Warped Dive World Evolution - BP/W Subgroup Mindset

[BoltSnap]

Mike (merxlin),

Thank you very much for cleaning it up. You are right, there is great information here (at least for me) that shouldn't wasted because of hurtful comments (I include myself here).

To ALL,

I really appreciate your patience, cooperation and extremely helpful insights in regards to this matter. One is never too old or too "experienced" to learn something new.

Thank you all!!!!

 

[RJP]

How do you get the air out in the horizontal face down swimming position?

EDIT - Lynn answered better (and sooner) than I did.

 

[Blackwood]

I just grab it and pull up (ie towards the surface). If I'm rotating my wrist, I'm doing it subconsciously.

As long as the dump valve is above the bubble and there is a direct path for the air to flow, it dumps.

In practice, I rarely use the inflator dump when not making my initial descent.

 

[rhwestfall]

thanks RJP!

 

[fnfalman]

I am specifically interested in hearing from SB's BP/W proponents about why you first chose to go the BP/W route? As usual, I encourage everyone who cares to participate in this exchange of thoughts to share, ask questions, flame, criticize &/or rebut, however you please, but I will reiterate; I truly want to know why you chose to go the BP/W route?

I hated the way jacket BC squeezes me.

I want more weight on my back and less around my waist when I do cold water diving.

I like the way the hard plate glues the tank to my back.

 

[String]

I am specifically interested in hearing from SB's BP/W proponents about why you first chose to go the BP/W route? As usual, I encourage everyone who cares to participate in this exchange of thoughts to share, ask questions, flame, criticize &/or rebut, however you please, but I will reiterate; I truly want to know why you chose to go the BP/W route?

Because i got sick of BCDs that didn't fit properly despite adjustments, that rolled around as their harnesses weren't secure, that squeezed you when fully inflated on the surface, with pockets that are practically unusable in the water, with clips that snapped or went soft with use and with clutter all round the front and side area.
Every now and again i have to dive with a BCD in the sea and it reminds me every time just how generic and far from optimised the things are.

 

[James R]

Sas, I contend that when BP/W proponents have typed that "BP/W's are more streamlined than Vest BC's" I have asked; for the link(s) to the studies or data used for that statement typed as if it were fact, why one would type in a way that claims the entire BP/W category is more streamlined than the entire category of Vest BC's, why an anecdotal opinion is not being identified as opinion and other similar versions.

I would not argue that anything is entirely true for every single case. I would not argue that a BP/W is a better option for every diver or every situation, either.

I can show you a photo that I took that will illustrate how a jacket bcd is, in my opinion anyway, not very streamlined. The diver shown here is 5'2 and about 110lbs. Look how far down the jacket pushes away from her. As you can easily see there is hardly any air in it. That knife..lol...she wanted it there and I had argued against it, but she wouldn't budge until seeing the photo. It got moved that evening.

Thoughts?

btw: I took this with a p&S camera & no strobe, plus I never said I was a good photog heh

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Not that I really want to defend jacket BC's, but it looks like part of the problem could be eliminated by proper sizing for a small women. Maybe swap out the big tank with something proper sized for her also, that one seems really long on her.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I did my open water in a provided seaquest jacket BC of some sort. It wasn't weight integrated. There were few weight integrated BC's at the time as they were just coming out.
After doing about 20 dives with rented stuff I decided to get the best thing my LDS had and that was a first generation Seaquest Black Diamond (according to them) so I went with it. It was a big huge thing that looked all tech and I was so proud. After using it for a while I found it to be really bulky, too bulky in fact for simple recreational dives with way too much lift, and not really appropriate for tech diving either with doubles. So it was kind of an overpriced "stuck in the middle" BC.

After getting really obsessed about diving I started frequenting dive message boards. This was way before SB. there were only a handfull of recreational boards out there and one was diver.net (which is still around).
I started reading threads about this brand new concept called DIR and an obscure organization called GUE and all the associated gear they used.
Back then on the west coast nobody used BP/W or much less even heard of one. You'd have to be in the tech community to know what any of that stuff was.
After reading a lot about them I asked my LDS if they could get any of that stuff and they wanted no part of it, so I ordered a bunch of OMS stuff online from Leisure Pro.
I liked it from the start and at first dove singles with a STA and a doubles wing (thats all there was, there was no such thing as a singles donut wing like now), then later I set up an pair of dubs and started using that then got some tech training.

BP/W are mostly an internet phenomenon. Usually divers with a more than just casual interest in diving seek out dive forums to discuss the finer points of gear and diving. As such that's only a small percentage of the global divers. But when you get a small group of obsessed divers together on a board like this of course it's going to seem like BP/W are all the rage when in fact they probably only make up less than one percent of BC systems being used world wide.

To the OP:
I don't know why you're always tripping so hard about BP/W users?
Some people just found something that works better for them.

I don't think you have anything to worry about, BP/W are not going to take over the world any more than DIR or those weird vintage divers will.

Most average recreational divers world wide still don't know what a BP/W is and probably don't care. They just go into their LDS, get certified, get outfitted, pay whatever the price is, and go diving.

 

[James R]

Her BCD (Scubapro Bella) is a size small, and they don't come smaller. The tank is an AL80, rented from a dive op, no smaller tanks were available.