BP/W question

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Jeff Toorish

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Scuba Instructor
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North of Boston, South of Canada!
Hi all,

I've been considering switching to a BP/W, especially when I go to a drysuit. In fact, for the most part, I had pretty much made the decision. Then the other day, while on a dive, a very experienced diver told me he had used a BP/W for a while and switched back to a BCD. He said the reason was too much drag with a BP/W.

I've heard a lot about the advantages of more control, greater stability, etc. with a BP/W, but that was the first I'd heard about such an obvious negative.

Just to complete the picture, I am a photographer, often diving with relatively bulky, slightly negatively buoyant camera gear. I like to stay as trim as possible. But I also like to be able to move in the water.

My question is, what are the negatives of BP/W?

Thanks

Jeff
 
Why worry about drag when you are trying to be vewwy, vewwy still. Even then, a BP and wings has considerably less fabric and the subsequent drag that even a back inflate BC has. I think he was just trying to sound "informed", sort of like me when I taste a wine... "It has a nice nutty flavor..."

The only negative I had with BPs (and I own several) is the harness system. Deep Sea Supply has solved that quite effectively for me.
 
jtoorish:
Then the other day, while on a dive, a very experienced diver told me he had used a BP/W for a while and switched back to a BCD. He said the reason was too much drag with a BP/W.


Plainly... that makes no sense.

Unless he's using this wing and keeps it fully inflated at all times:
maximus-wing-left-bg_0829001132.jpg


That's one of the main draws of a BP/W system. The modularity allows for a very simple, minimalist, streamlined rig.
 
yay for 100 lbs of lift!
 
lord1234:
yay for 100 lbs of lift!

It's helpful for those really long dives...
1000-gallon-vertical-air-receiver.jpg
 
jtoorish:
Hi all,

I've been considering switching to a BP/W, especially when I go to a drysuit. In fact, for the most part, I had pretty much made the decision. Then the other day, while on a dive, a very experienced diver told me he had used a BP/W for a while and switched back to a BCD. He said the reason was too much drag with a BP/W.


Jeff

I have been using a wing for years and hate going back to a jacket! The nice thing about a jacket style BC is that you can feel how much air is in it. At the surface though, if you pump the jacket full of air, you probably won't be able to breathe unless you loosen all the straps. With the wing, the air is all behind you. You can lie back on the surface (with your feet out of the water!) and relax. Underwater, you will have to pay a bit more attention to the amount of air that you are adding because the air is not going to "squeeze" you at all. That said, if you are properly weighted, you should not be adding huge amounts of air to your BC anyway.

Downside of a wing; If you do not cinch the elastics down, air can get trapped and pull the wing away from your body. In this case you will get excess drag and probably more lift than you want. That air will also be tricky to dump. Some wings are just badly designed and require you to contort yourself (with your left arm somewhere behind your head) in order to dump air even under the best of circumstances. Talk to the BC guy at your local diveshop and ask them to explain the differences between different wings. In general, I find it a lot easier to teach students to use a conventional jacket style BC and would consider using a wing to be a little more advanced. That is just my opinion and I know that some instructors teach wings from the get-go.

I say buy the wing and just be prepared to change your diving style a bit. Should help with the photography though because you will have a bit more arm movement and you may find it a little easier to trim horizontally.
 
NetDoc:
The only negative I had with BPs (and I own several) is the harness system. Deep Sea Supply has solved that quite effectively for me.

NetDoc

Can you give me more details about how they solved it? I'd like to set up my BP/W correctly the first time.

And I appreciate your comments.

Thanks,

Jeff
 
They went away from the "single continuous webbing" and went with a velcro intensive harness. Of course, you can still get the continuous webbing from them, but the other is SOOOO much more comfortable and adjustable. Some people have a hard time trying something new, but I am GLAD that I did!
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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