Sea Hunt Buoyancy Control Question

[Couv]

This is indeed a great thread...takes me back.

Funny how things are, we did not have the BC to train in, so we did not give them a thought. I learned to dive in the early seventies and although the BC was invented, I had not herd of it. The Fenzy vest, as Luis pointed out, had a little tank attached to inflate if needed. As others have mentioned, we did not consider lack of neutral buoyancy a sin like it is today. If I was wearing a wetsuit it was not uncommon for me to pull myself down the anchor line at the beginning of a dive or do a head first decent, take off a little weight and leave it at the anchor to be reinstalled prior to accent. When I read Nemrod's statement regarding the Skin Diver cover, "Notice his haphazard addition of a single weight." I initially thought he was in error (silly me) but in fact, the twit on the cover has the extra weight on the wrong side of the buckle.

Remember, the BC was invented to compensate for the loss of buoyancy due to compression of the suit. No suit, no need to compensate. I see divers today getting in the water with WAY too much weight, then they use their BC to overcome the extra weight. Once at depth they have to compensate for the lack of buoyancy of the Buoyancy Compensator!

I think learning to dive without a BC added to our (old timers).....what was the term? "Watermanship."

When it warms up a bit (or if you have a heated pool) just for grins, do a training dive with just a tank, backpack and (optional for some) weight belt....be like Mike....you'll love it.

c

 

[Footslogger]

This thread reminds me of how old I am and how long I've been diving. I just found my original "shortie" in the storage shed. Short sleeves/legs, raw neoprene with a metal zipper (a bit corroded and hard to pull these days) ...but BEST of all - - that little "beaver tail" (as we used to call it) that went under your crotch and attached to the inside lower edge of the shortie front with those little metal twist knobs that fed through the metal guide holes. ...Ah, the good old days !!

Now ...if I could just find one of my old orange AirForce/Navy "Mae West" collars, with the black inflator hose and the CO2 inflator. Now THOSE were a real piece of work.

Please ...MORE pictures and stories !!

MJ

 

[BabyDuck]

nice thread, guys. thanks.

in a single al80, i've done dozens of dives without touching the inflator. in the double 95s, fergeddaboutit! i don't doubt it can be done, but i sure can't do it.

 

[Nemrod]

I doubt it can be done in double 95s, we did not have any double 95s, my best buddy had some sweet double 38s. Those were very neutral and made an excellent tank set. We did not think of it being no-BC, there was no such thing as a BC! We did not have a choice and while the BC/wing/etc has it's place, even today with PROPER equipment selection it is easy and fun with a bit of practice to dive Sea Hunt style and it is perfectly safe (assuming the diver can swim and has decent watermanship skills).

This picture is the way it looked it the late 60s. This is how people dived. Those vests are NOT--NOT a BC. They are a CO2 inflated safety vest. They did have a small oral inflator tube for back up to the CO2 cartridge. These were used for surface flotation only and rarely even that. On some occasions some of us were known to blow a little air into the vest but then there was no good way to get it back out--you had to suck it out--underwater!!!!!! Just did not work very well. It could easily lead to a runaway ascent. I was about 100 feet one time, about 18yo and purposely popped the cartridge to see what would happen. There was only a small bubble and hardly effected me at all--until--about 50 feet----zooooooooom. Oh well, I did not die, the human body is remarkably rugged.

