BCD for cold water vs warm water?

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mksmith713

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Location
Jupiter,Fl
# of dives
I just don't log dives
I'm a newbie to divnig so please bear with me.
I lve in the northeastern USA and will dive here as well as tropiical locations.
I currently have a vest style Sherwood BC and it's nice as far as I can tell.
The thing is.....it's a pain to pack because of the rigid plate.
Being an OCD type person, I fond a Zeagle 7200 dirt cheap and bought it....mainly for the portability for packing.
Should I use the Zeagle for all of my diving (fresh and some salt at home and trips to tropical places) or should I reserve the Zeagle for warm water only?
I've been told that the Zeagle maynot have the lift capacity I need when diving at home in colder water.
 
You'll have to figure out how much lift you need, and the two main things you need lift for are to 1) compensate for loss of buoyancy in your wetsuit and 2) float your rig at the surface. So, you can take your wetsuit, toss it in a mesh bag, start adding weights, and when it sinks, you'll know it's total buoyancy, so that's the maximum it could possibly lose. Then, add up the negative buoyancy of your heaviest tank, reg, and any non-ditchable weights like cam weights, trim weights, etc, and the larger of those two numbers is the amount of lift you need. If it's a 7mm suit it's buoyancy is probably going to be the larger number.

To determine the lift of the BC you could fill the bladder with water, mounted on the tank if you want to be really picky about it, then weigh the water. That's the total displacement possible. I bet it's enough; most people use much more lift than they need.

You should use whatever BC you enjoy diving in more. Personally, I think less is more when it comes to BCs and so use a steel plate, plain webbing for a harness, and a small wing around the tank. If the zeagle is simple and back inflate, I would probably prefer it but to each his own.
 
The Zeagle is extremely simple. Maybe too simple.
No pockets, no over shoulder straps for holding inflator hose, etc.
I like the little bells & whistles...like octo holder, etc.
I guess I'll have to Jerry rig it to fit my needs.
It may not look pretty but it'll work for me.
 

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