Un-Bungeeing Zeagle BC's...?

[iflyprops]

scubawife once bubbled...
I have a Zeagle Scout. With the bungees on, with a completely deflated BC, my bubbles were getting in and making little balloons. My BC was acting like a parachute. I was having problems on safety stops and my AOW instructor spotted what was happening. Once we took the bungees off, no more issues. I liked the bungees for keeping everything compacted, but overall my diving experience has been much better without them. I've made about 20 bungeeless dives and there is absolutely no damage.

Good to hear! I am just curious why they are there...they just seem superficial.

Thanks!

_____________________

PS: I just blasted an email off to Zeagle asking why they warn against diving without the bungees. I'll let everyone know their answer.

 

[IndigoBlue]

herman once bubbled...
...they make a great place to stow that blasted snorkle some boats require.

Other places I have seen divers stow their snorkel:

slipped thorough the rubber straps of your knife scabbard on your lower leg

rolled up within the safety sausage and clipped to a lower D-ring

clipped with an attached bolt-snap to a lower D-ring.

 

[ScubaRon]

I don't know if this applies to the Zeagle Escape, but often the reason for the bungees is to make sure that your bladder does wrap around your tank (like a taco, which is why some divers call this taco-ing).

A bladder wrapping around your tank does not deflate properly. See page 24 of the Dive-Rite Transpac II manual for a detailed description.
ScubaRon

 

[iflyprops]

I dont think the bladder is large enough to wrap around the tank and pose a problem.

I just got an email back from zeagle. They said that diving without the bungees would not pose a problem, they were only there to help deflate the bladder. So diving without them would only mean that the bladder would not deflate as quickly.

 

[gert7to3]

I took them off my Scout. They tended to sqeeze and trap air into the lower right side of my BC's inflation bladder. There were a couple of times on a trip to Cozumel where I just couldn't get stable. I thought it was the current, or the steel tank, but my buddy said my BC was inflating funny.

I also view them as a possible snagging site.

Finally, another post on a similiar thread noted that if you got a hole in your infation bladder, the bungies would sqeeze the air out the hole.

 

[Brian1968]

gert7to3 once bubbled...

Finally, another post on a similiar thread noted that if you got a hole in your infation bladder, the bungies would sqeeze the air out the hole.

Ambient water pressure will do this anyway. I'm not familiar with the BC in question. Are the bungees that taut that they will do so faster?

 

[iflyprops]

They are not very tight, just tight enough to pull it in and keep it streamlined. The water pressure will only deflate it at depth, and not really on the surface unless only your head is sticking out of the water, even then it wouldn't deflate very aggresively.