Yesterday I was thrust into testing out a Zeagle Ranger BC since I forgot to take along my BP/wing/regulators... it was at the end of a long and difficult day, OK... lets just leave it at that.
First challenge was weighting. How many extra pounds would I need to add just to make the Ranger sink... 5? 10? 15? 20? I ended up adding 2# over what I normally use. This turned out to be perfect as I ended the dive with 500psi, no gas in the BC and enough in my suit to keep me warm after an hour and 45 minute dive in 50 degree water. (max depth 104')
The next challenge was attaching the light canister. There is a small fastex-buckled strap that is used to keep the air cell from tacoing up around the tank. I ran this strap through the canister belt loop mounting the canister upside down... and prayed.
There are too many D-rings on the Zeagle, they are in the wrong places and orientations and they are too floppy... but at least they make one look sporty and help with the weighting. I was able to clip off a standard DIR reg set, light head, camera, fishing pole, boat motor, tennis racket and towel... gotta have a towel if you are going to travel the universe.
Rigged up and ready to dive I was taken back years to when I had my own Zeagle Ranger BC. The walk to the water wasn't my usual spritely sprint. The integrated soft weights and steel tank were un-supported and hurt my shoulders. It felt... well... floppy. Ahhhh yes... now I remember why I preferred boat diving.
Once in the water the Ranger BC disappeared in more ways than one and fortunately no one had seen me wearing it other than my buddy OE2X who had loaned it to me.
As we started our dive the Ranger began to screw things up. It didn't effect my trim at all and I was able to hold any position I wanted without the hand finning I usually see other Ranger users employ. It didn't seem to add that much extra drag though there definitely was more than with my backplate and 27# lift wing. The problem was my mask. The Ranger was causing my mask to leak!
I seldom have a mask leak and when I do I am usually able to fix it with no problem... even masks I find on the bottom and try out for fun. But the Ranger caused my mask to leak in such a way that I was unable to correct it though I tried numerous times during the next 105 minutes!
Not only did it cause my mask to leak but it was causing OE2X's mask to leak too!
But wait... there's more! I noticed that OE2X was using his backup Scout light instead of his Terkle HID. Had the Ranger caused my buddy's HID to flood?!? We found out after the dive that the Ranger had caused the connectors in his light to not be plugged in!
Our mission on this dive was to test and compare our point~n~shoot cameras. OE2X has a new Nikon coolpix 7900 7 meg and I have the Pentax Optio s50 5 meg. Our first location was the octopus under the log at ~100'. The Ranger didn't cause any problems here... it was working ahead of us and the next problem it caused was heart breaking.
Swimming on to our second location, the I-beams at 90', we couldn't find Wendy. She wasn't in the rock pile and she wasn't under her I-beam. I don't know if the Ranger scared her away or somehow killed her and disposed of the body... but she is gone.
Moving on up to photograph warbonnets the Ranger caused a serious algae bloom. Great globs of gunk filled the water. They also found their way into our still flooding masks. The Ranger was threatening to ruin this dive but we continued. I couldn't feel it on my back as much as in my mind... this thing wanted to destroy us!
We photographed a few octopus at the Honey Bear and then set off to get shots of the small stuff on the way back. The Ranger now began to cause a surge and current wash that stirred up the salad on the bottom making it difficult for the PnS cameras to get a focus lock on our subjects... not only that... the Ranger actually increased the shutter lag of my Pentax!
Then the humiliation.
After an hour and 45 minutes we surfaced to find ourselves face to face with some DIR friends just finishing a practice dive to 40'. They were resplendent in their backplates/wings, doubles and deco bottles... and I was wearing a Zeagle Ranger BC.
They began to smile and laugh, pointing to my intersting hose routing and upside down canister. It was a long walk to the shower.
First challenge was weighting. How many extra pounds would I need to add just to make the Ranger sink... 5? 10? 15? 20? I ended up adding 2# over what I normally use. This turned out to be perfect as I ended the dive with 500psi, no gas in the BC and enough in my suit to keep me warm after an hour and 45 minute dive in 50 degree water. (max depth 104')
The next challenge was attaching the light canister. There is a small fastex-buckled strap that is used to keep the air cell from tacoing up around the tank. I ran this strap through the canister belt loop mounting the canister upside down... and prayed.
There are too many D-rings on the Zeagle, they are in the wrong places and orientations and they are too floppy... but at least they make one look sporty and help with the weighting. I was able to clip off a standard DIR reg set, light head, camera, fishing pole, boat motor, tennis racket and towel... gotta have a towel if you are going to travel the universe.
Rigged up and ready to dive I was taken back years to when I had my own Zeagle Ranger BC. The walk to the water wasn't my usual spritely sprint. The integrated soft weights and steel tank were un-supported and hurt my shoulders. It felt... well... floppy. Ahhhh yes... now I remember why I preferred boat diving.
Once in the water the Ranger BC disappeared in more ways than one and fortunately no one had seen me wearing it other than my buddy OE2X who had loaned it to me.
As we started our dive the Ranger began to screw things up. It didn't effect my trim at all and I was able to hold any position I wanted without the hand finning I usually see other Ranger users employ. It didn't seem to add that much extra drag though there definitely was more than with my backplate and 27# lift wing. The problem was my mask. The Ranger was causing my mask to leak!
I seldom have a mask leak and when I do I am usually able to fix it with no problem... even masks I find on the bottom and try out for fun. But the Ranger caused my mask to leak in such a way that I was unable to correct it though I tried numerous times during the next 105 minutes!
Not only did it cause my mask to leak but it was causing OE2X's mask to leak too!
But wait... there's more! I noticed that OE2X was using his backup Scout light instead of his Terkle HID. Had the Ranger caused my buddy's HID to flood?!? We found out after the dive that the Ranger had caused the connectors in his light to not be plugged in!
Our mission on this dive was to test and compare our point~n~shoot cameras. OE2X has a new Nikon coolpix 7900 7 meg and I have the Pentax Optio s50 5 meg. Our first location was the octopus under the log at ~100'. The Ranger didn't cause any problems here... it was working ahead of us and the next problem it caused was heart breaking.
Swimming on to our second location, the I-beams at 90', we couldn't find Wendy. She wasn't in the rock pile and she wasn't under her I-beam. I don't know if the Ranger scared her away or somehow killed her and disposed of the body... but she is gone.
Moving on up to photograph warbonnets the Ranger caused a serious algae bloom. Great globs of gunk filled the water. They also found their way into our still flooding masks. The Ranger was threatening to ruin this dive but we continued. I couldn't feel it on my back as much as in my mind... this thing wanted to destroy us!
We photographed a few octopus at the Honey Bear and then set off to get shots of the small stuff on the way back. The Ranger now began to cause a surge and current wash that stirred up the salad on the bottom making it difficult for the PnS cameras to get a focus lock on our subjects... not only that... the Ranger actually increased the shutter lag of my Pentax!
Then the humiliation.
After an hour and 45 minutes we surfaced to find ourselves face to face with some DIR friends just finishing a practice dive to 40'. They were resplendent in their backplates/wings, doubles and deco bottles... and I was wearing a Zeagle Ranger BC.
They began to smile and laugh, pointing to my intersting hose routing and upside down canister. It was a long walk to the shower.
