Floaty Feet Since Changing To Bp&w

[theiszy]

I was using an oceanic excursion bcd (jacket style) without any problems, but since ive changed over to my Scubapro BP&W (about 20 dives ago) ive been having problems with floaty feet. With both my 7mm wettie & my drysuit. Ive recently purchased some negative fins, which helped a little. I also have my tank as low as possible. And the backplate probably a little lower than it should be. I carry 3kg or 6.6lb of weight in pouches on the waist belt of the wing.

Today my back is really sore from arching it to try to stay in trim (to conteract the floaty feet).

Ive done buoyancy checks and can hold a safety stop so i think i have enough lead overall. I could probably fix the problem by overweighting my self with an extra kg or 2 on the hips, but dont really want to do that.

I dont really wanna get ankle weights either.

The only other thing i can yhink to do is get more negative fins (maybe get spring straps?) Or put the leat on a waist belt to lower it just a little more (although this would be only a few cm).

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

 

[KenGordon]

Hollis F1s might help, they were the heaviest fins I could find.

Try moving the lead you have from pouches to a belt. Also if the BP is steel consider trying an ali one and a bit more lead of your belt.

Are you SURE you have floaty feet? Being flat can feel out of control if you had got used to heavy feet for long time.

 

[cool_hardware52]

I was using an oceanic excursion bcd (jacket style) without any problems, but since ive changed over to my Scubapro BP&W (about 20 dives ago) ive been having problems with floaty feet. With both my 7mm wettie & my drysuit. Ive recently purchased some negative fins, which helped a little. I also have my tank as low as possible. And the backplate probably a little lower than it should be. I carry 3kg or 6.6lb of weight in pouches on the waist belt of the wing.

Today my back is really sore from arching it to try to stay in trim (to conteract the floaty feet).

Ive done buoyancy checks and can hold a safety stop so i think i have enough lead overall. I could probably fix the problem by overweighting my self with an extra kg or 2 on the hips, but dont really want to do that.

I dont really wanna get ankle weights either.

The only other thing i can yhink to do is get more negative fins (maybe get spring straps?) Or put the leat on a waist belt to lower it just a little more (although this would be only a few cm).

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

You can try lowering the plate and or cylinder, but's mostly just the need for more practice. I'd dive quite a bit more before trying to purchase a "fix".

Tobin

 

[Diver0001]

There are a couple of obvious things you can do.

1) you can move the wing up higher. most wings will have 3 grommets so you can adjust how high it sits on your backplate. Using the lowest grommet (moving the wing to its highest position) will cause the air in your wing to affect your upper body more than it would if the wing were lower

2) move the weights to a weight belt. It's a change of a few centimeters but since that's the bulk of your ballast then it will make a bigger difference than you might expect.

3) you can try an aluminium backplate but do that after you try other things first.

4) you can try a keel weight. That's a V-shaped weight that you can install between the tanks on the lower pin of the backplate.

5) you can try to attach a 1 or 2kg weight to the lower part of one of the tanks. To do this, thread the weight into a loose CAM BAND not a weightbelt, and attach it to one of the tanks in such a way that the weight is turned to sit between the tanks.

6) You can try heavier fins.

7) in the worst case scenario, you can try ankle weights but like you, I'm not a fan of them.

8) your body position makes a difference too. In order to help you with that, however, I'd need to see you in the water.

Good luck.

R..

 

[JBFG]

what tank are you using? if you use an AL tank, moving it lower will make your feet more floaty.

 

[Neilwood]

Where are your arms while experiencing floaty feet?

If you extend your arms forward rather than below you it alters your balance point which can make a huge difference

 

[Ayisha]

Is it possible to post a pic of your trim? Are you going by the way it feels or can others see that you have floaty feet? As KenGordon mentioned, being in trim can feel like you're head heavy if you're not used to it.

When you're perfectly neutral and just hover motionless without correcting, do you tip head down or head up or just stay flat? This will tell you whether you're head heavy, feet heavy or just right.

 

[Reku]

I love my Hollis F1s - they are amazing. No floaty feet here! - although you may just need to rearrange some weight/items.

 

[theiszy]

Ken, Im pretty sure I have floaty feet. Because I dont ALWAYS have floaty feet.

Ill try to give a little more information. and answar most of the above questiona as i go. I mostly dive with my hands out in front, and knees bent at 90 degrees, frog kicking. I have a steel 100cu/ft Faber tank (the longer one, not the stubby one). Ive been having trouble with this on & off for a while now. If I jhave my BCD as high up on the tank as it can possibly go, it wont cause me to many issues, however, if I dont have it just perfect, up the feet go. so its like im right on the edge of either good trim and floaty feet. If I close my eyes & try to relax and not adjust, my feet go up.

I did think I had this under control, since I lowered my plate and got some negative fins, the last dive I dropped 1kg from my waist & up went the legs again. I can stay reasonablly in trim if I really arch my back but its very uncomfortable. I cant lower the wing on the backplate because if I do the cam band holes wont match up.

I think Ill lower the harness some more, and tighten the crotch strap, but im just worried it will be too low, I can barely touch the backplate behind my head as it is. I will do my best to get a pic of me in the water (a friend had a gopro at our last dive, but not sure if ill be able to get the footage anytime soon). Would it be worth taking a pic on land?

Also Ive been trying to find some pics of divers wearing their wing with tank on land to see how it shold look (if its actually sits lower than I think), anyone have come pics of roughly how it should look on land?

Thanks for the help so far. I wont be in the water for another week or two so wont be able to try stuff out till then.

 

[decompression]

An easy way to see for sure is thread a weight (2-4 lbs) on a tank band and put it around the bottom of your tank......see what happens.