in a BC quandary

[GreenDiverDown]

 

[Zagnut]

I bought my Ranger BC after only 5 logged dives(and a lot of reading up and trying on different BCs at shops). I used 3 or 4 different kinds of BCs during my OW class and renting after I was certified(all vest style). I love my back inflate and I have had no problems adjusting to it after learning in a vest style BC. I'm a rec diver I don't seem to have any real problems with positioning. I have no problems maintaining an inverted vertical(head down/feet up)position using only my breathing to postion my face inches above the reef and not touch coral. To be honest, I was somewhat concerned about the faceplanting issue before I bought the BC, but I really haven't had a problem with that either. I only use enough air to make me positively buoyant while I'm at the surface and it's not enough air to "plant my face". I really haven't had to fight my BC in any position, Whether it be horizontal-face down or face up, or vertical-inverted or otherwise( I tried all these positions to see how well my reg would work in the different positions, which BTW, it breathed quite well in all positions). I think my back inflate makes a great rec BC. The Seaquest BCs are fine BCs also. In fact, I almost bought a Pro QD instead. The only reason I didn't was that the LDS wanted an arm and a leg for it and the pockets were hard to access while wearing the thing. Looking back, I'm glad I purchaced my Ranger. In my opinion, the back inflate BCs give your arms and torso more freedom of movement. The Ranger does take on a good bit of water if you leave the dumps open too long underwater, though, and can get heavy for whoever tries to lift it into the boat. Thanks for the tip on expelling the water from your BC at the surface, Warhammer. I didn't think of that one. On my recent trip to Belize(see my trip report in the Central and South America Travel section), a couple of times I had some trouble maintaining 15' at my safety stop due to the surge washing me toward the surface. I let my BC take on water to help keep me down and when I handed my BC the crew on the boat, they had a helluva time heaving that thing into the boat! I'll have to try your "inflate then dump" method. Might keep the boat crew from getting a hernia.

 

[Warhammer]

I believe we are taking about 2 different things, Zagnut. Try this next time you dive your Ranger. Don't inflate it after you reach the surface(***Stop I don't mean for you to do this if you need the inflation to keep you afloat.). Notice when you get out of the water, there should be a pretty good stream of water flowing from the Ranger. This water will be coming from the grommeted holes in the bottom of the pack that holds the bladder. That's the water that I'm refering too. By adding air to the bladder at the surface you can effectively force this water out. I hadn't really ever paid much attention to it, but it's amazing how much there is if you look for it.

I've never really had a problem with getting water inside the bladder. Some times there will be a little, but it's usually minimal if any. But I suppose you could purge some of it by inflating the BC and dumping it via the rear-bottom dump, at least what's on that side of the bladder. Guess if you did a summersault on the way up you could get it all. There's a new skill to try!

 

[Zagnut]

Fill the bladder to force the water from the folds of the BC. Yeah, on my trip there were times that the waves were 6 to 8 feet and it would really swish you around. It sometimes created a problem maintaining 15' at the safety stop and on just about every dive we did, it made it difficult to descend for about the first 10' or so. Once we got down below the surge, descent was normal. I mean my weight setup was fine(16 lbs.) through the rest of the dive. It was just those first ten feet. A couple of times I held the air release button down to let some water into my BC to see if that would help get me get down, and a few times I just had to dive down head first and fin myself down until I got below the worst of the surge.I figured with 44 pounds of lift, I had a little room to spare in the bladder. On the times I had water in my BC, when the boat crew would hoist up the BC and tank(they had us take them off and climb the ladder without them), I would pull the dumps at the bottom of the BC to drain it. My Ranger has a bottom dump on each side of the bladder( I guess because it's a newer model..It seems like TexasMike was telling me his Ranger only has one bottom dump also). Thats why I was wondering if maybe inflating the bladder most of the way up while at the surface, and then pulling both bottom dumps might purge some of the water with the pressure of the air as long as I let off the dumps before the air pressure was gone from the bladder. Really the most effective way to get down past the first 10' was just to turn down head first and fin down to below the surge. I guess that would be the way to go in that situation rather than try to add weight to the BC by letting water in. I made sure to partially fill the BC with fresh water and then dump a few times after each dive. By the way how was your trip?

