n00b trying to sort things out.

[rollerboi]

I have been reading over the DIR and Hogarthian sub-forums, and this aspect/philosophy of diving has caught my interest. I hope you don't mind, but you folks seem to be one of the more knowledgeable and helpful people on these forums. I've a few questions that hopefully you can either help me with, or point me towards the appropriate threads for review. I'm feeling quite overwhelmed with the sheer amount of info out there and don't know where I would find a DIR diver near where I live in Utah whose brain I can pick, let alone a GUE-F class. I'm in Utah County.

I've just completed my PADI OW certs, and feel that I need more work on my buoyancy and trim. My OW's were done in a 98-degree crater with no wetsuit and a full jacket BCD. It was pointed out that my feet have a tendency to descend, and I tend to dive vertical. Very bad. Money is an issue, and I'd like to get the gear I *need* first.

My wife and I are planning to dive in Cancun in December, but I've also got a desire to get more local dives in, as well as other inland dives and the occassional coast dive. Due to the great variety, I'm not sure if my first purchase should be a wetsuit or a BCD, in order to nail down my buoyancy/trim. I'm focusing on single-tank dives for the time being.

Looking at BCDs, the BP/W's really hold an appeal to me, except for the fact that there's such an overwhelming variety out there. I don't know my head from my tail, let alone what kind of BP/W I should buy. And from some of the comments, it sounds like the type of wetsuit I dive will affect the kind of BP/W I should get?

I guess my head is just spinning from attempting to absorb all this information a little too quickly. Any beginner's help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Some of the other informative threads here have dead/outdated links to what seemed to be excellent essays or information sources which is no longer helpful.

At this point, I'd just like to start things off right.

 

[cool_hardware52]

My wife and I are planning to dive in Cancun in December, but I've also got a desire to get more local dives in, as well as other inland dives and the occassional coast dive. Due to the great variety, I'm not sure if my first purchase should be a wetsuit or a BCD, in order to nail down my buoyancy/trim. I'm focusing on single-tank dives for the time being.

Looking at BCDs, the BP/W's really hold an appeal to me, except for the fact that there's such an overwhelming variety out there. I don't know my head from my tail, let alone what kind of BP/W I should buy. And from some of the comments, it sounds like the type of wetsuit I dive will affect the kind of BP/W I should get?

I sell BP&W's, but I still recommend getting you own exposure suit as a first purchase. Having a suit that fits, and is appropriate to the conditions is a big help.

This will also allow you to determine how buoyant the suit is. Exposure suit buoyancy play an important part in determining how much wing lift you need.

Good luck with your research, there is a wide range of choices available today, and that's ultimately a benefit to the consumer.

Tobin

 

[halocline]

I agree, your first purchase should be a wetsuit for the temps you'll be diving in. If you're diving in warm water (not 98F, though!) consider a basic 3mm suit that fits you really well. This will be perfect for your caribbean trips and could work for any local diving with temps down to the low-mid70s depending on your cold tolerance.

Don't sweat the difference between the BP/Ws out there. Everyone's got a favorite; this means they're probably all pretty good. Personally, I think it's pretty tough to beat the DSS single tank rig for price/quality, and it's especially good in warm water situations where the weight of an STA is not desirable.

BTW, if you're going to Mexico for a dive vacation, I would strongly suggest you forget about Cancun and go straight to Cozumel. It's about 100 times better, and you can still fly to Cancun (many people do) and take a short bus/ferry to get to Cozumel.

 

[kobewan]

I agree...as a new diver,Cozumel went a long way in feeding my dive habit compared to the flat featureless plain I dove in Cancun....

 

[rollerboi]

Thanks, guys. I've been looking at 3mm shorties, but may just see about getting a long suit instead and trying out my cold tolerance here in Utah. *grin*. How much of a difference does the suit make when buying wings? I can easily see myself switching from a 3mm suit to a 5 or 7mm suit for coast diving (we visit California and Oregon more often than we do Mexico..).

I'll actually be staying at a relative's house on Isla de Mujeres, and have been in touch with Ben at Mayan Aqua Dive in regards to our diving arrangements. I'm looking forward to the diving, my wife's still on the fence. *sigh*.

At this point, I'm looking to equip myself with the right gear and practice my skills as much as I can, so I can then focus on helping my wife when we get to Mexico. She's against me spending a whole lot of money on this.. *wry chuckle*.

 

[Quarrior]

For diving in the warm waters a 3mm is just fine, short or long. Personally, I'd get the long because it will protect you from stingy things.

In the lakes and the left coast I'd go with a 7mm. As for the difference in bouyancy between the 3mm and 7mm, it is huge. But remember, once you get down to about 80ft or maybe a bit more, there's not much bouyancy left in that 7mm, it's been crushed by the water pressure.

 

[MSilvia]

While the difference in buoyancy between a 3mm and 7mm suit can be quite significant, especially on deep dives, any diving you'll do as an OW diver should be served well with a wing in the 30# neighborhood. It's a good general purpose single tank wing size, and will work fine for most shallow to moderate depth dives. It'll also save you from having to do too much overthinking. It'll be adequate, without being overkill.

 

[TheRedHead]

Get a 3 mm full suit. The reefs in Coz are convered with nasty stinging hydriods which create a god-awful, puss-oozing, equisitely itching rash.

A lot of them are colorless and you don't see them until you bump into one. Then there are the mats of tiny jellies floating around....

 

[David P]

If you want to get your ear bent and learn LOTS about deciding on what size wing to purchase, talk to Tobin.

 

[TSandM]

There ARE a lot of BP/W choices out there, which is great! It means there's competition, and people have to manufacture a good product at a competitive price.

As my reg tech told me some time ago, there really isn't much if any BAD scuba equipment out there, because the liability of building something that performs poorly or is unreliable stops companies from selling bad gear. So, with BPW setups, you're really looking at lift, which is dependent on the tank/exposure protection combination you're using, and shape of wing (which is more important with doubles, I think), and then price and customer service.

I frequently recommend Deep Sea Supply's singles setup. This is because it's simple (no STA), well designed, well-priced, AND Tobin will work with you to make sure you are getting the combination of plate and wing that will serve YOU best. He won't even sell you a setup until you've given him enough information to be sure you're ordering what you will be happy owning.

I think I gave you a link a while back to a GUE instructor in Arizona, which admittedly isn't close to you, but is the best I could do. I also said my Fundies instructor will travel at very reasonable cost to give a class, if there is a quorum of students. Failing that, should you want to come and attend one of his Seattle classes, which are about every other month, it is almost certain that we could find you housing, tanks and weights for the class.

As far as working on your own until you can find some good quality advanced instruction, you can work on your trim yourself to some extent. The key is to be still. Get underwater, and as horizontal as you can, with your body flat and your knees bent. Stop moving (no finning!) and see what happens. If you rotate feet down, try taking some weight off your waist and moving it up your body. You can do this with weight pockets on your cambands, or even an ankle or tank weight around your valve. Your goal is to be able to stop moving and stay nicely horizontal. Once you can do that, you can begin to work on a sort of modified flutter kick, where you propel yourself almost entirely from ankle movement.

It will most likely take a while to sort this out, especially if you don't have any guidance or feedback, but it will be well worth it in terms of comfort and efficiency underwater.

Good luck with it all, and let me know if I can help in any way.