Problems diving with BP&W

[RU4SKUBA]

I will occasionally roll --to the right and left-- to even out the air on the bladder and un-trap any undesirable air. Now that you're aware of the tendency you can make minor adjustments to weight distribution and you'll adjust quickly.

I also do much less kicking and bring my feet up to act as a dorsal fin would on a fish: "... in stabilizing the movements of a fish or marine mammal, helping to keep it upright in the water as it swims and turns" while letting the current do much of my movement and work. Combined with proper trim this strategy typically returns me to the safety stop with 1600-1800 psi on every dive.

The only downside is you're diving from the back of the dive group.

 

[Antagonist]

I am not using any weight, besides the weight from the back plate. I do recall my shoulder straps being a little loose. I didn't want to over tighten my shoulder straps. Another thing is when I am floating neutrally buoyant I am not level. I float with my feet lower then my head. My fins float. (someone told me that my fins may be neg. Buoyant) How can I fix that problem also?

 

[hudson]

First try moving the tank as high as you can without bumping your head into the regulator every time you look up.

Next, you could try adding minimal weight to your upper cam band or failing that on your shoulder straps. You'll be slightly overweight, but if a small amount of weight resolves the problem it's not a biggie. If it doesn't help, then you'll need a lighter backplate so you can use more trim weight. But with more dives you'll find trim becomes easier, so you may not need the trim weight after all in the long run...so switching backplates right away would be premature.

 

[finnfanrm]

I had the same problem BC trapping air on 1 side stopped using the strap that holds up the BC and that solved the problem as it was trapping the air on 1 side

Regards Richard

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Yeah it seems more likely to me that it's simply the wing trapping air. For example if your right side is dipping, counter the roll forcefully while going slightly heads-up and squeeze the left side of the wing. That should fix it.

I had MAJOR issues with this on a U-shaped wing. I really hated the pronounced air shift. As soon as I tilted a little to one side the air would all rush to the high side and "keep" me tilted. To fix it, i had to tip my head up (an inconvenience) and then the air would "fart" across behind my neck and make noise that I feared would scare the fish.

I had the same expereince with a scuba pro back inflate BC that had large U shapped bladder.

It is not an issue of "stability"...once the air shifts to one side, i was quite stable.. just crooked at a 45 degree angle. I found this effect very annoying since it required a lot of unnecessary body tilting back and forth trying to keep the air on each side balanced.

I much prefer a donut shaped wing. This is all for a single steel tank.

 

[RonFrank]

About the only thing you can do about heavy feet is:

1. Use you leg muscles to keep you fins in position.

2. Buy lighter fins.

I would get your trim issues solved if possible before getting new fins. However most choose fins without much thought. They like Jets cause there buddies like Jets, or they are old school, not necessarily good reasons. Lighter non split fins that I like are Mares Quattro's or Force fins. A good split fin is Apollo Biofin (rubber, heavy) or a lighter fin is TUSA Expert Zooms or Scubapro Twinjets.

 

[txapacheguy]

I felt what the OP described when I switched to a backplate and wing configuration a little over a year ago. I felt "tippy" to the left and right, and generally unstable, especially at rest. What I did feel though was an immediate improvement in my trim, and less drag than with the jacket style BCDs I was trained in. I worked through the issues with the instability simply by continuing to dive the rig. I kept the tank as low on the cambands as possible and had weight pockets for a few pounds of lead on the cam bands, although I cannot remember whether it was the upper or lower cambands.

When I switched over to double tanks early last spring, I felt the same issues with the larger mass of the tanks themselves and the added capacity of my buoyancy wing. Again, after a weekend of diving in open water with the doubles, keeping stable in the water simply became second nature. I have no better explanation besides the fact that I know that my solution involved all the basic stuff like body position and use of my fins to maintain stability.

Antagonist, Please do not become discouraged with your backplate/wing rig. Take a look at the BAUE website in the second post on this thread. If you do not have a crotch strap on your harness yet, put one on there. You might even be able to make one that will meet your needs initially out of the spare webbing left over from your harness. You have already made an equipment choice that will grow with you and take you to almost anywhere you want to go in this sport. Stick with it!!!

 

[DevonDiver]

@Antagonist: What size/capacity wing are you using? How much air are you putting into it during the dive?