No wing on a backplate harness and tank for Caribbean shallow diving -how does this work?

[Bubblesong]

So from some earlier posts and photos i see warm water divers with just a air tank on plastic backplate strapped on and no wing or BCD, no wetsuit, no floaty stuff at all. How does this work, just for shallow dives? Do you eventually float up anyway as you drain the tank?

 

[Brett Hatch]

I should start with, I have never tried this. But I could see it working OK, as long as you don't wear a suit.

If you can weight yourself such that you're about 4-5 pounds negative at the beginning of the dive, you would be neutral at the end of the dive. It would mean that you can only control your buoyancy with your lungs, and you would not be able to become positively buoyant.

On the other hand, I just gotta ask, why? Of all the pieces of gear to shed, the wing is nowhere near the top of my list. It makes life so much easier.

 

[lowwall]

You still weight for neutral or maybe slightly positive at the end of the dive. With no wetsuit that means you are 4 or 5 pounds negative at the start if you are properly weighted. If there's a problem, you swim it up or dump the weights.

Now you know why there was a much greater emphasis on swimming ability, weight dumping, and proper weighting in early scuba training.

 

[lowwall]

Funny. @Brett Hatch and I posted almost the same thing at almost the same time.

Which means it must be right. Unless @Scuba Lawyer stops by to tell us where we are wrong

 

[Open Ocean Diver]

Freedom, include an inflatable dive flag.

 

[happy-diver]

You get in when it's like this

and then it changes to this

even the seal, has hightailed it

then you all need a good wing

 

[Scuba Lawyer]

Funny. @Brett Hatch and I posted almost the same thing at almost the same time.

Which means it must be right. Unless @Scuba Lawyer stops by to tell us where we are wrong

I never tell anybody that they are wrong because that would take away my ability to sit back and watch with gleeful amusement as folks make fools of themselves . However both of you are correct so I'll have to look elsewhere for my jollies.

P.S. Same theory with or without wetsuit.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

It works good with a steel 72.
Before BC’s, plastic backpacks and basic gear was just a fact of life. 1st stages were smaller and lighter like a Conshelf 11 that has a thin yoke and not much to the body. Plastic packs are neutral in the water. Steel 72 empty are about neutral in the water, the butt end floats a little, an average human body is about neutral in the water. So the only thing that weighs anything is the air in the tank which is about 5 lbs and can be compensated easily with lung volume. As the tank empties you get lighter and by the end of the dive you float up. No 15’ safety stops back then you just came up on an NDL dive.

 

[parzdiver]

In warm water, with minimal neoprene and a balanced rig, you can control all of your buoyancy with your lungs. I did a dive once where I missed checking my inflator. Jumped in the water and there was still air in my BC from the previous dive, so I floated on the surface. We deflated, did the entire dive, with a safety stop, returned to the boat and it was only on the surface that I realized my inflator hose wasn't connected.

Most warm water dives I hardly touch my inflator except on the surface. Only problem I see diving without a wing in warm water is floating on the surface.

 

[lexvil]

This is how it was done in the olden days, proper weighting is the key. It’s like walking barefoot, it can be done easily in most places but there are places and time where you need shoes.