Looking for a good marker or paint for BCD

[Nianne]

I wonder if you know of a good paint or marker that will stick to the plastic release of my weight pockets on my BCD without being toxic for the environment (I know, it's much to ask), that won't crack when touched regularly and that I can find in a flashy color.

I dive mostly with buddies that I don't know and I'd prefer if the straps were correctly visible instead of black like the rest of the straps (I don't really understand why they don't put another color for the quick release).

 

[Rred]

I don't know of any paint that won't scrape off plastics. But you can get gaffers' tape (similar to duct tape but with a cleaner adhesive) in neon colors, and if you apply it with a little epoxy between it and the plastic, the epoxy bonds fiercely to the tape, so it won't ever come off.

Of course plain duct tape reapplied every year or two may be good enough. Comes in all sorts of colors and patterns now, at least in the US market.

 

[stuartv]

If your purpose is (as it seems to be) making your weight quick release handles/buckles easier for someone else to identify, I would ask why?

If you are diving with a single tank, and you are weighted correctly, you should never need to drop weights. Thus, you should think hard about whether you really want to make it easy for someone else to drop your weights for you.

 

[Nianne]

If your purpose is (as it seems to be) making your weight quick release handles/buckles easier for someone else to identify, I would ask why?

If you are diving with a single tank, and you are weighted correctly, you should never need to drop weights. Thus, you should think hard about whether you really want to make it easy for someone else to drop your weights for you.

I'm not sure to follow your point of view.

 

[stuartv]

If you are weighted correctly and equipped properly, you should not ever need to drop weights. Thus, a buddy should also not need to drop your weights for you. Thus, making it easier for someone else to send you corking to the surface doesn't seem like a good idea.

The only situations where I can imagine someone else needing to do anything to your buoyancy are if you are unconscious or if you are so panicked out of your mind that you cannot think or be calmed down. Otherwise, you can take care of your buoyancy yourself.

If someone else does need to control your buoyancy (i.e. a rescue situation), they should be controlling your and their buoyancy using your (preferably) BCD inflator, or, if you are out of air, they would have to use their own BCD inflator. Either way, they use a BCD inflator to take you both to the surface in a controlled fashion. No need to drop any weights.

Once at the surface, you or your rescuer would need to establish positive buoyancy for you. Ideally, that would be done with your BCD inflator, either using air from your tank to inflate your BCD, or by doing an oral inflation. Again, no need to drop weights. If your BCD has lost all ability to provide buoyancy (say, because the corrugated hose pulled off the elbow or the elbow broke off), then you or your rescuer can just ditch your whole rig. At least, that's how I was trained in my Rescue Diver course.

I'm not an instructor, nor am I super experienced, so if I'm missing something, I hope someone who knows better will chime in and correct me.

 

[Nianne]

In case of a problem, at the surface, I would be glad that my weights could be ditched (or removed and handled to someone or put in the boat if close) easily.
Escpecially in a drysuit since I need a lot of them.

 

[Nianne]

And just a stupid exemple : my last dry dive ended up a wet dive in 4° water because of a leak. I was freezing my ass and couldn't move my fingers correctly anymore.
My buddy had to take of my weights to help me get out of the water because I was lacking stamina and was starting to be in hypothermia.

 

[stuartv]

In that case, why not just take off your whole rig?

If you are properly equipped, the BCD can be inflated enough to float the whole rig, so your buddy would just have to hold it to keep it from floating away until a boat crewperson pulls it out.

If you are just in distress on the surface (and properly equipped), you should be able to inflate your BCD enough to give you good positive buoyancy without ditching any weights.

 

[Moray]

On many boats I've been on,divers are asked to remove gear in the water in order to get back in the RIB. To lighten the lift load for the driver,guests are asked to remove weight pockets first,and hand them up. The pockets then,all get mixed up in the boat. Since many pockets are similar looking,marking them makes them easier to identify lat

 

[Nianne]

I always remove my weight pockets before going back on the boat, I won't destroy my back lifting more weight than necessary.
IF I'm too cold, or feel bad, or God knows what, I wanna have this clip more visible so someone could take them off for me.

Moray says it super weel, I also like when my things looks like my things.
Imagine my surprise when I found my pockets on the boat I work with after been home for two months

Anyway, my topic was absolutly not about WHEN you should lose your weights but if someone had a good paint for a BCD.

So then, I can get a nice drawing on it too And yeah, it's cheasy, but I really don't care, I love customising things.