which bcd for padi instructor?

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elZub

Contributor
Messages
85
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Location
Italy
# of dives
200 - 499
hi there!
in 2015 i would like start my journey into PRO.
DM and after Instructor.

does it real that a instructor has to teach with "normal" equipment?

i need to replace my old bcd, a traditional jacket, and i would like get a back plate with wings.
i don't like spend money to buy a bp/w that i cannot use when i start to teach in padi courses.

all the best
 
Can use anything you want. Some LDS,if you are teaching for them,may have their own requirements.
lds I currently teach for has no such requirement.
 
Nearly done my DM now. Come winter, I'll be doing the IDC and IE. I'm using a backplate and wing. I also assist with classes using my twinset.
 
First, with equipment, use what you want to use pretty much. Some shops will want their lines promoted, but not all.

As for going pro in 2015, in all honesty, over the next 12 months or so, do you think you will do enough dives, gain enough experience to become a dive pro?
 
tnx guys!
so it's all up to the dive center?
but do you think there are big differences to teach with a bp/w to students with traditional jackets?


As for going pro in 2015, in all honesty, over the next 12 months or so, do you think you will do enough dives, gain enough experience to become a dive pro?
i hope in 12 months to become a padi instructor, do you think i'm putting too much rush on it?
 
There are no major differences -- a BC is a BC. However, you will not be able to demonstrate disconnecting releases to remove equipment, or (unless you install weight pockets) will you have integrated weights to demonstrate. We have not found this to be any kind of big issue. Neither Peter nor I dives a backplate during the pool work, but some of the other DMs who assist us do. We both dive them in OW, where no demonstrations are required.

PADI does not care what kind of basic equipment you use, within very broad limits. As already stated, dive shops can be far more prescriptive about what they want their instructors to use.

As far as your question about becoming an instructor goes, here a story: When I got certified, I found that, to my surprise, I LOVED diving. I wanted to do as much of it as I could, and I immediately wanted to learn how to teach others. That was basically the pattern at my dive shop . . . folks got certified, marched through specialties and Rescue, and became divemasters (often in less than a year) and then instructors. I was headed right down the same road.

And then, on my 20th dive, I dove with NWGratefulDiver. I looked at someone in the water who had skills I didn't know existed, because I had never seen them. From Bob, I went on to dive with other people who were amazing in the water. I began to learn things like gas management and decompression theory that I hadn't known were even there to be learned. I realized that I was truly a tadpole in a big pond, and that I had no business teaching other people how to do this when I knew so little myself.

Five years, about 7 or 800 dives and a whole MESS of classes and dive trips later, I thought I honestly had something to offer, and went ahead and got my DM certification.

Not a judgment, just my story. I'd recommend looking around you and finding some of the most experienced and highly trained divers you can, and spending time with them. It's an eye-opener.
 
Buy the equipment you want to use. Your dive equipment is your dive equipment. That said...

Being a Divemaster or Instructor is a job. A company (the local dive shop) is hiring you. They expect you to help them sell equipment and if they only sell jacket style BCD then wearing a BP/W might pose a problem. In these cases, tell the shop you need to take gear out of rental when you teach a class. By using their rental gear, you'll have the same equipment they want you to help sell. This is good for the shop and doesn't cost you anything. If the shop is not okay with this then find another shop to work for.

I've been fairly lucky. Except for one shop, the shops I have worked for tend to be reasonable and let me wear my own gear.
 
I would recommend wearing a regular recreational BCD for your IDC and IE.

There's no sense wearing a backplate wing that will likely be unfamiliar to the other candidates.

After that, use whatever you prefer. For the IDC, your fellow candidates will appreciate you wearing similar gear.

As for the Mares Hybrid that the OP mentioned; I just checked one out recently. I really like the fact that the integrated weights can be removed. I prefer to use a weight belt rather than integrated weights.

I currently own an Apex black ice; but I don't like integrated weights. It's just a personal preference of mine.
 
Pullmyfinger's post reminds me, when you do your DM certification one of the exercises is taking all your gear off and swapping with another DM candidate. One thing I realized before doing this exercise was that if my weight was integrated in my gear then my gear would be negatively buoyant and I would be positively buoyant. When I take my gear off I'd start to float to the surface. It also helps when I demo taking your gear off and back on underwater for students. Additionally, tell your DM buddy so they don't wear integrated weights. If one is wearing integrated weights and the other is not it makes swapping gear difficult if not impossible.

Finally, as a DM you'll have to wear some weight on a belt just so you can demo taking off your weight belt and putting it back on in water. If you aren't wearing a belt then it is impossible to demo this skill to students.
 
when you do your DM certification one of the exercises is taking all your gear off and swapping with another DM candidate. One thing I realized before doing this exercise was that if my weight was integrated in my gear then my gear would be negatively buoyant and I would be positively buoyant.

For the gear exchange, the Instructor Manual specifically states that you are not supposed to swap weights. This means integrated weights (since you are swapping BCD) should not be used. The weights should always stay with the DMC.

For the OP, I highly recommend using gear that the student will be using (as much as possible). For the pool work, I use the same shop BCDs that the students will be using. That way, all of my demonstrations on the gear will be exactly what they should do. If a student brings their own gear, I can explain to them how to do it, but I can't give them a demonstration in that type of gear. For the open water dives, I use my own gear.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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