harness, at the lower terminations of the cut bladder. The inflator was an LP hose from the main reg with a pass-by valve coming from an ARO (a pure-oxygen CC rebreather).
The exhaust valve was a compressed air valve with a lever. I did not find a corrugate hose, so I did employ a 1-inch garden hose made of soft translucid red plastic.
I named it "boiata compensator", resembling "buoyancy compensator"
"Boiata" is Italian slang for a barely stupid thing.
The Fenzy was, in a number of ways, a step back from that previous home-made BCD...

 

[rjack321]

While I did reconnect the lpi, I no longer use the power inflator until surfaced at the end of a dive. There just hasn't been a reason to. Sure it's hooked up and tested every dive in case of emergency but it's completely unnecessary for warm water dives.

Warm water, single tank totally agree

Doubles and a stage (or more) off a boat? Its a colossal PITA to dive without a power inflator.
With a CCR and full bailouts its even more unrealistic

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

I also had a Fenzy in the seventies. After experimenting with a tyre bladder attached to the backpack, the Fenzy you see in my photo was my first "commercial" BCD.
However controlling the amount of air released opening the valve of the small tank was not easy.
And the resulting trim was terrible.
My previous home-made "wing" was way more hydrodinamic and provided better trim...
Really a pity I have no photo of it.
I remember that I used half of the tyre bladder of a car arranged as an horse-shoe bladder, attached in two points to the harness, at the lower terminations of the cut bladder. The inflator was an LP hose from the main reg with a pass-by valve coming from an ARO (a pure-oxygen CC rebreather).
The exhaust valve was a compressed air valve with a lever. I did not find a corrugate hose, so I did employ a 1-inch garden hose made of soft translucid red plastic.
I named it "boiata compensator", resembling "buoyancy compensator"
"Boiata" is Italian slang for a barely stupid thing.
The Fenzy was, in a number of ways, a step back from that previous home-made BCD...

When I saw this I thought no way until I read your post.

 

[Angelo Farina]

When I saw this I thought no way until I read your post.
View attachment 633064

Nice!.
My one was cut, keeping just the top part. The two lower ends were attached to the harness of the plastic backplate...

 

[jlcnuke]

My last liveaboard I did the last couple days of diving with a wing you couldn't really inflate (the inflation elbow connection on the bladder broken off about 80% of the way around. If you aren't compensating for something compressing as you descend, and your rig is balanced, you shouldn't need to use your wing at all.

 

[lamarpaulski]

I remember when the LPI came out. It was a pretty big improvement in safety and convenience.

Not sure eliminating a single hose is worth jettisoning that benefit, even if it’s seldom needed. You may need to help someone else in an emergency and that can be exhausting - exactly when you don’t want to do the oral inflate drill.

 

[Hoyden]

haha yeah
I need to actively lean backwards at the surface otherwise I'm face down in the water

And now, my oh my, how the tables have turned

In the event that I was unconscious, rescued and returned to the surface, my wing BCD would require my savior to actively hold me up

Hmmm..

No, it would not. Once you are laying on your back floating face up, a bp/w will hold that position just fine.

 

[Rickk]

Google says 6 liters.

That is total lung capacity.

You can exhale as much as possible and you still have 2 l left.

Maxi mun air difference from full lungs to as empty is about 4 l.

Normal breath is around 2 l.

Of course averages so different people will have different volumes.

I need no air in my wing at 50 bar and 5 m deep. I can pass plus minus neutral just with my lung volume. However at full tank I can only get to neutral with a full lungs.

Basically I put 2 l of air in when I get to depth, and let it out gradually as I consume gas and assent through the dive ending up no air left around 100 bar. I dive no neoprene so no buoyancy issues there.

I w2ill keep the LP infiltrator hose because it is easier to inflate both routinely and in an emergency, available to someone not familiar with my gear or for me in a down current.