BP/W for starting out in Boston/New England

[fr0stbyte047]

Cold water diving, 7 mm suit... I would get a BC with more lift. Do you ever collect lobsters, crabs, scallops? Picking up things at depth will increase you need for lift.. 35 lbs or so would be what i would want.

Also, I absolutely hated the horseshoe shaped wing and like the donut much more..

I do collect lobsters and plan on going for scallops. But from scalloping videos (Scallop Diving with Boston Scuba (April 15th, 2012) - YouTube), they use a special rope to bring up the bag and for lobsters, I could use a float bag.

It also looks like the Torus is a full circle as well as the DRIS wing, but why the full circle versus horseshoe?

No doesn't make much of a difference for harness. The Hollis harness gets you a few extra D-rings and shoulder pads, but for the other two, webbing is webbing. SS D-rings are D-rings

Is it worth the extra cost or will I easily be able to add on extra D-rings to the other harnesses?

 

[Tug]

For scallops, it all depends on if you're going out with a charter or a shore dive. With one of the local charters, they have a pot hauler on the boat and they have thicker line on the dive flags. Other charters will have you either shoot the lobsters up with a lift bag and still others will have you the the bag off to the flag and haul them up by hand. I myself prefer shooting them up on a bag or using the pot hauler... Less work for myself

Most of the guys going after lobster here just toss them in a catch bag and carry that around with them. No need for any special equipment.


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[tbone1004]

some people like the horseshoes, others hate them. With the horseshoe you have the ability to pack air into one side or the other to offset an imbalance in your rig. I.e. picked up something heavy and it's hanging off of one side of you. The downfall to that is that to equalize the air pocket in the rig or to dump all of the air out, you have to either use the top dump which is a pain, or roll around funny with your head up to get it to equalize. In sidemount I much prefer horseshoes, in backmount the rigs are less likely to get unbalanced so I prefer full circles there.

You can add D-rings and pads to your hearts content to the other harnesses, DIR/GUE crowd advocates for only 3 D-rings, one on each shoulder, one on left hip. Right hip will get a slide lock or more commonly an extra belt buckle to hold the canister light.

Shoulder pads aren't needed unless you are regularly diving in 3mm or less exposure protection and sometimes trilam drysuits with lighter undergarments.
Basic Harness Shoulder Pads - Dive Right in Scuba
I like these to put on the simple webbing harnesses, they are much nicer than the backpack style pads are on the hollis solo harness. Downside is you can't put D-rings on top of them, but again, you typically only have one set of D-rings at the nipple line and these would go right above that.

 

[fr0stbyte047]

tbone - thanks, I think I'll stick with the full circle.

If I were to go with DSS, do you think the 26 would be enough? or would it be better to 35 in case I ever need more flotation?

For scallops, it all depends on if you're going out with a charter or a shore dive. With one of the local charters, they have a pot hauler on the boat and they have thicker line on the dive flags.

Do they provide you with a buoy and string?

 

[tbone1004]

Talk to Tobin, but I'd go with the 35lb for that. 26 could work if you're diving an AL80, but I'd stay with the 35lb in case you go to drysuit and/or steels.

Trilam drysuits should be treated as having 0 inherent buoyancy unlike neoprene suits in case of a flood, and even the crushed neoprene suits don't have a whole lot, so you need a larger wing with a drysuit especially if you don't have a lot of ditchable weight.

 

[Tug]

Do they provide you with a buoy and string?

Boston Scuba does, I don't believe Cape Ann Divers does and Cape Ann a Charters does not.


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[tbone1004]

duplicate, sorry

 

[macado]

I do collect lobsters and plan on going for scallops. But from scalloping videos (Scallop Diving with Boston Scuba (April 15th, 2012) - YouTube), they use a special rope to bring up the bag and for lobsters, I could use a float bag.
Is it worth the extra cost or will I easily be able to add on extra D-rings to the other harnesses?

I recognize that video It's from me, haha.

On our boat at Boston Scuba, we provide every diver a dive flag with heavy duty line. All our scallop dives are done as drift dives, we'll drop you on the scallop bed with a flag so we can keep track of you. Once you finish stuffing as many delicious scallops into your catch bag as possible you tie off your bag to the flag line and use it as an ascent light. The boat will come pick you up and we'll use the lobster pot hauler to pull up your scallop bag.

I have the HOG 32# wing for my singles wing and it has served me very well. Hollis actually makes some very nice wings as well. I have one of their doubles wing. STAs not really needed unless you're trying to add more weight. The HOG and Hollis wings (other wings too) have a roll control built into them that keeps tank very stable

I prefer to use a basic hogarthan harness which is just webbing, cheap and easy to replace and allows you to custom it with as many d-rings as you need. Even diving with a 3mm or just a rash guard, I find it very comfortable.