vladodessit
Contributor
I came a cross a discontinued Zeagle Zipper BC for my 10yo son.
I've had an issue with BC for him for a while. We tried all different BCDs, but none fit right. He doesn't like jacket styles that seem to be the only option in his size but even those don't fit right anyway. I was about to break down and get him into small BP/W ($$$ and we would need to change most of components soon, he is going to be a big dude, 95 percentile height for sure) when I came around this one. It's basically small horseshoe wing with small soft backplate attached to zippered harness. It fits his short torso just right, he was very excited about it. However, there are few questions. First of all, question of cam bands. This BC for some reason has dual cinch style bands.
On the only info I found for the item
Scuba.com discontinued scuba diving Kidz Gear BC´s and Everything Else Page 1
(scroll down for Zipper BC) it says that BC is designed for use with 13 to 50 cu ft tanks. My son has been using a steel HP 63 that is pretty small, fits just fine on this BC length and width wide. But I am not sure about cinch style bands. I've never seen those used for tank bands and they don't seem too secure, I meas what will happen to elastic part underwater. Are they the limiting factor? Should I just replace them with regular cam bands? Or there is something else I am not noticing and it just won't work? Or not bother and use it as is? I would really like to make this thing work for him. Never had anything that would fit so nicely. And it would just take him to the size where I could get him a proper BP/W setup with backplate that wouldn't be too long or become too short in an year.
I've had an issue with BC for him for a while. We tried all different BCDs, but none fit right. He doesn't like jacket styles that seem to be the only option in his size but even those don't fit right anyway. I was about to break down and get him into small BP/W ($$$ and we would need to change most of components soon, he is going to be a big dude, 95 percentile height for sure) when I came around this one. It's basically small horseshoe wing with small soft backplate attached to zippered harness. It fits his short torso just right, he was very excited about it. However, there are few questions. First of all, question of cam bands. This BC for some reason has dual cinch style bands.
On the only info I found for the item
Scuba.com discontinued scuba diving Kidz Gear BC´s and Everything Else Page 1
(scroll down for Zipper BC) it says that BC is designed for use with 13 to 50 cu ft tanks. My son has been using a steel HP 63 that is pretty small, fits just fine on this BC length and width wide. But I am not sure about cinch style bands. I've never seen those used for tank bands and they don't seem too secure, I meas what will happen to elastic part underwater. Are they the limiting factor? Should I just replace them with regular cam bands? Or there is something else I am not noticing and it just won't work? Or not bother and use it as is? I would really like to make this thing work for him. Never had anything that would fit so nicely. And it would just take him to the size where I could get him a proper BP/W setup with backplate that wouldn't be too long or become too short in an year.
As for the weight pockets: how would it differ from SS backplate, especially with trim pockets? Not arguing, just asking. Oh, and weight belt is always a possibility too if construction turns out to be unstable.
