What a bunch of baloney. When does the diver typically need all the bouyancy of the BC? Answer: at depth..... My tank holds about 8 lbs of air, so at the start of the dive I need to be 8 lbs "too" heavy due to air alone. When I am 100 or 200 ft down my wetsuit is crushed very thin and I loose a lot of bouyancy (maybe 12-18 lbs?) if the water is cold. I sometimes carry objects that are negatively bouyant like a scooter, bag full of lobster, speargun, metal pole spear, a lobster net etc. these all can add negative bouyancy that needs to be compensated for and really can't be assumed to always be available to provide weight during every dive.
What the heck is wrong with having the wing nearly fully inflated at depth?
Shouldn't the Bc/wing be reasonably comfortable at depth when inflated?
Also, if someone is using a 30 lb wing and never needs to inflate it anywhere near capacity at depth, then why aren't they using a smaller (say 18 lb lift capacity wing)?
I picked a 30 lb wing because it is the absolute smallest lift I felt safe with, don't most people do the same thing?
But if you are getting to the stage where you are fully inflating a 30lbs wing - would it not be wiser to go for 45lbs?
I guess I just subscribe to the "room for error" school of thought, and would rather have some lift in reserve, especially if I'm going to be picking up weight (lobsters...) at the bottom.
I'm not going to start making calls on your figures, as I'm not really sure how much buoyancy one loses at 100 - 200ft (12 - 18lbs seems steep, but then, I've never tested it). It just seems to me that being at depth with a fully inflated BC is pushing the limits, sure, you can ditch weight, but why not have some lift to spare?
The only time I fully inflate my BC is at the surface, though, most of my diving is in the tropics (though I am not a newcomer to cooler temps - 14 degrees C has been done many times, though that is hardly "cold" compared to what some divers here do...), I rarely need any air in my BC, and use 1lbs with no wetsuit, or 2 lbs with a 2/3mm, and 8lbs with my 7/5mm semi dry.
Though, please, shoot holes through my posts, because if my ideas are wrong, I want to know.
Z...
