Women's BCD and seemingly low lift

[gregvdm]

Hi all, purchasing a BC for my partner has seemed to be a hard task lately. I've been looking at ones designed for women, size usually xs for her and the lift seems low. Finding the Sherwoods sitting around 18lb, whilst this would no doubt be ok in the tropics, do you guys think it would suffice in 70 degree water with a 5mm wetsuit. We can't test in the water at this point, just looking whether anyone here dives in that temp with just 18lb?
Thanks

 

[decompression]

Well, I assume you are using AL80s for tanks....
So;
Suit is 15 lbs positive (estimate)
Tank is 4 lbs positive (end dive)
This means she's using about 20 lbs of lead?
That would make her neutral and only require about 5 lbs of lift to compensate for the gas, as long as the BCD can float her face up, 18 lbs is good. Now if some of that weight isn't ditchable then a larger wing might be a good idea. Does that make sense?



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[TSandM]

I dive a 17 pound wing with a 5 mil wetsuit, and honestly, it's marginal. I do it because a) I use a weight belt and can drop it, and b) I always have a ton of extra gas, so if I have to hang around on the surface for a while with my face not totally out of the water, I can.

Why not look at a backplate system for her? Wings come in a wide variety of sizes. DSS makes a 26 pound wing that might be just right.

 

[diversteve]

Although some would say it's more lift than needed both of the Zeagle ladies models - Zena or Lazer - have 35lbs. lift standard.
I don't think it's size dependent. Zeagle BCs

 

[gregvdm]

Thanks heaps for the input guys, well it doesn't sound like testing it would be dangerous so we'll give it a go, making sure all weight is ditchable. I'm picking up a Zeagle ET soon hopefully so I'll be able to fit that to her and see if she likes it, it's my first (sort of) BP/W so I'm a little excited to get it.

 

[wolflegresley]

My wife had a hard time with her BC as it always hurt her chest area, we spent a long time on the market and tried 2-3 different BCs. I HIGHLY recommend that you check out the Zeagle Zena
Zena
Zeagle Zena Women's BC at LeisurePro

It is on the pricy side, but it does everything she wants and more, the biggest advantage is that she is now comfortable underwater which means more dives for me

 

[t4e]

i have a Genesis Sirene, designed for women, and love it, 20lbs of lift, can be folded pretty small for packing too
i dive with a 5mm suit and 16lbs of weight in salt water

 

[ams511]

Greg. I would hold off on the BC now. I am not sure where you are diving but a 5 mil wetsuit seems a bit thin for such a small woman in 70 degree water. After a few dives she may want a thicker wetsuit. Also are you going to hit any themoclines on a dive? A quarry may be 70 on the surface but 50 a depth, usually the ocean is not that bad but still colder at depth. For a general purpose BC I would recommend 25 to 35 lbs of lift.

 

[Kitty_Kat]

Have you looked at Scubapro's BCs? The Bella (size XS) has just over 22 lbs of lift and the LadyHawk has almost 34 lbs of lift. I occasionally use a LadyHawk when working instead of my BP/W and it has more lift then I could ever need with a single tank (I wear a size S). No problems when wearing a rashguard in 85 degree water (~4 lbs of weight) or when wearing a drysuit/7 mm wetsuit in 55 degree water (~20 lbs of weight).

I do also quite like their LiteHawk BC as well because it has a simpler more streamlined design. I have been told that some people think the plastic backplate is uncomfortable to them on the LiteHawk though. I've never noticed a problem with it but I do love my BP/W so perhaps I'm just more used to feeling the plate on my back with less padding in between?