First dives in BP/wings

Seems to be a lot of these posts lately!

A bit of backround on me so you can judge my evaluation better... I'm a new diver (3 months and about 20 dives) and the first 10 of those dives were in nice warm clear water (sigh...) I felt to some degree like I had to start over learning bouyancy control for the colder water here! Every time I get out there I notice I'm improving.

All of the BCs I've used so far have been rental equipment.

The new toy (Halcyon Pioneer 27# wing & SS BP) arrived early last week and I got to spend a day inspecting the various parts, putting it together and learning that adjusting tri-glides wasn't going to be one of my favorite activities. It all seemed to be fairly well made, although the fabric on the wing was not as thick as I imagined it. (strange those mental images!) After a bit of help from this board I had it set up pretty well.

Yesterday I went to Millbrook to try it out! I wandered down there with MikeS and met O-ring, divernva and kstakem. All from scubaboard and none of whom I had met before. It was very cool to meet them all and they were all very nice. I quite enjoyed diving with them and look forward to doing it again!

Ken helped me out in making a few small adjustments to the harness and showed me the correct way to position the tank.

I have to say that I really like the way it holds the tank to your body. It is exceptionally stable, even on land. I had never used a BC with D-rings on it so they were pretty nice as well. (nothing specific to BP/wings)

I hopped in the water and the first thing I noticed was I wasn't push face down in the water. But then again I usually lay on my back when 'resting' in the water.

First dive:

It was very stable. At first I wanted to kill the %^@#er who just put that string on the rear dump. I had 5mm gloves on and it seemed it took many many reach, circle and grabs before the string appeared in my fingers. :upset: But there must be some trick to the technique I can't explain 'cause by the end of the dive it DID always seem to appear in my fingers. (Thanks for the hint UP!) I liked the fact that the inflator was right there on my side where I could find it. I didn't find that it impaired my dumping but before I got the knack of grabbing the string I did have to change to a more vertical attitude in the water before dumping. Another that wasn't quite what I was expecting is that the inflator really pumps air pretty quickly. So quickly I'd feel the hose shudder when tapping the button. Not sure why I thought it would be slower.

Impressions at this point:

It is rock solid stable. Maybe the should only severely torture the guy who decided just to hang a string off the rear dump. Trim and streamlining? I didn't notice a big change, I was too busy looking for the elusive string. Overall it was good but not exceptional.


Second dive:

Much more relaxed on this dive as was also a bit worried about my weighting on the first dive. (turns out I was just about right - added 1#)

Ah-ha! The string ended up in my fingers every time! On this dive I noticed that the BP/wings did help me keep horizontal trim. Not that I was able to always stay horizontal (I'm still learning) but it did seem to aid in the attempt. I took out another new toy to play with on this dive (reel) and quite liked its positioning on the rear crotch D-ring while in the water. I went and 'penetrated' the bus at Millbrook ut: That was good fun. I also got to practice OOA drills for the first time with a long hose. The extra room was nice.

Overall I think I'll be happy with it. I don't think I'd say it is 'far superior' to the other BCs I've used (with the exception of in the stability catagory). There are a lot of little things I like and it does make proper trim a tad bit easier. I think it will be a good first BC.

Now... To get back out and master my bouyancy!

Glad you liked it. Keep working on that trim and bouyancy and it will come pretty quick.

Good luck

Chad

... good meeting you the other day, and glad you had fun. You're always welcome to give me a call if you plan on making the trek out to Millbrook.

As for leaving the float off the dump valve, one less entanglement factor. Imagine if the float got caught, as you swim away the air dumps from your wing. Not a good situation... wing dumped, sinking, and looking to untangle the float. If you're creative, you can probably come up with a low-profile way to help find the string. Or... Just keep working with the dump, you'll learn to catch the string in a few tries.

Ken

I was just curious....

Has anyone ever heard of the "float" on a rear/lower dump string ever getting caught up/snagged, and then dumping a wing? That would really S*ck not to be able to find that wing dump string if you had to in a big hurry. On the other hand... an unexpected total dump could be bad also.

I learned (was certified OW with a bp/wing), and to be honest....
I think I should have received extra credit.

