Very interested in BP/w. Confused/help

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Depending on how well you like your dive buddy, you might want to have a bit of additional lift to give them a hand if they get into trouble

I see this issue raised very infrequently. From my perspective, it is an important consideration. We have a lot of people trying to minimize their wing capacity, we have a lot of people advocating for little or ZERO ditchable lead. What happens when one of "these people" has a BC failure or just really screws up and takes too much lead?

Being able to grab them and get them started toward the surface with a minimal amount of exertion is an important consideration for me. Having a modest amount of excess capacity provides a safety margin.

Like @lowwall says, since the OP has a drysuit, the notion of redundant buoyancy in the form of you/your buddy having a bigger wing is trying to solve a non-existent problem. If any of your wing, your buddy's wing, your drysuit, or their drysuit (if they have one) fails, you already have options.

When diving wet, your point stands better I think: diving wet with too much negative gear can make a wing failure dangerous. Which is exactly why most folks do not recommend diving heavy double tanks with a thick wetsuit. In that gear config, a lost wing can make a diver so negative that they cannot swim upward. And if they ditch weight, then they may soon find themselves in an uncontrolled ascent. However in a single-tank config with remotely good weighting, even the most out-of-shape diver should be able to swim up a single tank, keeping in mind that as one ascends, the suit will help them as it expands. A drysuit handles that case nicely, since you have ready access to a redundant source of buoyancy.

Still, even in that case, the bigger wing argument doesn't seem to work very well. I'm not a tech diver or an instructor, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't think that slapping on a bigger wing to negative rig + thick wetsuit config solves the problem very well. Imagine that you and your buddy both have huge wings. If your buddy's wing fails, they will suddenly become very negative. Hopefully you can go to them, grab onto one another, and inflate your wing enough to allow you both to become neutral -- whew! -- and then begin your ascent. The problem here is that if you and your buddy become separated, your buddy will descend rapidly while you ascend rapidly. You can no longer help your buddy, and you have a good chance of getting bent or embolizing yourself.
 
Hi,

It seems to me that this is a case of “one size fits none.” For cold water dives, a SS plate is perfect; in the tropics, it could be a pain—Al is much preferred.

One issue you might want to check before heading to the tropics is whether the dive boat will allow you to use a BP/W setup. Believe it or not, their are some dive shops that still live in the Dark Ages!

Joe
 
Like @lowwall says, since the OP has a drysuit, the notion of redundant buoyancy in the form of you/your buddy having a bigger wing is trying to solve a non-existent problem. If any of your wing, your buddy's wing, your drysuit, or their drysuit (if they have one) fails, you already have options.

When diving wet, your point stands better I think: diving wet with too much negative gear can make a wing failure dangerous. Which is exactly why most folks do not recommend diving heavy double tanks with a thick wetsuit. In that gear config, a lost wing can make a diver so negative that they cannot swim upward. And if they ditch weight, then they may soon find themselves in an uncontrolled ascent. However in a single-tank config with remotely good weighting, even the most out-of-shape diver should be able to swim up a single tank, keeping in mind that as one ascends, the suit will help them as it expands. A drysuit handles that case nicely, since you have ready access to a redundant source of buoyancy.

Still, even in that case, the bigger wing argument doesn't seem to work very well. I'm not a tech diver or an instructor, so someone can correct me if I'm wrong here, but I don't think that slapping on a bigger wing to negative rig + thick wetsuit config solves the problem very well. Imagine that you and your buddy both have huge wings. If your buddy's wing fails, they will suddenly become very negative. Hopefully you can go to them, grab onto one another, and inflate your wing enough to allow you both to become neutral -- whew! -- and then begin your ascent. The problem here is that if you and your buddy become separated, your buddy will descend rapidly while you ascend rapidly. You can no longer help your buddy, and you have a good chance of getting bent or embolizing yourself.

Your point about the redundancy of a dry suit is understood. The OP also stated that he dove warm water in a 3mm wetsuit. My point was not to push wearing big wings, but rather not to try and wear the smallest wing possible.
 
Hi,

It seems to me that this is a case of “one size fits none.” For cold water dives, a SS plate is perfect; in the tropics, it could be a pain—Al is much preferred.

One issue you might want to check before heading to the tropics is whether the dive boat will allow you to use a BP/W setup. Believe it or not, their are some dive shops that still live in the Dark Ages!

Joe
True, but if you need to dive both and can only have one wing.. then get AL. You can always carry lead. Diverite makes some nice ditchable pouches that are quite reliable.
 
True, but if you need to dive both and can only have one wing.. then get AL. You can always carry lead. Diverite makes some nice ditchable pouches that are quite reliable.
I disagree. My SS plate goes everyplace, while the Al sits in the basement hoping I'll get back into doubles with a wet suit some day. I should probably just sell it.
 
True, but if you need to dive both and can only have one wing.. then get AL. You can always carry lead. Diverite makes some nice ditchable pouches that are quite reliable.

Good plan!

Speaking of Dive Rite, I just saw one of these: Dive Rite’s Hydro Lite.

It looks like a great travel BP/W. I’m pondering giving myself an early Christmas present!
F2EF6294-6E44-4151-8C8C-E86CDFB4EE6F.jpeg


Joe
 
Your point about the redundancy of a dry suit is understood. The OP also stated that he dove warm water in a 3mm wetsuit. My point was not to push wearing big wings, but rather not to try and wear the smallest wing possible.
OK, then I have waxed emphatically rejecting a view you do not hold -- sorry about that. I agree that there is value in baking a bit of cushion into the wing size. If nothing else, some days I find myself in choppy surface conditions, and it's nice to be able to get a little extra buoyancy to keep my face that much further from the water.
 
I disagree. My SS plate goes everyplace, while the Al sits in the basement hoping I'll get back into doubles with a wet suit some day. I should probably just sell it.
If you dive in the Med, you'll probably be in a wetsuit and be using steel tanks. Of course the Med isn't a dive destination like the tropics. For ancient wrecks though, there are some nice dive opportunities. Definitely not fish. I found that I was overweighted with an XDeep Ghost and a 19 cu pony with a steel tank, 5 mil wetsuit.
 
One issue you might want to check before heading to the tropics is whether the dive boat will allow you to use a BP/W setup. Believe it or not, their are some dive shops that still live in the Dark Ages!
I've never seen or heard of this happening. Can you say where this happens?
 
One issue you might want to check before heading to the tropics is whether the dive boat will allow you to use a BP/W setup. Believe it or not, their are some dive shops that still live in the Dark Ages
tursiops:
I've never seen or heard of this happening. Can you say where this happens?
Ditto to the tursiops comment. I have dived in multiple tropical locations, admittedly all in the Western hemisphere. And, I have never (ever) encountered a situation where I was not 'allowed' to dive with my BP/W.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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