Various questions re: Zeagle Escape

[sytech]

I recently purchased the Escape model after having used a very nice Cressi-Sub jacket style BCD.

I definitely like the "open" fit around the thorax area and it's a lot more comfortable. Some questions:

There is 1 dump valve on the bottom left side and 1 on the bottom right side. What is the best position to be in to let out air?

The two storage pockets have zippers which close in a forward and down position. As a result I have almost lost some items in the pockets because the zipper has a way of loosening and becoming partially "open". Any suggestions?

I had always heard that back inflation BCDs have a tendency to push you forward on the surface. My experience has been the opposite. I tend to go backwards which is still preferable but was wondering how best to handle this.

My weighting was accurate according to that test where you use a cylinder with 500 lbs. of pressure and empty BCD and breathe to about eye level.


Any comments will be appreciated.



Thanks,


Sy

[potato cod]

The rear dumps are typically used when swimming. Remember that the air will migrate to the highest part of the bladder, so if you are vertical (like when you descend) air moves to the shoulder of your wing and the hose works great. When swimming you are horizontal and don't want to have to tilt vertically to dump air, and this is when the rear dump and inflator pull dump are handy. If your shoulders tend to be a little higher, then sometimes the rear dumps are less efficient than the inflater pull dump, so just see what works best for you. I sometimes arch my back just a little to elevate the rear dump too.

Haven't had my Zeagle long enough to have noticed a problem with the pockets. Mostly keep big stuff in there (light).

If you're tilting backwards at the surface, you might experiment with moving weight between the side pockets and rear trim pockets to find a better balance. I find that spliting mine evenly works for me, but again, I just got my bc so I may need to adjust as I change my thermal protection and amount of weight.

[sytech]

Thanks for the feedback but maybe I'm misunderstanding something.

When you say "typically used when swimming" I assume you mean forward motion underwater or do you mean swimming at the surface?

What I have done with this and other BCD's with the dump valves in the rear bottom left and right side positions is to do a 180 degree turn so I am head down , legs up in the water (upside down) so the air will in fact be at the highest point of the bladder. Seems to work fine. Any problem with that technique?

Regarding my weighting I do need to fiddle around with that more. Can I expect to be able to be totally vertical on the surface if I had the weighting 100% perfect? With my former BCD even with the weighting as best computed as possible it still had a bias towards putting me backwards though not nearly as much as this Zeagle Escape does. In any event I'd much rather have the bias be backwards rather than face forward.


Sy

The rear dumps are typically used when swimming. Remember that the air will migrate to the highest part of the bladder, so if you are vertical (like when you descend) air moves to the shoulder of your wing and the hose works great. When swimming you are horizontal and don't want to have to tilt vertically to dump air, and this is when the rear dump and inflator pull dump are handy. If your shoulders tend to be a little higher, then sometimes the rear dumps are less efficient than the inflater pull dump, so just see what works best for you. I sometimes arch my back just a little to elevate the rear dump too.

Haven't had my Zeagle long enough to have noticed a problem with the pockets. Mostly keep big stuff in there (light).

If you're tilting backwards at the surface, you might experiment with moving weight between the side pockets and rear trim pockets to find a better balance. I find that spliting mine evenly works for me, but again, I just got my bc so I may need to adjust as I change my thermal protection and amount of weight.

[potato cod]

What I meant by swimming was being underwater in a horizontal position. You really shouldn't need to/want to get into a vertical position (either heads up or head down) to vent air. The inflator pull dump and rear dumps should work just fine for you in a horizontal position (with sometimes just a slight arch of the back). The point is to try to stay streamlined.

As for tilting back a little at the surface, this is pretty normal with a backinflate if you are not over-inflated. You probably won't be as up-and-down and floating high like a cork as in a jacket. I was playing around with this in the pool, and my instructor agreed that just leaning back a little and floating on the wing is the easiest thing to do. So just lean back and relax!