What is the other option for diving doubles beside bp/w

[AfterDark]

I've never understood the concept of cutting someone out of a BP/W. I can slip in and out of mine in about 5 seconds; faster than I could cut myself out.

Yeah, that's what the quick release buckle on the belt and cheap plastic buckles on the shoulder straps are for. Some people watch too much TV.

I will add that the D-rings on the old school harnesses when rigged correctly were faster for doffing gear then anything these days.

 

[DevonDiver]

I've never understood the concept of cutting someone out of a BP/W. I can slip in and out of mine in about 5 seconds; faster than I could cut myself out.

The concept of cutting a rig is sound, but more rooted in technical diving activities where attached items (stages, umbilical torches, drysuit hoses etc) all add increasing complexity and more chance of entanglement. Stick a slung pony, drysuit hose etc onto a jacket BCD rigand you can easily find yourself in a postion where releasing QRs won't allow the victim to be as easily removed from their rig.

A webbing harness provides the capability for a cutting extraction, which is a nice fall-back if the victim gets entangled in their kit. Cutting a diver out of the average jacket BCD is an entirely different proposition...

That said, cutting the harness is very much a fall-back solution. As you state, a properly fitted harness will slide off the diver in seconds, with only a single QR (waist buckle) to open. With adequate practice, the rescuer should be able to remove the victim from the BP&W within 2 rescue breaths. If a diver cannot manage that, then they need to re-consider their technique and the fitting of their harness.

 

[beanojones]

I've never understood the concept of cutting someone out of a BP/W. I can slip in and out of mine in about 5 seconds; faster than I could cut myself out.

It's like dressing a dead body. It's easy to get clothes on a live person. But once you kill them, it becomes very hard to get them dressed. It got me caught with the dead body twice.

 

[DaleC]

You have to wait until the rigor mortis wears off; then they become floppy again. You can also make slits up the back of the clothes and then just staple them together - nobody will know the difference.

 

[beanojones]

You have to wait until the rigor mortis wears off; then they become floppy again. You can also make slits up the back of the clothes and then just staple them together - nobody will know the difference.

SB my go to place for scuba info and bodt removal tips.

 

[beanojones]

2. Diving doubles does not necessarily mean backmount. I can't tell from your original post if that (backmount) is the direction in which you are going. If it is, you might be thinking that it would be preferable to have your buddy in a similar rig (or, I am reading a bit too much into the initial post). But, a sidemout configuration may offer a good alternative. It is NOT necessarily technical diving, although it is possible that having enough gas to put yourself into a deco situation ultimately qualifies it as 'technical'. The beauty of SM is that you can pursue it with a variety of equipment approaches, ranging from using a SM-specific commercial rig such as a Nomad, to simply clipping two bottles with deco/stage rigging to a BCD that has some type of chest and waist D-rings, and going diving. I could clip a couple of 40s or 80s on either side of my Seaquest Pro jacket BCD and dive a sidemount configuration it might not be streamlined, or optimal, but it would work. Dive-aholic, in various posts, has drawn a distinction between sidemount diving and diving a sidemount configuration. The latter is what your buddy would be doing - simple OW diving with two bottles mounted on the sides. I don't mean to minimize the importance of getting training in how to dive such a rig, the potential risks of having enough gas to 'get into trouble', or the conseqences of moving tanks from the back to the sides - take a back-inflate rig into the water without a tank on the back and the taco potential is intersting. Rather, my point is there are a variety of options, with broad ranges of simplexity/complexity, and expense.

One of the nice things about sidemount is that you can configure it in so many ways that your buddy may find a configuration that suits him.

One of the things I am working out in my head now that PADI has a "Self-Sufficient Diver" course, is how to make sidemount work without the need for new harness BCs for students. (In general, I think class is where students should be able to try new gear configurations, and new gear, without forcing them to buy it to take the class. We don't for instance require basic scuba gear to be purchased to take the OW course).

Have you tried to sidemount dive the Seaquest? Any thoughts?

 

[beanojones]

Here in the Philippines, there is a very high proportion of divers who use BP&W for single and double tank diving. ALL of the dive shops here in Manila actively sell BP&W and most (I would estimate 60%+) of the instructors use them.

(never been to the PI, though I hear the diving is great.)

I am curious how much this has changed recently and will continue to change. Ten years ago no one could even fathom why anyone would want a 7 foot hose. Now some places stock them.

During the time you have been there, has the percentage changed? Are the number different in the tourist non tech area? Do you use aluminum, steel, or ABS?

(BP/W, I have never seen with my own eyes outside of specifically tech classes. Transpacs thought not common, and not unusual either, though I have never seen a Japanese person in one (that I did not put on them), apparently because the guy who distributes DiveRite in Japan prices it like Poseidon.)

 

[Q1988]

Find an experienced instructor, pay him his due, and hopefully he will take you down the safe and happy path.

 

[DevonDiver]

Find an experienced instructor, pay him his due, and hopefully he will take you down the safe and happy path.

That's what most of the lads teaching in Thailand would do..... and if lucky, the female student might also get some diving instruction

 

[izimm]

Zeagle makes soft pack for double.

When I first started into the tech world I was using my Zeagle Ranger.
It worked very well for doubles as a starting point.
(I would recommend the Ranger or Tech as they have +44 lbs of lift)

It is simple enough to remove the two tank bands and the holes line up nicely.

Since then I have moved to a Hollis Wing BCD HTS which is most excellent.
It is a soft pack but rigid enough....I find I do not need the Back Plate (optional) even after 3 yrs of use.

cheers
izimm