 

[jackdav]

Your shop is the closest one in the valley to my house ( I live up by Pinnacle Peak Road & 39th ave). I have been over there 4 or 5 times. Seem like really good folks working there .... met one guy named Franky and another who I think was named Randy (Long blonde haired surfer-looking fella .... really decent-seeming guy, too). I like the shop and the people. Do think their air is clean?

I'll ask after you next time I visit there.

Best Regards,
Jack

 

[GreenDiverDown]

 

[GreenDiverDown]

 

[Zagnut]

When I tried the adding water thing, I didn't add water to my BC during my safety stop at the end of the dive, I added it at the beginning of the dive when trying to get below the first ten or fifteen feet(I guess in my first post I said I added it at the safety stop, but the water was already in my BC at that point). After I got below the surge, I would still sink with my lungs full of air, so I guess I figured I had enough weight. I actually had to add air to my BC to reach neutral bouyancy at that point. As far as being winded goes, I never felt winded at any point before, during, or after the dives. I run three miles every day(except on weekends), do crunches and weight training, and I'm in pretty good shape. I felt pretty relaxed through the dives. I mean I was excited to be diving a reef, but I don't think to the point that it greatly affected my breathing, so I'm sure that wasn't my problem. I thought about that water being weightless in water thing, but with the waves that size I wanted to get below the surge and away from the boat. I guess my reasoning, although flawed, was that as I finned down head first, I pulled the bottom dumps and made sure I held them open until the bubbling stopped and water entered the bc thinking the water would force any trapped air out the dumps, which were at the highest point in the water. The reason I didn't do this with the air release on the power inflator from an upright position was because without finning, I still had trouble descending even after the bubbling stopped. I knew head first was not good but, I guess I just wanted to get down below the boat and the surge. After I got down to about 20 feet, I would then continue in a feet first position. Actually, I didn't have to go head first on every dive, just a couple of them, but even when I could get down in a feet first position, it was like it would barely work if it worked at all, until I got down to about 10 or 15 feet,then descent was normal. The fact that once I got below the surge, I would sink even when my lungs were full unless I added air to my BC made me think I had enough weight. I mean I didn't drop like a rock or anything, but I still sank with my lungs full. I added air to my BC for the duration of the dive, and then toward the end of my dive and at my safety stop, I would let the air out to maintain neutral bouyancy as needed.

The problem I was having, with my safety stop,(and it was mostly on the days with the worst waves) was that when a wave would pass overhead, it would kind of pull me toward the surface. I could exhale my air to go back down so I was neutrally buoyant, but it's like, when the waves would pass, they would kind of churn me toward the surface. Since I would still sink with my lungs full, unless there was some air in my BC. I assumed I had enough weight. So do you, Stephen, or any of you other veteran divers, think more weight would keep me from churning so much in big waves? I would think that a 50 pound object, for example, that is neutrally buoyant would churn about the same as a 100 pound object that is neutrally buoyant, wouldn't it?...them both being neutrally buoyant. It seems like mass would be the deciding factor in that situation and not weight. Should I have added a little more weight and countered it at depth with a little more air in my BC? I just thought it was strange that once I got down past 10 to 15 feet or so, I felt properly weighted and had no problems with buoyancy control or descent. Have you heard of any other people who have experienced this or am I just some kind of freak or something?

p.s.

I guess more weight would have at least insured I would have sunk quicker and wouldn't have had the problems with the first few feet of descent. I don't know if it would have solved the problems I had with the surge when the waves were bad, would it?

 

[Warhammer]

Originally posted by Zagnut
By the way how was your trip?

Trip was great! The report is up on my site, if you care to read it. Be patient for the pics to load though, I haven't had a chance to downsize the thumbnails.

 

[seaangel]

One thing only comes to my mind; Love my ScubaPro Classic Plus.

Bottoms Up....Bubbles Up!!!
Cindy