I was about 14yo and got put off the boat and the boat moved off about 50 yards and dropped anchor, I was to dive in the "shallow" spot while the adults dived the ledge. Hmmm, I was a good swimmer even then but after my 38 was flat empty I surfaced. Nobody on the boat was paying me any mind. I had no BC--they did not exist yet-- I had no Mae West safety vest, to expensive. I was a bit overweighted, I had a 3/16 beaver tail top and my 38 cf tank. I swallowed some seawater and went down, I struggled back up and swallowed some more water, my fingers counting 3-2-1, lol. I dropped my belt and somehow got back on top, now exhausted and full of saltwater I was not having fun. I somehow struggled to the boat. They reached down and drug me in and sorta asked me "what is wrong with you kid," "cat got your tongue." I was pukeing up seawater and the instructor who was like my superhero told me to "buck up kid" so I did, "what, did you almost drown," no response from me, like duh!!!!!!! I guess I just figured that was all normal and in fact I think it was. My moma bought me this vest after that incident and I was in big trouble for dropping my belt, those things cost money you know:

N

 

[captain]

Even twin 72's are not that hard with out a BC. About 10 pounds negative at the start and about 2 negative at the end. With a 3 mill suit it's even easier.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I remember we got a hand-out which was re-print from skin diver magazine I think. It was a discussion of the pros and cons of the new single hose regs versus the double hose regs. We were taught with single hose regs, but with no pressure gage, no octo, no inflator, just a single hose.. it was pretty simple.


A few years ago, I taught my 8 yr old to scuba dive. We started out with him using a backpack and a 30 cu-ft pony as a primary. He did a bunch of open water dives with no BC and I feel that if you are shallow and have the time and a one-on-one training setting, that you can teach bouyancy control in a more natural way, WITHOUT the BC. A few years later, (after he was certified) and using a jacket bc, the hose ripped really bad and the BC held zero air, neither of us noticed it until the end of his second dive. I suspect that many currently trained novice divers would have had a big problem if their BC completely failed, but it was a minor inconvenience for him since he was weighted just right (and he had a thin suit on).

Another thing that is funny.. the dacor regs all used to have snaps on them so that you could attach the neckstrap... the DIR necklace is VERY retro.

 

[Alex777]

Another thing that is funny.. the dacor regs all used to have snaps on them so that you could attach the neckstrap... the DIR necklace is VERY retro.

 

[Couv]

After my roommate took me for my first day of diving I went to the base library and started reading up on SCUBA diving. According to the first book I picked up: "Stay away from the new one hose regulators. They are complicated, untested and expensive." Granted, it was an out dated book even at the time, but it still makes me chuckle today.

It was good that I read that book though, Roomy never mentioned air embolism or any of the dangers associated with holding your breath while breathing compressed air. I could have killed myself on the very first dive.

c

 

[Gary D.]

nice thread, guys. thanks.

in a single al80, i've done dozens of dives without touching the inflator. in the double 95s, fergeddaboutit! i don't doubt it can be done, but i sure can't do it.

You guys mean like this?

ScubaBoard Gallery - Al_and_I_in_water_W_leslie_Navy_pic - Powered by PhotoPost

It was heavy but we did it day in and day out on a regular basis. For several years all we used was twin 90's.

As far as the book about single hose regs goes it wasn't only them that felt that way. The fastest way I knew of to get booted out of the Navy was to get caught diving with one ANYTIME.

Gary D.

 

[Nemrod]

After my roommate took me for my first day of diving I went to the base library and started reading up on SCUBA diving. According to the first book I picked up: "Stay away from the new one hose regulators. They are complicated, untested and expensive." Granted, it was an out dated book even at the time, but it still makes me chuckle today.

It was good that I read that book though, Roomy never mentioned air embolism or any of the dangers associated with holding your breath while breathing compressed air. I could have killed myself on the very first dive.

c

And which part of that might I ask is incorrect?

And as always the Captain is right on. Not perhaps as easy as a single 72 or twin 38/45/50s, the double 72s make a fine double set for diving without a BC especially with a 3/2 or even the good old 3/16 beaver tail jacket. I got a set of 72s but I am going to break it down I think for this year, shall see.

That is a great pic Gary D., masks are worn correctly on forehead and they are genuine ovals, no snorkels, J valves and obviously double hose regs. The Navy sure knows how to do it right. State of the art I should say. Are those low pressure 95s, those might be different from those HP anvils people have now? N