Anyone ever have to ditch a BC?

[LAJim]

I ditch my "BC" at the surface all the time diving skiffs, zodiacs, whalers or other very small boats where its better to ditch before climbing back in. Many experienced divers dive harnesses made from a single piece of continuous webbing attached to a back plate and rear-inflation wing. If its necessary to remove gear in an emergency the webbing is cut and may be replaced later for minor cost. I nearly did this one night when a teammate experienced difficulty in heavy surf due to his wing not being able to float a new doubles rig. We were able to pull him to shore without cutting his harness. If your BC is an entanglement hazzard you might consider some changes.

 

[sea nmf]

I did take off my weight integrated BC at about 40' (kneeling on sand bottom) to re-secure the tank.

I didn't think about the WI aspect and immediately started floating up. I held onto the rig, then sort of straddled the tank and held on with my legs until I had the tank secured. I got back into the rig easily once I knew what was happening.

It is do-able if you anticipate it.

I always visualize the necessity of getting in & out of the rig at depth in case of some sort of entanglement.

 

[matt_unique]

I practice removing my bp while underwater. You need to keep an arm in your weight integrated rig to prevent floating up (I dive with a neoprene drysuit). Needless to say, dump all air in your suit to minimize this floating before removing your bp.

--Matt

 

[djanni]

I removed my weight integrated BCD one time last summer to reseat a tank that had come loose. It was in 20' or so of water and me + 3/2mm wetsuit wanted to go up while my BCD with 8 pounds of lead wanted to go down a bit. No real problem, although it got interesting as I fouled myself on the flag I was pulling (my "buddies" were lobstering somewhere ahead of me and not in sight, and I wanted to do it myself as an exercise anyway. One did come back and see me towards the end of my juggling act. )

A couple of months ago, on a solo dive at a shallow site in Maui, just for practice I removed and replaced my BCD with my 5mm wetsuit and 14 pounds of lead. A bit more difficult, but not hard if you realize in advance what is going to happen.

Were I diving with 7mm wetsuit and vest and wearing 20 or 25 pounds, I'd probably move some of that to a weightbelt.

If for some strange reason I wanted to keep my reg and abandon the BCD, I have cutting devices in the BCD pocket, and I could also just loosen up the tank camband and then pull the carry strap over the top of the reg. Just remember, that depending upon where you have your weight, you + wetsuit + reg and tank may be positive buoyant.

Charlie Allen

Yes!
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[String]

The answer to the OP--YES.

Don't purchase or dive integrated systems.

N

Agree 100%

 

[dumpsterDiver]

I've never ditched a tank, but I have become entangled numerous times while solo diving, which has required me to remove/replace the BC to fix the problem. This should not be a particularly difficult skill and I would think it is absolutely essential if you dive alone. The important thing is to dump air from the BC before removal. The last thing you want is to cut the bc/tank free of an entanglement and watch it float away.

I also will keep my weight belt.

 

[fisherdvm]

I did take off my weight integrated BC at about 40' (kneeling on sand bottom) to re-secure the tank.

.

Perhaps someone with more experience at SAC and technical stuff can help me. It seems like, even with a conservative ascend rate, you'd save more air by ascending, and doing the task on the surface, than doing it on the bottom.

My limited experience says - task done under the water will increase your air consumption by at least twice. Multiplied by the water pressure factor, that air consumption might be 4 times at the surface. If you don't use your reg at the surface, of course, all you would pay for is the ascend time, and descend time to get back to square one.

 

[jbd]

You did this in mid water? I'm impressed, I think.

As Charlie99 noted it is a bit of a juggling act but it really isn't all that hard to do mid water.

 

[spectrum]

Perhaps someone with more experience at SAC and technical stuff can help me. It seems like, even with a conservative ascend rate, you'd save more air by ascending, and doing the task on the surface, than doing it on the bottom.

My limited experience says - task done under the water will increase your air consumption by at least twice. Multiplied by the water pressure factor, that air consumption might be 4 times at the surface. If you don't use your reg at the surface, of course, all you would pay for is the ascend time, and descend time to get back to square one.

First needless ascents will make you more fatigued, done enough you can get wasted
with sub clinical DCS or even suffer a hit. The less you expand and compress the gas in your blood the better.

Assuming that surfacing is even an option staying down to solve an issue is good practice for a time when you are perhaps entangled and surfacing is not an option.

On a deeper dive the first surfacing is often the end of the dive. This may mean an inconvenient surface swim or coming up in a location where you are at risk of getting run over.

I have removed my rig to check for a suspected leak and there was nothing arduous or air wasting about it. The time spent down there doing it was just part of the dive. We are talking about a skill every OW diver should have done while getting certified.

Depending on the depth, task and conditions the SAC impact could be almost anything but that's low on the list compared with a unique skill development opportunity.

A dive adage is that most problems can be solved on the bottom. I would not discard the chance to live an object lesson of this principle.

You and your rig want to be near neutral when separated. For that reason I consider 100% weight integration a bad concept if you are wearing much of any exposure protection.

Pete

 

[Peter Guy]

Sawtooth profiles aren't a great idea, though. Better to solve the issue where you are, if you can do it fairly expeditiously.