Donning and doff your integrated bc??

[Standingbear56]

The idea of distributing the weight between a wt belt/harness and the BCD is probably the best option. However some of the weight intergrated BCDs make it very hard to wear a wt belt or harness. In that case, I suggest you have large cargo pockets on your wetsuit or drysuit. This way you can remove the weights from your BCD and put them into your pockets and then remove/replace your BCD in the normal manor without you floating away or your BCD sinking. Then simply replace the weights. This concept in NOT for diving in any sort of confined or overhead environment, but it does work will in the general OW environment.
Save diving,
George

 

[oly5050user]

open chest,waist straps first then either unbuckle left shoulder strap or slide left arm under shoulder harness...slide tank off on right shoulder onto right knee..reattach left shoulder buckle if undone and put unit on as you would a jacket..placing unit onto right knee keeps you from floating up..using weightbelt makes skill easier but can still be done in a demonstration quality the way I outlined..in 30+ years of diving never had to this due to entanglement issues.Can be explained to students that it is a problem management skill designed to teach them to work as a team and if necessary to adjust unit uw if necessary example;(tank fall loose out of bcd strap)or entanglement issues.Standards dictate it is a skill only performed uw in pool sessions,not on ow training dives.

 

[Standingbear56]

open chest,waist straps first then either unbuckle left shoulder strap or slide left arm under shoulder harness...slide tank off on right shoulder onto right knee..reattach left shoulder buckle if undone and put unit on as you would a jacket..placing unit onto right knee keeps you from floating up..using weightbelt makes skill easier but can still be done in a demonstration quality the way I outlined..in 30+ years of diving never had to this due to entanglement issues.Can be explained to students that it is a problem management skill designed to teach them to work as a team and if necessary to adjust unit uw if necessary example;(tank fall loose out of bcd strap)or entanglement issues.Standards dictate it is a skill only performed uw in pool sessions,not on ow training dives.

Absolutely correct and this does work well. I've had a personal experience where I had to remove my intergrated unit to get out of a wreck. Totally through my own stupidity, I got lost, and the only way out was a hole that either I, OR my equipment could get through, NOT both at the same time. Hence I did the weights in my thigh pockets as I explained above and pushed my scuba unit ahead of me no mount style and got out. I had never even thought about having to do this sort of thing until this happened. I actually figured it out on the spot, and fortunately for me, it worked.
I'm surprised that manufacturer's who produce intergrated systems don't offer training on how to properly do this with their products. You would think that due to liability alone they would.

Safe Diving,
George

 

[Ladyvalea]

anybody have a video or pictures of this procedure? I'm have a hard time seein this in my pea brain!! thanks

 

[Standingbear56]

Wish I did - maybe something I can do in the near future. Picture it this way - it's like taking something from the back pockets on your jeans and putting it in your front pockets temporarily, then putting it back into your back pockets again. The weight pockets in your BCD are your "back pockets". Take the weights out of your "back pockets" and place them in the thigh pocket on your exposure suit - your "front pockets". Now you can remove and replace your BCD the way you would do any other non intergrated unit. Once you have your unit back on, remove the weights from your "front pockets" and put them back into your "back pockets"
It's a technique that is actually fairly easy, but you do want to master it in a pool before attempting it in open water.
Hope this helps and doesn't confuse you more.
Take care,
George

 

[catra8104]

Hmmmm... If only I wore a suit..

 

[diver 85]

ok the other day I watch some students take there BC off and place in on one bent knee with the tank butt facing away from there body. but they had weight belts on so they did not float away..
Now..how do you take off you BC underwater with the weights inside the pockets? cuz I would just start floating up up and away?
Now the insturctor said you need this skill cuz you may have to take off your bc to untangle something ....So how does one do this task without floatin away?

You have described the exact reason why I wear a wt. belt---since 1985 & over a thousand dives...lol, also I go by the philosophy of why fix it if it ain't broken......

 

[Supershark]

I am a lucky person who is able to dive with zero weight, although this very rarely happens as I have to carry extra weights for my customers/students. I have seen too many problems with intergrated pockets falling out (sometimes at 30 metres on a wreck) to ever want my students/customers using intergrated. Ok, there are lots of divers using intergrated with no problems, but I have never seen a weight belt come off under water.
Use the K.I.S.S principle. Weight belts are cheap, easy, reliable and do the job!

 

[Ben_Ayers]

but I have never seen a weight belt come off under water.

I have... if doing your final check-out dive with the belt around your thighs counts! I could not get it tight enough because a weight was in the way and the buckle kept sliding. Having no butt and no hips is not a good thing, especially in a 7mm wetsuit at depth.

Ben

 

[Standingbear56]

Hmmmm... If only I wore a suit..

You have described the exact reason why I wear a wt. belt---since 1985 & over a thousand dives...lol, also I go by the philosophy of why fix it if it ain't broken......

As long as it works for you - go for it. I personally have 2 things against me using a weight belt - 1 is a back injury - the weight belt just plain hurts too much and 2 - I have no butt to keep it in place even when I could wear one. Kept slipping off. I've also have had them open up accidently, as have some other people I dive with. Harnesses didn't work because they also hit right on the injury area. Hence my using intergrated.