Balance BC Sea Quest needs more weight

FM1520 · Aug 14, 2011

I bought my first BC a Sea Quest Balance which is a weight integrated back inflate. I usually carry about 26 lbs on the jacket style BCs that I rent but at 26 lbs in by new BC I had to struggle to get down and stay down. I added 2 lbs on my second dive and it wasn' t much better. Could the buoyancy between the two be that much different? Jacket vs. Back? Any thoughts?

Scott · Aug 14, 2011

The Balance weighs 6.81 pounds according to Sea Quests specifications. Not knowing what rental BC you were using there could easliy be more than 4 pounds weight difference. Was the BC the only thing new that was added to your configuaration and all the air out of the BC and wetsuit?

Anytime you change gear, add or take away from a configuration, go from salt water to fresh water it changes your weighting and you should do a weight check.

FM1520 · Aug 14, 2011

Scott:
The Balance weighs 6.81 pounds according to Sea Quests specifications. Not knowing what rental BC you were using there could easliy be more than 4 pounds weight difference. Was the BC the only thing new that was added to your configuaration and all the air out of the BC and wetsuit?

Anytime you change gear, add or take away from a configuration, go from salt water to fresh water it changes your weighting and you should do a weight check.

thanks for the reply. I typically rent Sea Quest Pro QD jacket style BCs from the LDS. Everything else stayed the same: sea water, mid 50s F, 7mil wet suit (although different brands), fins, mask....

where can I get the weight of the BC, I checked the AQ website and didn't see it. Thanks.

MauiScubaSteve · Aug 14, 2011

IMHO, the Balance requires more effort to completely deflate than SeaQuest Vest BC's. If like your gear, everything else stayed the same (effort?) the Balance might have still had air in it.

"(although different brands)" - a 4lb buoyancy difference between Pro QD and Balance is highly unlikely, but a more than 4lb buoyancy difference between different brand 7 mm wet suits is not unlikely at all, especially if the old one was old and the new one is new.

When we say everything else stayed the same, we typically mean everything else stayed the same; don't we?

Scott · Aug 14, 2011

FM1520:
thanks for the reply. I typically rent Sea Quest Pro QD jacket style BCs from the LDS. Everything else stayed the same: sea water, mid 50s F, 7mil wet suit (although different brands), same, fins, mask....

The Pro QD weighs 7.93, so there is a weigh difference.
I don't know if wetsuit brand makes as much difference as the number of dives on a suit. The more dives the less bouyant they become along with losing insulation. A new suit will be more bouyant than a suit with 300 dives on it.

FM1520 · Aug 14, 2011

halemanō;6009399:
IMHO, the Balance requires more effort to completely deflate than SeaQuest Vest BC's.

I agree, the balance did seem to require more effort to deflate, the Balance was more sensitive to my position. Thank you, this has been very helpful.

MauiScubaSteve · Aug 14, 2011

Scott:
The Balance weighs 6.81 pounds according to Sea Quests specifications.

Scott:
The Pro QD weighs 7.93, so there is a weigh difference.

AFAIC, a difference of 1.12 lbs, with regards to shipping weight (or dry weight), does not necessarily mean any difference in buoyancy. With regards to all weights listed by manufacturer, if just one weight is listed it is usually for size M, AFAIS. It would be easy for me to see someone using a L or XL rental Pro QD, and then buying a M or ML Balance, which would render the data from the Aqua Lung web site even more useless.

Scott:
I don't know if wetsuit brand makes as much difference as the number of dives on a suit. The more dives the less bouyant they become along with losing insulation. A new suit will be more bouyant than a suit with 300 dives on it.

Not just brand, but models of the same brand have sometimes significant differences with regards to buoyancy. Aqua Lung has both a standard neoprene and stretchy neoprene, with the stretchy neoprene having less positive buoyancy, particularly at the end of the dive and on a typical 45 minute SI second dive. Try Comparing a 5 mm Aqua Flex to a 5 mm Pinnacle Merino-Elastiprene, and then both of them to a 5 mm Wetwear.

:coffee:

gcarter · Aug 14, 2011

halemanō;6009399:
IMHO, the Balance requires more effort to completely deflate than SeaQuest Vest BC's. If like your gear, everything else stayed the same (effort?) the Balance might have still had air in it.

I have been struggling a bit with clearing my Balance. Any particular trick I should know?

MauiScubaSteve · Aug 18, 2011

Kinda delayed response, but, I am only really comparing similar old SeaQuest vest BC's (M, M/L & L) that I have used to the old M/L Balance I cut the weight pockets off.

For the deflator - using the Balance I have to roll farther and perhaps arch my back a little more, while reaching up and back farther, than I do in the vests.

For the "kidney dump" vs the "way out on wing dump" - in the Balance, the pull tab is just beyond my only slightly longer than normal 6' wingspan grasp, so I grab the wing and drab it a little until I can grab the pull tab, whereas the Vest's "kidney dump" is very easy to reach and use.

MauiScubaSteve · Aug 18, 2011

buggy double post

Balance BC Sea Quest needs more weight

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