first experience BP/W

[Icarusflies]

Hello All;

This week end I am diving with a BP/W. I used to dive with a jacket style BC that was very bulky, a Mares Vector 1000 AT. For you guys with more experience (I have 30 dives) is there something worth mentioning about the behavior of the BP/W versus the jacket style in the firs dive??? or usually the transition is smooth.

Also, how much weight do you use with a 5 mm suit and SS plate?

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hello All;

This week end I am diving with a BP/W. I used to dive with a jacket style BC that was very bulky, a Mares Vector 1000 AT. For you guys with more experience (I have 30 dives) is there something worth mentioning about the behavior of the BP/W versus the jacket style in the firs dive??? or usually the transition is smooth.

Also, how much weight do you use with a 5 mm suit and SS plate?

Assuming you were properly weighted in your BC you can reduce your total weighting by about 6 lbs (for the SS plate and harness) and another 2-4 lbs for the inherent buoyancy of the jacket BC.


Tobin

 

[rhlee]

I felt naked my first dive in a BP/W. It was alot more stable on me than my previous jacket-style BC; some of which I think is inherent in the wing, and some of which because the harness could be made to actually fit properly.

I wear 15 lbs with a SS plate and a drysuit.

 

[The Kraken]

Icarus,

With a 5mm, a steel BP and a steel 119, I need no additional weight at all in salt water.

Expect your movements to feel a bit "tighter", if that can be understood.

You won't feel as if there is as much "slop" in the feel of your rig being attached to your body. The bp/w, in my humble opinion, just feels much more solidly attached to your body as does a conventional b/c, be it back inflate or jacket style.

Just my thoughts. Anyone may certainly take me to task on it, but that's just my observation.

the K

 

[stu_in_fl]

SS backplate is probably worth about 5 or 6lbs off your weight belt (but i don't know anything about the Mares bouyancy - so you may want to do a bouyancy check etc. )...hopefully you'll find the transition very easy...

 

[ToddK]

You should also find that swimming with a horizontal attitude is easier.

 

[LOOPS]

Diving with a BP/W is awesome, not only can you take some weight off the weight belt but also they help with being more streamline. The only thing that I have seen people have a problem with is when on the surface they over inflate the wing. This will cause you to go face first into the water. So be mindful of that...

 

[*Floater*]

Hello All;

This week end I am diving with a BP/W. I used to dive with a jacket style BC that was very bulky, a Mares Vector 1000 AT. For you guys with more experience (I have 30 dives) is there something worth mentioning about the behavior of the BP/W versus the jacket style in the firs dive??? or usually the transition is smooth.

Also, how much weight do you use with a 5 mm suit and SS plate?

If you decide to take weights with you (in addition to the backplate, tank...), then make sure they come in small increments and are ditchable. Then do a weight check. The way I like to do it is to take an almost empty tank (or run your tank down to 300 psi at the end of the dive) and then do a weight check at 10' depth at the bottom. Empty your wing completely and then keep dropping weights one by one until you have to start finning to stay down. You can also do this during your safety stop. I like to go head down so the gas in the wing goes to the rear and then I feel how much I have left there by squeezing it. Then I hand weights off to my buddy and vent the wing until it's empty.

The second thing is trim. You should be able to float in the water column without tipping backward, forward or sideways (both at the start of the dive with lots of gas in the wing and later on when the wing is almost empty). If you start to tip sideways, then you have too much gas on one side of the wing and you need to balance it out. If you tip head down or feet down, then try to use your feet and lungs to offset this; pull the feet towards your butt and exhale to shift your weight forward to stop tipping backward, and vice versa to combat tipping head down. This works better with negatively buoyant fins. If your trim is off despite feet position then you need to adjust the backplate, wing and/or weights to shift the balance. Moving the wing up and backplate down (by loosening shoulder straps) shift your weight down, and vice versa to shift it up.

 

[Icarusflies]

Great info thank you guys.

 

[rawls]

I agree with Kraken. I have an OMS bungeed wing with SS backplate. I have dived with a 3mm and steel 100 and needed no extra weight. The other day I did a couple of dives with steel 80 doubles with a 7mm wetsuit and still needed no additional weight. For me, it's one of those I'll never go back to a vest things. But I do have to wear the vest with open water students...It's a PADI thing. I know some instructors teach students using bp/w's. I'm not an instructor yet, but if I could teach using bp/w's I wouldn't hesitate. But for fun diving I won't use a vest anymore. I realized...for me...how cumbersome a vest was. I'm not speaking for others...or lecturing lamont

What brand of bp/w are you going to use....