Negative Entries - A Bad Idea???

[MidOH]

I'm not super negative going up. Just a light finning gets me going, and my wing will be close to empty. And I'm sure that I can swim up my rig, completely deflated. Which is a nice test to gain some confidence.

I like to fin my safety stops.

Accidentally ended up under weight on one stop, never again. Full up side down, finning hard to stay down. So I err towards being negative now.

 

[stuartv]

Why would someone be diving an unbalanced rig in the first place? With a balanced single tank rig you can just swim it up as you're never very negative even with a full tank. With a balanced double tank rig you might have to ditch some weight, but will still be able to swim up.

What balanced doubles rigs have you dived?

 

[Nick_Radov]

Ever dive a steel twinset? Either back or side mount, they be heavy.

Yes, I usually dive steel twinsets. In salt water with my drysuit and a thick undergarment I have a balanced rig. I am very close to neutral with empty tanks. With a larger twinset I always use at least 30% helium in order to keep the gas weight to a manageable amount. With a smaller twinset I have a maximum of about 15 lbs of nitrox so I can get neutral by ditching lead.
I would never use those same steel twinsets with a wetsuit.

I know a number of divers who are negative with even a single steel. It's fine, as long as you plan for caca to appear.

I wouldn't call it fine, depending on exactly how negative they end up being. Doing one thing wrong and then trying to compensate for it by adding more unnecessary convolutions is a bad plan. It's easy to assemble a balanced rig, so just do that.

 

[mcohen1021]

Negative entry doesn't mean you put on more weight… it means you go in with a deflated BC..... lol such wasted breath

 

[Nick_Radov]

What balanced doubles rigs have you dived?

Double Luxfer aluminum 80s with a wetsuit. Double Pressed Steel LP104s or HP100s with a drysuit and thick undergarments (as well as some other European double steel tanks, don't remember the exact specs). All in salt water. And always with adequate ditchable weight to get close to neutral in case of a wing failure at the start of the dive.
Some divers don't understand what a balanced rig is, or think it's hard to achieve. In reality it's super easy to assemble a balanced rig.

 

[Nick_Radov]

I like to fin my safety stops.

Why?

 

[MidOH]

Why?

So I don't get too floaty and chum a propeller.

 

[rongoodman]

I like to do mine flat so I can fin down quickly if I need to, while dumping any remaining air if it comes to that.

 

[Nick_Radov]

So I don't get too floaty and chum a propeller.

Why would you get too floaty and chum a propeller?

If you're properly weighted then you should be able to hold a safety stop with an empty tank. I understand that shallow water buoyancy control can be challenging but that skill can be learned with a little practice.

The bigger concern here is why would there ever be a spinning prop above divers in the first place? When diving from an anchored boat the engines are shut down or at least the transmission is in neutral. When diving from a live boat the boat is following your surface float (or bubbles) and never directly above. The boat crew will be flying an Alpha flag and warning off any other approaching vessels. And if you're doing a shore dive in an active shipping channel, well you have to treat that like a real overhead environment and plan to never approach the surface until you're in a guaranteed safe location.

 

[lostsheep]

The bigger concern here is why would there ever be a spinning prop above divers in the first place?

Because **** happens. No system or set of techniques is idiot proof because they just keep making better idiots.

A boat tracking your bubbles certainly could go awry. Also, not everyone makes bubbles (obviously everyone should have their own smb) and getting separated from your formation is possible especially with our local viz.

Not arguing against a balanced rig or proper buoyancy control.