Using a bp/w for dive master training

[Bred22]

Hi I am still quite new to diving and especially new at buying diving gear. I have just completed my advanced open water, enriched air, deep diver and wreck specialities and will be diving almost everyday almost always multiple dives for at least the next year and hopefully longer. In the next 4 months I will be starting a dive master internship so I think it's the right time to get a bcd.

Up until now I have only dives stranded jacket bcd's however I have been reading up a lot on bp/w bcd's and from the evidence online it seems like a no brainer, especially as I would like to progress to more advanced diving in the future such as tech and wreck diving and possible cave diving in the far away future. This is why I feel buying a bp/w would make sense. although a bp/w can be expensive it will most likely be Cheaper then buying two or three bcd over years. Also if this is what I will dive in the future I can't see a down side to getting this set up and getting used to it so when I get to doing harder dives I know my gear inside-out.

But! When I passed these thoughts on to my instructor he was less then on board and said it would be hard to complete the skills on the rescue diver and dive master courses. And bp/w set ups aren't recommended for dm or instructor work as you can't do some of the required skills headed in the open water course that I will be helping out on.

I know I need to try the set up before deciding but is it even worth perusing or should I just go with the normal jacket bcd.

Please could I have some experienced thoughts on what I should do?!

Also so I know this is a highly wound subject among divers and please don't take the piss to bad

 

[rivers]

He's full of crap really. I did my entire DM course wearing my bp/w. No issue demoing skills to new divers. Just remind them that they have straps they need to tighten down on their jackets.

 

[sphyrnidus]

What skills is he talking about? I can't think of anything that would be easier with a jacket BCD than with a wing BCD. Well except for floating unconcious on the surface, but I guess that's not a required skill.

 

[BenjaminF]

You mean that floating unconscious ISN'T a required certification???

 

[GiantMoray]

People really tend to over egg the differences between a BPW and jacket style BCD. I spent quite a while mulling over the subject before buying my BPW, and to be honest there is nothing that is hugely different. Despite not having 101 different releases it is (for me at least) easier to get on and no more difficult to get off and surface swimming on my back is easy enough. People get flustered at buddy check when they see I'm wearing something different, but I just say it's simple, one release round the waist and 2 options to dump air. It is probably just that he isn't used to a BPW rather than it being a problem.

 

[fire_diver]

He obviously has no idea what a BP/W really is and he is just making up lies to support his own ideas.

 

[sphyrnidus]

Or he works in a shop that needs to sell the nicely marked up jacket bcd's. And he wants you in one too, so the students will think "that's what I need".

 

[Bred22]

I am happy to hear this. I really like what I have read about bp/w on the web and now need to try and find one to try. Can anyone help me with what brands/models to go with I know everyone will have there own opinion on this but I'd like to learn as much about this as possible before making a purchase especially as there is no was I will be able to try all of them. to be honest I'm not sure where I can try one at all.

What would be recommended as an ideal starter set up that will take me from recreational everyday diving to more advanced tech dives. Obviously cheep would be nice however not to compromise safety or durability I am diving south east Asia, Thailand at the moment so it will all have to be ordered in.

I have only dived single tank so far but can you get a wing capable of doing single and double?

please fill me in on every aspect of bp/w I want to know everything

I am
5ft 11
11.5st

---------- Post added September 2nd, 2014 at 10:11 PM ----------

In his defence he did say he doesn't have much experience with bp/w but wouldn't get one personally also when speaking to other people I have met so far they have also discouraged me however almost all my instructors in England dived bp/w

 

[muzikbiz22]

BP/W's are great. With that said, as a DMC, (Dive Master Candidate), you too are actually a student. If your instructor says, "put a traditional BC on", you put a traditional BC on. If he/she tells you to make coffee, and go pick up his dry cleaning, that's exactly what you do. You are to anticipate the needs of the other students, and instructor(s), not yours. Once you get your DM cert, things change a little. If you are assisting with a class, under the wing of an instructor, it's still about the students. If you are leading dives, end the likes, you can do wht you want. Just be sure to brief the divers that are "under your wing", that your gear is "a little different than theirs".

 

[TSandM]

Plates can go easily from singles to doubles, but trying to buy a wing that will do both means that it will probably do neither well. The problem with a doubles wing on a single tank is that the center panel of the wing needs to be wide enough for the doubles, which means the air-containing portion of the wing will "taco" up around the tank and be difficult to dump. If the wing doesn't have that wide center panel, then doubles will compress the air bladder, significantly reducing the lift.

As is often said here, by the time you are involved in technical diving, you will have spent so much money on equipment, training, and gases, that a doubles wing won't be noticeable in the total.

As to your original question -- I do dive a jacket BC in the pool with students, where I have to demonstrate skills. The only ones that are different are the doff and don, but they are significantly different. If your instructors will not ask you to demo those skills, everything else will be fine. Honestly, I think students rarely notice what gear we are using -- we do use backplates in OW, and the students have never asked any questions about that different-looking gear.