Bcd filled with water

[The Chairman]

What is "exposure gear"?

Wet or dry suit.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

Wet or dry suit.

Oh, I don't wear those.

Just swim trunks and maybe a rash guard. But I do have the "Underwater Naturalist" card so I suppose even those are technically optional.

 

[The Chairman]

Oh, I don't wear those.

Me neither, but I read about them in a book, once. I say, if you're built like a manatee, you can dive like one.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Calling out the old man in this group just isn't specific enough to be useful for identification.

Sometimes I get water in my BCD, sometimes not. I suspect it's from being at a weird angle when dumping air and trying to keep an eye on students at the same time. I don't notice any on "fun" dives. It's also less of an issue since I switched to a shell dry suit and use that for primary buoyancy control.

 

[The Chairman]

I hardly ever touch my BCD when I'm underwater. I set it and forget it at the very beginning. Rarely, I have to add a touch on the bottom. But I don't ever feel a need to let any air out.

Water is much heavier than air. Every time a bubble escapes, a bit of water seeps in. Those who constantly inflate and deflate their bladder, allow more and more water to seep in. The less you fiddle with it and use your lungs instead, the less water you'll have in your bladder.

 

[OMyMyOHellYes]

The less you fiddle with it and use your lungs instead, the less water you'll have in your bladder.

Draining water from my bladder is part of the safety stop checklist...

 

[inquis]

If the wing is empty and I try to vent, water comes in. If the wing has plenty of air when I vent, it doesn't. Shocking, I know.

 

[Jai Bar]

If underweighted, at the end of the dive one keeps trying to dump air and the result will be water rushing in.

Even if was correctly trimmed at the beginning of dive, the amount of gas consumed can be the difference (That is why it is better to check weights with an empty tank).

Those who say there is no need to use, or almost no need- it depends on the exposure suit, mostly. I may not need bcd at all in summer only using rash guard, and in winter with the same gear plus wetsuit and weights the bcd is a must. Depends of course on thickness/buoyancy of suit. Sure, during dive if trimmed then lungs for small corrections.

 

[The Chairman]

Draining water from my bladder is part of the safety stop checklist...

I usually drain my bladder while swimming.

Even if was correctly trimmed at the beginning of dive, the amount of gas consumed can be the difference. That's why it is better to check weights with an empty tank.

There's a better way to check weight. Instead of using your forehead as the level, use the top of your head. If your head is just awash, with a normal breath, then a simple exhale will start your descent. On the way down, a simple inhale will stop it. Breath in to ascend, breath out to descend... just keep your glottis open.

We all tend to pause between breaths. You can pause at any point, including lungs full (floaty), lungs empty (sinky), or somewhere in the middle (neutral). My point of pause changes as my buoyancy gets lighter.

 

[boulderjohn]

If the wing is empty and I try to vent, water comes in. If the wing has plenty of air when I vent, it doesn't. Shocking, I know.

This is true,

but

many newer divers do not fully understand that air wants to go up, so if there is not a whole lot of air in the BCD, it will only be at the highest point in the bladder, and it is possible that the highest point will not be the point from which the diver is trying to dump the air. You see this frequently with divers pressing the dump button on the inflater hose while it is down by their chests and wondering why air isn't leaving the BCD.