MY WIFEs BCD - brand new and she said she's uncomfortable in it - HERE's Why

I bought my wife a Oceanic Hera BCD - a 5 star on every website. Its a beauty! HOWEVER....My wife is very close to the ground. 5ft 1 inch to be exact. Her torso is very short. I bought a small BCD, and she is saying she wants something different. This thing was 600.00 and is 3 weeks old. I sat in the garage and looked at several different ways this thing could be configured for a custom fit, bottom-line...she needs a youth size or something... she says in the water she feels the 1st stage up against her head when she looks up, and i adjusted the tank up and down 4 times. she says the cumberbun is too low. I ajdusted the straps, the shoudler straps and all. I need to get rid of this bcd and go to the dive shop and have her spend as long as it takes fitting into a bcd that works for her. DOES anyone have any advice for the best BCD for women and the characteristics of a woman hips, torso, ect ect... i just need help advice on the best bcd for a short female. THANKs TO ANYONE THAT RESPONDS TO HELP!

Try a Zeagle Zena. I have one and really like it.

My wife is also vertically challenged (5'2"), she has a Hera and loves it. Very adjustable and off the hips. If she is insistent on giving up on the Hera try a Wing setup.

I'm not able to recommend any "modern" woman's BC, but I have experience with a few from more than a decade back. I purchased my 85 - 115 lb, 4' 11" - 5' 2", pink BC off eBay, for $40 shipped IIRC. Even if I paid for the flat rate box it was not much over $50.

This is an XXS SeaQuest BCD, with no visible model name; probably 12-14 years old if I had to guess, but I could be wrong by as much as 5 years either way.

[c] [/c]

This teenager was 5', 110 lbs, and she floated pretty low in the water at max inflation.

Kathryn is now perhaps 5'3, 120, so she only gets to wear that weight belt!

Hi

My Girlfriend is also very small, 157cm (5'1") and 40Kg (88lbs) and since she finished her divemaster we have spent a lot of time trying on different types of BCD

Currently she is using (borrowing) an old style Aqualung Wave in XS (The new ones don't fit so well) but she has found a new one she likes, which is an Aqualung Lotus (new style wing with i3) in size S (smallest size they do), so we will be ordering this shortly.

Make sure she tries them on, don't just order from Internet without trying it.

The best one, is the one she look at and picks .
I talked my wife into trying a backplate, never gone back.

I just purchased an Aqualung Lotus BC for my wife. She loves it. It is extremely adjustable. She is 5'4 and has a medium. I bet the small would fit your wife perfectly. Her sister also bought the same BC. I think you should show it to her. It is a back inflate, but my wife and her sister (who is recently certified) had no issues using them. They also have the i3 dump valve, which is a nice feature. I would sell the Oceanic on Craigslist, and get her a new BC. Not necessarily in that order.

I'm 5'2" 90 +/- a couple pounds. I love my Mares Kaila in XXS. Yup, it comes in an XXS! :luxhello: It's fits great and is very cushy which is great for those without much of their own cush.

I am 5'5" but have a really short torso, and I had a very hard time finding a BC to fit me. Even the half dozen women's extra-smalls that I tried on (and I normally don't wear anything anywhere near that small), when I fastened the cummerbund around my waist, the shoulders ended up around my ears. I knew from the rental BC's that that would make the tank fit loosely and flop around when diving.

So I joined Scubaboard and started asking questions because basically, the ill-fitting BC's were taking the fun out of diving.

After getting some feedback here, I decided to try a backplate/wing. At first I rented one, and even though it was a "regular" (men's) size, it still fit better than anything I had tried before, and I enjoyed diving with it.

So, I did some research and found that a few backplate/brands came in sizes. I bought a DSS (Deep Sea Supply) rig (backplate, wing, harness, buckles, etc.) and it fits great. In fact, if the size small backplate were any shorter it would be too short - never thought I'd see that day!

I did still have a problem with the first stage on my regulator being a bit close to my head, even with the tank lowered as far as it would go in the cam bands. What I did to solve that was get an STA (single-tank adapter) that had three cam-band slots. That moved the tank slightly off my back and also allowed me to move it down another 3/4" or so, and that did the trick (although there is room to lower it more if I wanted to).

Besides that fact that the backplate fits my short torso well, I love the un-cluttered sides and front. With the vest-type BC's, the pockets and padding -- combined with the "lack of real estate" between my armpits and my waist -- made me feel like the Michelin Tire Woman.

After 75 dives or so with the backplate/wing, I'm still very happy with the fit and also the function in general.

Mine likes the Aeris Reef Rider and she is 5'3" 110 lbs. Size small. Put that one on your "try on list" and see.