Does A BP/Wing really push you face down at the surface?

[Puffer Fish]

You said it, not me. You have already admitted that you do not dive a BP/W, you dive a back inflate. That covers the limited experience. Your understanding of physics has yet to be proven as well. For it to push you, it has to have more air than necessary to stay afloat. Those of us that do dive BP's will agree with Peter, in that it depends.

I will take issue with that.. I have back inflate, SS back plates and Aluminum back plates... and dive with a lot of different tanks and with a lot of different exposure protection.

My regular BP/W setup (HP steel tank, 5mm suit) is a joy underwater and on the surface... I can inflate it till air comes out the over pressure valves and I am upright. But take that same rig, and put an aluminum tank in it, and I have to be very careful where the weight is and how inflated it is, or I get a face plant. Put 4 lbs of weight on one of the tank straps and the problem goes away.

However, I borrowed a 63 cubic ft tank for a shore dive, and to my surprise, it actually wanted me face down in the water. I found it surprising difficult to get upright, even leaning back did not work. I assume that If I had moved all the weight to the back, I would not have had an issue, but was sure not expecting it to be that bad.

I have also seen and used LP steel tanks where you end up leaning back on the surface (which is not fun in big waves).

Rather than say it doesn't happen, it would be better to say it is something one should be aware of, and move weights around as needed to correct it.

It should be obvious to anyone that putting all your lift in back, and then using a buoyant tank, that it's natural position would be leaning forward.

It can be an issue, it is usually correctable and it should not be a reason to buy or not buy a BP/W

 

[halocline]

New Diver here looking to make my first gear purchase. I decided to investigate @ BP/W. Loved the feel, pack-ability, & versatility. I really don't like the restricted feel of a jacket. I visited several dive shops & received kudos for my choice at all but one. Other than the speech about it being "Tech Gear" he felt that at the surface the back inflate tended to push you face down.

Oh sure, BP/Ws and back inflates kill divers all the time. Pretty much every day I hear about another diver who fell asleep on the surface, was pitched face down, and drowned. Similarly, divers using the long hose are strangled by their hoses regularly, and most divers who use unbalanced regulators die when they go deeper than 40 ft.

Just a bit of advice, don't believe everything you hear at dive shops.

 

[tpsde2003]

Wow Thanks everyone. I'll keep to my plans with the BP/W. I never expected so many replies so fast. Now off to the reg section for my next question Integrated octo or not.

 

[Pullmyfinger]

You asked "Does A BP/Wing really push you face down at the surface?"

Not really, only the BP/W haters try to do that.

-Mitch

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

My experience is that it mostly depends on the tank, and your weighting.
I use steel tanks so the slight negative buoyancy helps offset the weight on the diver. The other consideration is how much weight the diver has on, or more specifically, is the diver over weighted.
If the diver is overweighted then more air needs to be put in the wing to keep them afloat, so being that the wing is behind the diver it wants to float up out of the water and the overweighted diver wants to sink, so in that case yes it can face plant you.

I weight myself very light so that I can float on the surface with no air in my BC at all, even at the beginning of the dive with a full heavy tank.
I never have issues with face planting because I use large heavy steel tanks, minimal weight on my belt, and my plate accounts for about 4 lbs of my overall weight which is also behind me.

Some plates allow for even more weight to be attached onto them which will work to keep you even more verticle on the surface.

 

[DivingCRNA]

NO. That is all that needs to be said.

 

[BDSC]

Just a bit of advice, don't believe everything you hear at dive shops.

And don't believe everything you read on ScubaBoard!

 

[ajduplessis]

The culprit in pushing a divers face/body forward is an over inflated wing, nothing else. The diver should be shoulder deep at the surface. The only time you will feel your face is being pushed into the water is because some is trying to drown you!!!

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Wow Thanks everyone. I'll keep to my plans with the BP/W. I never expected so many replies so fast. Now off to the reg section for my next question Integrated octo or not.

Oh my god! Wait 'til he finds out that putting an Air 2 on a BP/W would reverse the earth's rotation (and probably cause the magnetic poles to flip).

They ought to put a warning on this gear or something.

But I do have a serious question, if a BP/W only tends to push you face down when fully inflated, does that mean that the diver "over-inflated" his wing OR does it mean that his wing is too big?

It's seems weird to dive with a wing that is so big that if you use it to it's capacity, it no longer works well.. Why not use a wing that works well through it's entire range of capacities?

 

[RJP]

Wow Thanks everyone. I'll keep to my plans with the BP/W. I never expected so many replies so fast. Now off to the reg section for my next question Integrated octo or not.

Might as well cover "Split Fins" and "Spare Air" as well - go for the "You're Gonna Die Trifecta"

:shocked2: