How much BC lift?

[SteveFass]

Hi all. Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm tring to buy my first BC and am stuck on figuring out what the minimum amount of lift I should look for in a BC. I'm looking at all the smaller back inflate models, like the Sequest Balance, Genesis Tropic, Aries Reef Rider, et. al. In a size Medium, most of the BCs in this category only have a lift of 26 lbs (as stated by manufacturer).

I think the most demanding (weight-wise) I'd be for this BC is have a single steel tank, and wear a 5mm-7mm suit. If the steel tank is 9 lbs, and I carry 14 lbs, and the BC has an inherent negative boyancy of 2 lbs, and I carry a light and/or a camera that weighs 2 lbs - that adds up to 27 lbs and leaves nothing for the weight of my fat head and a few lbs for some positive boyancy. And the manufacturer's stated lift may be too high by a few lbs.

Is my reasoning sound? I think my desired use is pretty modest, so how can so many BCs have a bladder too small for me? Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[ScubaCarl]

Steve are you looking at getting a cold water BC (below 70F) or a warm water BC(above 70F). The three that you mensioned are all warm water BC's in my opinion. but your description sound more like a cold water setup.

 

[dilligaf368]

Hi all. Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm tring to buy my first BC and am stuck on figuring out what the minimum amount of lift I should look for in a BC. I'm looking at all the smaller back inflate models, like the Sequest Balance, Genesis Tropic, Aries Reef Rider, et. al. In a size Medium, most of the BCs in this category only have a lift of 26 lbs (as stated by manufacturer).

I think the most demanding (weight-wise) I'd be for this BC is have a single steel tank, and wear a 5mm-7mm suit. If the steel tank is 9 lbs, and I carry 14 lbs, and the BC has an inherent negative boyancy of 2 lbs, and I carry a light and/or a camera that weighs 2 lbs - that adds up to 27 lbs and leaves nothing for the weight of my fat head and a few lbs for some positive boyancy. And the manufacturer's stated lift may be too high by a few lbs.

Is my reasoning sound? I think my desired use is pretty modest, so how can so many BCs have a bladder too small for me? Thanks for any advice you can give.

Steve, to add my voice to it......... Think of it this way: If You are adding weight to the weight belt to hold Yourself neutral bouyancy then wouldn't stand to reason that all You need is a few pounds of lift from Your BC? I understand that You are using a Wet Suit and when it is compressed at 1/2 the volume (33') then You would weigh about 1/2 the weight that You add to the belt. So it would follow in the event that Your suit would decrease that there is no Bouyancy then the BCD would only hold the weight of the weight belt. A total of 14lbs with the weight of the light.
I have dove wetsuits and believe me when I say that You will never be at depth where the suit is crushed that much or You would be very, very cold. Max. depth for a new "Basic" diver is 60' so the lift You would need would be about 20lbs. Lifting an anchor or boat would require a little swimming....B----

 

[Mandy3206]

if you're adding weight with a camera or light canister, then you can substract that weight from your belt and acomodate your weight so you only need a couple of pounds of lift.

I only got a 45# bladder, and I doubt I'll ever use more than 10# of lift, at least with a single cylinder set up.

If I ever get to use doubles, then the 45# may get full use.

I used a 35# jacket style for years, and never filled it with more than a couple of bursts from the power inflator, it was empty most of the time due to my playing with the belt depending on the gear used on the dive (usually +/- 2# diference in the belt)