It was much more difficult for me to do the same drills as the rest of my class. I was stubborn, and determined. I think most would have become frustrated and given up on the BP/wing setup when first learning to dive. Honestly... I could not recommend it to a beginning/new diver. There are many more things to deal with when using a long hose, bungied backup and crotch strap/harness, etc.. Task overload is right there when going through some of the doff donn drills.

The BC removal at surface was much more difficult with my BP/wing than the rest of the class using regular jacketed BC's. If you do not remove the bungied backup in proper order and reinstall the bungied backup in proper order.... you can easily cross/tie up your long hose when reinstalling your bp/wing. I did it... and had a real problem right after going to my "lost reg" drill.

Also remembering to clip off the primary before removal of the bungied backup. And clearing your waist belt of the long hose before you attempt to secure the harness waist buckle, was something I found was important.

Not having any adjustments available in the harness... makes doffing and donning at the surface a challenge. Certainly required more time than the rest of the class. Lots of pool practice at home.... was the only way to get it down so that it resembled smooth. I intentionally loosened my harness the day of that drill. I normally wear my harness VERY tight.

Then there is the removal/reinstallation of your weight belt at surface.... not a problem? Well it can be if you have a crotch strap. Impossible no.... but again..... took longer than the rest of my class. Wearing the weight belt on the outside of the harness...... was dangerous for me.. as the belt did not want to ride low on my hips below my BP/harness it wanted to fall off from there. Thus I was forced to wear my belt under my harness crotch strap (the preferred method for those that never want to dump on accident). I have since switched to a DUI harness weight system. It can not however be removed and reinstalled at the surface.... so forget trying to use one during your OW class doing the drills mentioned.

Things that were MUCH easier... were OOA drills. The long hose is great for that.

I personally fitted my wing dump string with a bulb. Perhaps one day I will remove it. But I found it just one less thing for me to worry about finding (that string), when I needed to.

I only mention the above..... because I want to share my experience as a new diver using a BP/wing. I just don't recommend it to everyone who is a beginning student/just getting certified. You must be motivated.

After getting certified and "getting your feet wet"..... I think then is the time to switch.

I enjoyed learning with a different rig than the rest of my class, Would I personally change it if I had to do it over again... no. But I just don't think that everyone could of, or would have wanted to handle/deal with it.

Unless of course you are lucky enough to get an instructor who is VERY familiar with the BP/wing setup. Mine was not. I feel I WAS very fortunate that he did let me use my equipment during my classes (although he was close a few times to having me switch to a regular jacketed BC during my training). Great instructor.... now friend.

As far as boyancy, and trim, and comfort and control.... I love my BP and wing. On the other hand... I have not dove with anything else.

yes cyberdolphin - it happened to my buddy on my last dive. He couldn't work out why the air was coming straight out and eventually swapped to his second bladder as he thought he had a puncture. When we got bakc to the surface we found the "float" had got caught up leaving it slightly open.

Having said that - that was the least of his worries on that dive....

Jonathan

Maybe I will revert back to a string ONLY sooner than I thought

I learned (was certified OW with a bp/wing), and to be honest....
I think I should have received extra credit.

Click to expand...

Try your rescue class with it...loads of fun to get off an unconscious diver since you can't cut it in a class...

I think I am getting pretty good with the string. I hope this weekend to be able to use it without thinking about it.

I haven't found it to be too much of a problem to doff and don it on the surface. The thing that I've found seems to be the biggest pain is getting a hold of the crotch strap. On me anyway the weight belt seems to fit fairly comfortably over the harness.

I have not tried yet to doff and don it underwater. I would like to try it this weekend. I imagine wearing the weight belt over the harness wouldn't be such a good thing if you had to remove it underwater. Remove weight belt, undo buckle and crotch strap, replace weight belt and then the reverse to put it back on. Whereas if it were under the harness it could just stay where it was and you wouldn't risk losing it. But then it is much harder to ditch the weight.

I've also been wondering about my ability to swim up that weight at full wetsuit compression. I figure with a full tank and full wetsuit (7mm) compression I'd need to be able to swim up about 22# (10# on belt, 6#backplate and 6# air with an AL80)

This sounds reasonable but I would like to try it before thinking of wearing the belt under the harness. Of course if did I lose those 10# I'd probably be going to the surface pretty quickly after about 50' with an empty tank...