Has anyone gone from backplate to standard BC?

[wetman]

To get this back on track let me rephrase a little bit:

is there anyone out there that dives both regularly (after having attained a decent set of skills) that doesnt really find a benefit in either any more? I.e. you dive with either and don't feel like you're missing something? It just has always seemed to me reading here that people only ever go one way and rarely back.

steve

 

[Dryglove]

What you Bp-ers fail to comprehend that I dive just fine in jacket BC's. My skills are just fine. Because I don't subscribe to DIR nor do I prefer (and like) a BP has nothing to do woth poor diving skills.

If you like your jacket then use it and dont sell it in a few months and talk crap about it like you have with all your other gear you have sold. I agree DIR isnt the only way to dive although im sure we could all benefit from a DIRF class. You should seriously reconsider getting some more training and stop blaming the several and i mean several sets of gear you have bought and sold. I gotta admit somebody has to love you with all the good deals they are getting on your second hand gear.

Show me where it is written that to have proper diving skills one is required to dive a BP and wing?

I would never say that. Dive what is comfortable for you and stick with it and dont blame the gear for your lack of understanding on how to properly set up that gear and use it.

 

[AquaBob]

ScoobieDooo:

Ya know, I was kinda with you until you started to get snooty.

Nobody accused you of having poor skills, nor attributed poor skills to jackets.

1. I think the assumption of the thread was that those divers who actually give a rats *** about their skills may try a BP and Wings. You probably fit into that category since you tried them. Further, the question was, once you've honed your skills, does it matter where you get your bouyancy? It sound like your opinion is that it doesn't matter.

2. I guess there are some folk that are not satisfied with being JUST fine... some actually want to achieve Better and some day, even progress onto Good.

3. Using a 100lb lift Bungied Wing for four (4) dives doesn't make you an expert on the BP/wing concept.

4. I am impressed that you could actually achieve Mearly Fine with 'Big Red' though. Kudos.

 

[ScoobieDooo]

4 dives with my own rig - you didn't ask (and I didn't specify) how many I had on friends' rigs before I went and purchased my own. I chalked it up to inexperience (as many of you suggested) and perhaps that they didn't have their rigs setup to accommodate my weight and trim. It only took 4 dives with that rig for me to decide its a heck of a lot easier to slap a jacket BC on and just 'go dive.'

Can you merely explain why I have no problems with a jacket BC and do with a BP?

I mean, ALL you 'experts' agree that if one HAS a BP and wing - it MUST dive great! I mean, no one, and I mean no one EVER dives a BP and wing and dislikes it, right?

Who's joking who now?

 

[Diver0001]

wetman once bubbled...
To get this back on track let me rephrase a little bit:

is there anyone out there that dives both regularly (after having attained a decent set of skills) that doesnt really find a benefit in either any more? I.e. you dive with either and don't feel like you're missing something? It just has always seemed to me reading here that people only ever go one way and rarely back.

steve

ah, well in that case ....

I think it all depends on your tank(s). With an AL80 I can slap on any old BCD and dive it effortlessly. Having a bp/wing with an AL80 is no advantage at all (for me).

Most of the time, however, I use a heavy steel 106? (15 litre) and the bp/wing is much more stable. Horizontal it doesn't make much difference but on my back or side a jacket isn't nearly as stable as a wing. In fact, I feel *more* forced to remain horizontal in a jacket with this tank than I do with a wing......

I also much prefer the bp/wing in a drysuit. It's out of the way and I feel more comfortable in it.

R..

 

[Dryglove]

Can you merely explain why I have no problems with a jacket BC and do with a BP?

I would say its lack of ability to set the bp/wings up properly for you. It could be your trim and weighting are off or it could be your bp isnt adjusted right......who knows. It could be how you position your self in the water thats causing problems. A lot of little things make a big difference.

As far as a back inflate face planting you in the water thats an easy fix. Dont inflate the wing so much and/or add some weights to the tank to act as a fulcrum.

Its good to see you found a bc to suit you. Enjoy it and dive safe!!

 

[diverbrian]

I am used to the jacket BC and therefore it works for me. It is easy and quick to put a tank on it, close the cummerbund and waist and chest straps and just dive.

The bp and wings are used for my doubles. As was pointed out, my dual 100's are heavy enough that the inflated wings do not force my face into the water on the surface.

So, for pure recreational, single tank diving I will use my jacket BC. (And yes, I find it handy once in a while not to be walking up and down ladders and shorelines without my heavy doubles.) For semi-recreational diving or using my doubles, I use an BP and Wings and wouldn't dive anything else for that purpose!

 

[chrispete]

I started diving a BP/W setup this past spring and (unfortunately) have only put it through about 40 or so dives now. I have on occasion had to wear my old jacket style BC since getting the BP/W and I have to admit that I pretty much can trim out without thinking with the jacket versus still having some minor trim problems (going head-down with a slight roll when not finning) with the BP/W setup. But, I like the BP/W setup better than the jacket and am continuing to iron out the trim issues as I gain more experience with the BP/W setup. I guess the bottom line for me is that I'm going to have to work on getting my trim to the point that I had it at when I was diving the jacket, and then progress from there. The only way to do that is to dive the rig as much as possible, get as much help learning the system as possible, and to use the proper equipment for the dive. My DR classic wings are in storage while I learn using my travel wings on a single tank setup. There's no need, and I feel that it would cause problems for me to try and dive a 55# wing with a single AL80 - tried it in the pool when I first got the BP/W and I was all over the place, the travels have been much more forgiving.

In other words, if you want to learn how to drive a car with a standard transmission, buy a Pinto and tear it up/get used to the setup before buying a Ferrari and complaining that the car makes funny sounds when you try to shift & the repair bills are too high.

(Although if you do happen to have a Ferarri that the gears are torn up on, feel free to put it up on Ebay under the title "Torn up Pinto" then PM me - I know a good, cheap mechanic and I do know how to drive a standard...)

 

[Rick Murchison]

wetman once bubbled...
To get this back on track let me rephrase a little bit:

is there anyone out there that dives both regularly (after having attained a decent set of skills) that doesnt really find a benefit in either any more? I.e. you dive with either and don't feel like you're missing something? It just has always seemed to me reading here that people only ever go one way and rarely back.

steve

I dive both jacket and BP/wing - and Transpac for that matter (a winged harness without the hard plate) - regularly. But not because there is no benefit... it is because there are subtile (and sometimes great) differences that I choose one over the other for a particular dive.
For example, I find a BP/wing the best rig for large steel doubles, while I find a tropical jacket best suited for tropical reef photography.
While I don't automatically subscribe to the "experts' " opinions on gear, theirs is certainly a good jumping off point, and you'll find that top technical divers using steel doubles tend to use BP/wings while top photographers tend to use jackets. My own experience confirms the efficacy of this gear arrangement as well.
Rick

 

[ScoobieDooo]

A very accomplished doubles diver (OMS) had told me that a rather-accomplished marine biologist was diving the OMS 100# bungee wing with the IQ Pak and a single AL80 with no issues such as I experience. However, I experienced an awful lot of 'rolling' to the side when diving. I dove a 6# SS BP and a 6# Koplin weighted STA on my rig. My thinking was that the bungee was going to assist is keeping 'trapped air' t the minimum when diving the large wing.

So what could I have doing wrong then?