What happens if you take your BCD off at depth.?

[Fitzy]

If for any reason you need to take your BCD off at depth 15-30 mters, How do you deal with Bouancy? I have been trying to visulise what would happen if , say for examlpe, You become entangled in Line or netting and you cannot reach behind to cut free. (I wear a two piece 5mm wetsuit , gloves boots and hood with a weight intergrated BCD.)

If i was to remove my BCD i imagine that my body would tend to immediatley want to float to the surface due to all the neoprene. The picture conjurered up in my mind is, me upside down hanging on to my BCD for dear life while trying to cut the entaglemnet free.

Has anyone actually experienced this? if so what actually happens and how did you handle it...

Thanks for the anticipated responses.

 

[mossym]

taking off a weight integrated bc is something you should practise in a controlled environment, i found it very tough to take mine off and get it back on, much harder than with a weight belt...you tend to be floating upwards hanging onto your bcd..much like you said, you really need to pull yourself back down into it...

 

[ShakaZulu]

This should have been part of your OW training??? Yes, your feet do float upwards (if no weight belt, not that bad at 15-30m), just hold onto your BC.

 

[joecad]

If for any reason you need to take your BCD off at depth 15-30 mters, How do you deal with Bouancy? I have been trying to visulise what would happen if , say for examlpe, You become entangled in Line or netting and you cannot reach behind to cut free. (I wear a two piece 5mm wetsuit , gloves boots and hood with a weight intergrated BCD.)

If i was to remove my BCD i imagine that my body would tend to immediatley want to float to the surface due to all the neoprene. The picture conjurered up in my mind is, me upside down hanging on to my BCD for dear life while trying to cut the entaglemnet free.

Has anyone actually experienced this? if so what actually happens and how did you handle it...

Thanks for the anticipated responses.

All depends on the type of entanglement (or other reason for removal). I had a situation where my safety sausage, which is integrated onto my BC, deployed accidentally at depth. I found that in that case, removing, flipping the BC over with tank topside, and holding the tank between my knees left my hands free and left me in a head up posture.

 

[Fitzy]

This should have been part of your OW training??? Yes, your feet do float upwards (if no weight belt, not as bad at 15-30m), just hold onto your BC.

I did go thru the process in my OW course, but that was in a pool at 3mts with a weight belt rather than a weigth intergrated bcd. I am planning on practicing the same process at depth with my dive buddy, who is also an instructor, but wanted some advise from someone who has actually gone through the process at depth. Thanks for the response.

 

[MechDiver]

This is a potential problem area for WI BC's. You could either put some of your weight on a weightbelt, or, in the remote chance you do run into the situation you mentioned (have seen it happen), you just have to hang on and be very careful. This is where a good buddy would be handy

Also, how buoyant your suit is would depend on depth. At depth, you could be much more neutral.

MD

 

[mossym]

This should have been part of your OW training??? Yes, your feet do float upwards (if no weight belt, not that bad at 15-30m), just hold onto your BC.

lot of ow courses just use weight belts, integrated weights can be a whole new matter...

 

[Fitzy]

Yep, practiced in the pool at 3mtrs with a weight belt. never tryed with a WI BCD
- yet.!

 

[mossym]

do it, it's better to be comfortable doing it when you really need to

 

[jagfish]

Also, how buoyant your suit is would depend on depth. At depth, you could be much more neutral.

I have to agree with Mech...
If you are wearing a wetsuit, it will become more compressed with depth and be less bouyant (less of a problem).

For my solo course, I had to doff and don my WI BC about a dozen times underwater, but I was only wearing a 3mm shortie, so it was really no problem.

When I did my equipment swap for DM, I was wearing a 6.5mm full and it was a nightmare. I decided to wear a weightbelt...