Little Gal with a Big Problem

Viv · Jun 28, 2003

I am a petite female looking for BCD recommendations. My SeaQuest Diva (XS) is fantastic for my warm water diving needs.. However, I have started doing some cold water dry suit diving and I can't find a BCD that fits. My Diva only has 18 lb. of lift and I need more than that for the additional weight that I am carrying. I recently purchased a SeaQuest Black Diamond (S) but it is just too big. The waist is at my hips even with the shoulder straps pulled all the way down. The shoulders are set too wide and the entire unit starts shifting and spinning on me at depth. I have tried shifting my tank and redistributing the weights but I can't get it to fit correctly.
I am open for suggestions!

kelpmermaid · Jun 28, 2003

Have you seen the SeaQuest Libra? That's what I have been using with my drysuit. It's a weight integrated, back inflation BC with relatively little clutter up front. Not much in the way of D-rings, though.
Are you diving with a steel tank?

Waterlover · Jun 28, 2003

Try a Back plate and wings you can do a search and see this has been suggested many times before. they will fit you right all the time better than a custom fit and better for trim too.....Good luck in your search

Wendy · Jun 28, 2003

Waterlover once bubbled...
Try a Back plate and wings you can do a search and see this has been suggested many times before. they will fit you right all the time better than a custom fit and better for trim too.....Good luck in your search

I think the backplate and wing is the best.

lragsac · Jun 29, 2003

You can't go wrong with a bp. I'm fairly small from the waist up (although I have a long torso) and a bp and 27# wing works great for me. I dive a HP steel 80 and drysuit. I've used the bp for tropical diving as well and it's highly adaptable.

SeaGypsy · Jun 29, 2003

Another vote for a bp/wing.

If you decide to go that route try to find someone currently using one who will dive with you a few times to help you get it set up right. It does take some tweaking to get everything adjusted properly.

jbd · Jun 29, 2003

may well be the best solution but make sure you get some pool time or some other similar practice time with it before going on a trip or other dive event. My first and only dives with a BP/wings were much less than impressive

raviepoo · Jun 29, 2003

Size XS.

Don't bother with the Seaquest Libra. It's fine for warm water, but it probably won't have enough lift for cold, especially in one of the smaller sizes. (The larger the size you buy, the more lift it has.) I stopped using my Libra when I started diving in cold water.

kelpmermaid · Jun 29, 2003

How much lift do you need? Raviepoo's post made me check:

http://www.sea-quest.com/pages/choose_equip/ce_pdfs/SQ_GUIDE_BCs.pdf

My Libra has 30 lbs lift, enough for me diving dry, in my conditions, with my tank. Are you attaching other things there?

Travisc · Jun 30, 2003

I just finished assisting with a dive fair up in Seattle, and saw a couple of Dive-Rite products that might fit what your looking for. One thing that impressed me was a very petite 5'2 maybe woman with an impressive bust size, have a new dive right product sized to fit her, it was a transpac harness attached to a backplate, this setup is more common on the soft backed transpac II, but she was able to stand up and handle my pair of HP100 doubles fairly easily (she is also very muscular). And if fitted properly (someone with experience) that dive-rite product was very comfortable and fit well. I also understand DUI has a BC/setup that work the same and they only sell it in one size because it is so adjustable, but I have not seen it.

Travis

Little Gal with a Big Problem

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