Seaquest Un-Balance

[MikeS]

I have a Seaquest Balance. When descending head down, such as following the slope of the pool, I can only let air out of the half of the BC, on the side of the bladder where the rear pull dump is. The air in the other half is trapped. What are the options here? I suppose I could descend only with a head up orientation. Is it possible to add a pull dump to the other side?

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Stone]

MikeS,

This is not a flipant answer to your question.

When you are not in a pool you shouldn't have this problem. In open water you will raise your inflator hose and dump every bit of air in your BC to descend. You add just enough air to get neutral at depth, and if you are properly weighted it shouldn't take much. I have been using the Balance for two years and rarely use the rear dump (usually only when completely inverted).

If you still have pool sessions to go, do the same thing. Dump from the shoulder and squat in the shallow end to get the air out. . . then get into swimming position. There should be no air in your BC at that point.

 

[MikeS]

Stone,

Thanks for the non-flippant answer.

I think I got into trouble by thinking I could do something that doesn’t work (i.e. releasing air to adjust for more negative ballast in a head down orientation). Glad it was only in the pool. I may have looked like the sub on Sea Hunt at one point.

What I think you are saying, please correct me if I’m wrong, now makes sense to me. For the most part, you should only release air with a heads up angle of attack. Once you adjust for negative buoyancy, for example to begin the ascent, you can change orientation. Whenever you are entering a situation that could result in unwarranted positive buoyancy, surfacing for example, you should be in a heads up orientation. When adding air to becoming more buoyant, orientation is not an issue.

Well, back to the pool, at least one more time.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Stone]

Mike,

As a beginner, you are probably being taught to descend feet first. This helps reduce vertigo, and if you can descend facing the same direction all the way down, it helps you with orienting on the dive-site with respect to the shore or boat. Even if you are going to fin head-first to the bottom, the best thing to do is dump your air while you are vertical, get negative and under the surface, then get oriented head down to fin toward the bottom.

The rear dump usually comes in handy this way (especially if you are using an aluminum tank): Lets say you are in a normal horizontal attitude gazing at the reef two feet below. Your buoyancy is increasing as you use air, so you need to release some air from your BC. If you try to release air from your shoulder, you have to make your shoulder the highest point of your BC which makes you change your orientation to vertical and puts your fins down toward the reef (not good). To use the rear dump, all you have to do is make the rear part of the BC the highest point by getting your butt up in the air (water) a little. This lets you stay pretty much horizontal and keeps your fins off the reef.

When it’s time to ascend, you should be heads-up vertical because you should be finning to ascend (not adding air to your BC). Once again you will probably only vent air from the hose or shoulder dump. If you are on a safety stop and start floating butt up, that’s another time to vent using the rear dump.

This all becomes second nature really quick!

 

[simonk999]

decending head-up also makes it easier to equalize, so I always go down feet first.