Drysuit vs BCD / Wing as Your Buoyancy Control
- Thread starter Jax
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. . . So, I am watching the PADI drysuit course video . . . . . Does one have to be proficient in their "special fins" to pass a PADI course?
Oh, evil Jax. You've been listening to second-hand Sherwoodisms too long!
on_two_wheels
Contributor
I almost asked the same question. Been diving dry for the last 20 dives (approx) and usually use the suit more for buoyancy than my wing. However, there IS a reason to my madness.
When I'm surfacing along a reef the suit is very easy to dump air. I have the valve almost all the way open so it's just a matter of listing to my right side. No change in hand/arm position really. I am more comfy dumping air from the suit than I am the wing and the wing usually requires a head up or head down position. On descent, by the time the squeeze is fully off I'm neutral anyway. I do almost my whole dive without using my wing and my consumption is still respectable. The only drawback would be if you could flood the suit instantly, you'd sink fast. I'm confident that in the time it would take a suit to flood, I could reach the wing inflator.
Many manufacturers recommend using the suit for BC, also...not just PADI.
When I'm surfacing along a reef the suit is very easy to dump air. I have the valve almost all the way open so it's just a matter of listing to my right side. No change in hand/arm position really. I am more comfy dumping air from the suit than I am the wing and the wing usually requires a head up or head down position. On descent, by the time the squeeze is fully off I'm neutral anyway. I do almost my whole dive without using my wing and my consumption is still respectable. The only drawback would be if you could flood the suit instantly, you'd sink fast. I'm confident that in the time it would take a suit to flood, I could reach the wing inflator.
Many manufacturers recommend using the suit for BC, also...not just PADI.
In that case you clearly suffer from the problem I identified long ago - you don't find it that easy to get air out of your wing. I find it greatly easier and quicker to get air out of my BC/wing than from my suit, and I have never seen anyone who didn't find the same. You only have to think about the internal shape of a drysuit to understand how getting air out of it can be at the least unpredictable.
on_two_wheels
Contributor
No....I don't find it difficult to get air out of my wing. I find it easier to vent the suit. Big difference. Venting the suit requires less effort since i just need a slight roll of inches to my right and NO hand movements. I also find it easy to control the amount being vented. I do use the wing for shallower depths and on ascent use the hose to dump air. But like I said, at depth the air needed to alleviate the squeeze is often enough, or close to it, to make me neutral. Therefore, adding air in the wing would mean removing air from the suit and bring the squeeze back. Add the reduction in weight necessary and it's MUCH less effort in and out of the water, very easy to get buoyant without dumping weight, etc. I realize it's not for everyone but it works for me. Some instruction says use both, manufacturers are increasingly recommending using the suit for BC, etc. If the method works for you and you're able to handle any emergency (flood, stuck inflator, wing failure, etc) then use it!
I have so far never seen anyone who can vent all the air from their suit as rapidly as they can from their BC/wing. I know several people who thought they could rely on just their suit, only to find that when due to an error they got into a rapid ascent they couldn't stop it without pulling the neck seal away from their neck, thereby losing the suit air quickly but also flooding the suit. I prefer to stay dry, as well as out of the chamber.
Crush
Contributor
+1 to what noreastDIVER84, tkdgodess, and TSandM said.
Personally I put enough air into my suit to keep the squeeze off. I control buoyancy with the lift bladder. There are a few reasons for this personal choice:
Personally I put enough air into my suit to keep the squeeze off. I control buoyancy with the lift bladder. There are a few reasons for this personal choice:
- My lift bladder dumps air faster than my suit does, so in an emergency I'd rather dump excess air from the bladder;
- Extra air in your suit will only loft your undies to a degree. Thereafter it is an air bubble that tends to roll about between your shoulders. I feel that this is a bit more unstable than having air in my lift bladder (where it doesn't roll as much);
- If I end up inverted, I can vent air from the bottom dump on the lift bladder. My drysuit does not have the option to vent excess air from my toes; and
- I have never made an uncontrolled ascent feet-first, and I do not intend to.
I use a drysuit inflate to control bouyancy. I figure it is much easier to control my bounacy in an emergency if it is all in one place instead of more than one.
Yes, PADI teaches people to use the drysuit for buoyancy underwater & the BC to be positively buoyant at the surface. And other Agencies teach to use the BC and only put enough air in the suit to neutralize squeeze. There is no "right way" or "wrong way". It's simply a matter of finding the method that works best for you. Then practicing so that no matter what happens that you are safe, comfortable, and in control.
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