Has anyone been griefed for their BP&W?

[David P]

I started with a bp. On my check out dives I noticed the dm getting abouard carring a bp getup. On the ride out we were chatting, then when it was time to suit up, he saw my bp and bungeed backup. "oh oh, you a DIR diver?" I told him no (didnt bother telling him it was my very first dive). He looked kinda confused and said "I didnt think so cause your cool and theyre a bunch of @$$ holes, but you have the setup..."


????

 

[hantzu701]

Sean, does you LDS carry wings? If not tell them if they had some you might have gotten them from them.

My LDS told me that I would be much happier in a ScubaPro Tek Rec (sp?). Of course, this is after they sold me a Knighthawk and Air2. I ebayed the gear after 15 dives. I'm not sure if they were more unhappy that I had bought gear over the internet OR that their students had seen my gear and had asked whether they carried it. LOL.

Thread hijack: I will say that I am uncomfortable with recreational divers borrowing parts of the hogathian rig without understanding the system as a whole. Eg. I had a diver who had a BCD, w/ Air2 and bungied his primary. I did a share-air with him and he still didn't get it. Another is using a snorkel with a long hose. etc....

 

[BabyDuck]

I will say that I am uncomfortable with recreational divers borrowing parts of the hogarthian rig without understanding the system as a whole.

(i'm not trying to pick any fight or troll, so no flamethrowers!) what constitutes understanding the system as a whole well enough to borrow? i see the advantages in long hose & sharing a primary, i just don't have that reg system myself. i understand that a bp/w is more versatile, but right now have no need for that versatility. i guess what i'm asking is - if i do see the advantages but don't use the whole system, is that ok? on the other hand, like andy said, why should i care what others think if it is right for me? (i shouldn't, but i do.)

 

[nauidiver2004]

I'm with Jonnythan, I took my setup to Florida last October. I got a few questions and a couple of comments from other divers and the crew. They were all interested in the BP. The thought it looked really neat but couldn't understand how a steel plate could be comfortable. The captain helped me don and duff the gear. Didn't have any bad expierences at all.

 

[hantzu701]

I think that understanding the reasoning behind the system allows you to make certain judgments of what you can or cannot borrow. If you don't, then it is possible to get yourself into trouble. For example, if you use a long hose with a snorkel, it is possible to accidently dislodge your mask during an air-share. When you go to donate air, your long hose will catch on your snorkel. At least, you dislodge your mask. As most, your mask pops off and heads 200ft down. Believe me, a no-mask ascent is tougher that it looks.

Let's say that you use a long hose with a BCD - probably a more common hybrid because it's the cheapest change to a BCD setup. Again, you have to ask yourself what could get snagged. If you have a BCD, then you probably have a console for your SPG, dive computer, etc. You may have dive lights that are clipped into the BCD. Where do you tuck in the long hose to keep it out of the way?

When I crossed over from a BCD to a bp/wing, it was a multi-step process. The first evolution was diving a long hose, bungied 2nd with a BCD (and my Air2). The next evolution was adding the bp/wing/harness. I wasn't comfortable with getting in and out of the harness, but I loved the way I was able to move through the water. As I gained more experience and comfort with my diving, I paired down the lights, the clips, the extra LDS toys to what I have now - a hogathian rig. I use the same rig whether I go diving in the Bahamas, wreck diving in the Great Lakes, or looking for critters in Puget Sound.

 

[Wijbrandus]

Hantzu,

You are sidetracking the discussion a bit.

I use a bp&w. I do not use a long hose, but rather a typical recreational setup except I have a Uwatec Digital on my wrist and an SPG only on my HP hose. So I don't use a console. I also do not use a snorkel.

I think out of all the gear you imply I've "borrowed" from Mr. Hogarth, the bp&w was the best choice. However, I do not believe a bp&w is restricted to Hogarthian diving. It is a very valid choice for recreational divers.

I think your perspective that a bp&w is strictly within the realm of Hogarthian/DIR diving is the same perspective this DM had, and I think that's wrong.

I do think I'm undergoing the same evolution you did, except I went straight for the bp&w. Something about it's cleanliness and simple design appealed to me from the start. Of course, this is the same thing that appeals to me about DIR, but I haven't made that leap yet.

 

[Rick Inman]

I moved a piece at a time - for financial reasons. For a while I dived a PB/W with a cheap reg on a short hose and one of those plastic mini-octos bungeed around my neck. :11:
Locally here in Spokane I've never seen another diver with a PB/W and/or a long hose. My LDS shakes his head at me, as did the DM on the boat in Hawaii.
When I dive in Puget Sound 250 miles away, almost everyone has a PB/W & LH. On Monday's dive in the Sound, we discovered that my Atomic M1 1st stage had a bent yoke clamp and leaked. OE2X loaned me his extra reg, which was perfectly matched to my set-up, including the shorter inflater hose for my Oxycheq wing. What a huge advantage to be diving with people who have compatible systems!

 

[Uncle Pug]

Rick, I never had anyone comment negatively (to my face) about my backplate/wing in Hawaii nor in Fiji. But then I wasn't using the long hose... I had switched to a DIR compliant 40" primary 2nd stage hose for those warm water ocean dives.

Totally agree with you about standardized gear making it easy to solve situations like the one we had Monday. It also helps to have a couple of guys in the crowd who own and carry twice as much stuff as the normal technophile.

 

[SeanQ]

Locally here in Spokane I've never seen another diver with a PB/W and/or a long hose. My LDS shakes his head at me, as did the DM on the boat in Hawaii.

What do you expect? It's not every day you see someone diving with Peanut Butter and a Wing.

 

[Northeastwrecks]

I've had people ask me about my rig when I'm working OW classes. We usually end up chatting about it and why I like it.

If a DM on a trip that I was paying for gave me that attitude, I'd respond with something along the lines of "I guess you must not do much tech diving, because there is nothing technical about this rig."