Recommendation of BCD for young teen just starting

[cgvmer]

To the OP.

I purchased dive gear for my daughter age 10 and my son age 15 both were fitted with Dive Rite Transpacs. My daughter is now 13, son now 18, her DR Transpac is a size M and through normal adjustments still able to wear and my son's size L is getting a little tight, but that has to do with the 4 inches he grew this past year. The best part about these was the cost, as they both were ebay purchases at deep discounts. I suspect my son and daughter will soon swap and I'll sell the smaller one.

 

[BVickery]

I think the common recommendation is either get the usual BCD's used or a BP/W type of setup (actual BP/W, Transpac, Zeagle) that allows for a great amount of adjusting. One of the main reasons I am going to a BP/W system over a traditional BCD is the amount of weight I have been dropping. Given I try to buy good gear, I am going to save myself a lot of money in that I only have to worry about replacing/adjust webbing.

Best of luck to you and hope you have a lot a great dives with your daughter.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I have waited over a week for the answers to my questions of the OP regarding the BC experience of the diver we would recommend equipment for, and since those answers have not been posted, now I will address other's subsequent posts;

It is amazing how a person can ask for recommendations for a BC, and is open to all suggestions as he never specified to any particular brand or type, and there is always 1 yaa hoo who has to derail the topic.

As for halemano's rant on vertical diving.. LOL! I'm sorry but i never said anything about a diver should start, end, or all areas in between stay horizontal. I understand that there are some instances where a person will be vertical while diving, rather it be sight seeing, entering/exiting a cave or wreck, or simply wanting to have a broader field of view. That doesn't change the fact that still the majority of your diving "under water" is horizontal unless you tend to teach your classes differently. maybe you should start a new PADI specialty course: Vertical Diving

I'm sorry but you did type ...

Diving is always enjoyed underwater in a horizontal position, not on the surface in a vertical position......

If you had typed a more "open to all suggestions" sentence, YOU would not have derailed the topic. :shocked2:

I just gave a few examples to show that YOUR use of the words "always" and "not" without at least the qualifier "for me" make your above and previously quoted statement quite untrue.

That doesn't change the fact that still the majority of your diving "under water" is horizontal unless you tend to teach your classes differently. maybe you should start a new PADI specialty course: Vertical Diving

Here again, your choice of words typed makes the statement quite narrow in scope, bordering on the tunnel vision usually described as rectal inversion.

The majority of MY diving underwater is not "horizontal" and I do not teach MY classes with a final goal of "diving horizontally." I think the horizontal BS "fad" is due to a very small fringe element of diving that has become overpoweringly loud on internet forums; a cyber diving construct if I may be so bold.

I teach my divers to "most of the time" have their nose lower than their knees. You argue like a candidate for office; painting anything not horizontal as vertical.

 

[MauiScubaSteve]

I really don't understand what you are objecting to or trying to say, but I do think that your opinion of jacket BCs vs BP/W systems is completely worthless, because as you have admitted before, you've never dove with a BP/W. Yet for some strange reason, you seem to have some bizarre drive to continually post on the subject, often with ridiculous ideas, such as the one that a jacket BC allows divers to dive in any position they want while BP/W systems do not. What's it to you?

I really don't understand how you didn't notice that I was simply working with the information given, and not given, to us by the OP, and trying to lead the OP to give us more information to work with.

If the OP had typed that the certified diver in question had struggled in her OW class due to a badly fitting vest BC, then your "somewhat hyperbolic observations" might have seemed more on topic, IMHO.

In this thread I am pretty sure I have made no pro or con statement with regards to any style BC, so you bringing up your somewhat "offended" version of your sadly ignorant comprehension of my opinions with regards to vest BC's vs BP/W systems seems again like something from a candidate for office.

Please quote posts of mine outlining MY OPINIONS of vest BC's vs BP/W systems that you deem completely worthless due to my only having other than vest BC experience in SeaQuest Balance BI BC and Draeger Dolphin BP/W-ish BC.

Please quote any post of mine where I typed that "a jacket BC allows divers to dive in any position they want while BP/W systems do not."

I am of the opinion that you will find no such posts by me, unless perhaps you "snip" something out of context like has been done many times before.

To the OP, I'd definitely let your daughter try a rigid plate/hog harness/small wing. I bet she likes it. I've seen lots of kids in OW classes with jacket BCs that are far too loose really have a hard time both at the surface and in the water.

So, questions have been asked in this thread, regarding the diver in question's training BC and any other BC's she may have used, with no reply.

Yet you seem to use your somewhat hyperbolic "bad OW class BC fit" observations of kids that might "really have a hard time both at the surface and in the water" (at depth?) even with a good fit BC, as the basis for a bet.