Higher lift bcd?

[Bestshooter]

Hey Guys ,
Got a question . I currently have a Aqualung pro LT BC. I went diving over the weekend on the Cooper River . Was A LOT of work with the extra weight used . (Almost 40 pounds !) Im looking for a better bc I can use for river diving that has a lot more lift to ease the work load . What are some good BC’s with a ton of lift ? If anyone has suggestions and maybe pics of their setups that might help too .. thanks

 

[scubadiver888]

I'm not clear on why you need a BC with a lot more lift. Why do you need more lift? What workload are you trying to ease?

I do river diving all the time. Some of it is very fast current. Keeping my rig as light as possible and as small as possible reduces drag. Less drag means I'm not fighting the river current. I dive with a back plate and 27 pound wing (old Halycon Pioneer). I weight myself so I am neutrally buoyant with a full tank and completely empty wing. I use a tank with 100 cu.ft. of air. The weight of air is 0.0807 pounds per cu.ft. So the air in my tank weighs just over 8 pounds. I never breath my tank down to zero PSI. So I'll add 6 pounds of weight to my gear to compensate for the air I'll use during the dive.

In other words, smaller is better.

Now if I find things in the river and want to bring them back to shore, I'll tuck them in my harness and add air to the wing. i'm wearing 6 pounds of lead, the wing has 27 pounds of lift, I can handle up to 21 pounds of 'stuff' with a full wing. So picking up 5 to 10 pounds isn't hard.

 

[Bestshooter]

The workload I’m trying to ease is the tread water at the surface .. the lift on my bc I found online is 30 lbs . When you have 38 lbs of weight on to keep you on the bottom and when you finally ascend , it takes work to “float” . I was diving AL80’s at the time . I do have a steel 120 I was gonna try but didn’t get to . So I’m looking for ideas on a bigger lift bc for the extra weight . Tec divers might have a idea or some river divers .

 

[scubadiver888]

The workload I’m trying to ease is the tread water at the surface .. the lift on my bc I found online is 30 lbs . When you have 38 lbs of weight on to keep you on the bottom and when you finally ascend , it takes work to “float” . I was diving AL80’s at the time . I do have a steel 120 I was gonna try but didn’t get to . So I’m looking for ideas on a bigger lift bc for the extra weight . Tec divers might have a idea or some river divers .

If you are weighted properly, you should have an almost empty BC while you are diving. You should be wearing just enough weight to compensate for the air you consume during the dive. If you have an AL80 it holds 77.4 cu.ft. or 6.25 pounds of air. Your exposure gear (wetsuit or drysuit) and other things might make you buoyant. So you should add JUST enough weight to compensate for the buoyancy of your exposure gear. Then add 5 or 6 pounds to compensate for the air in the tank you will use.

If done correctly, you should be a little heavy at the start of the dive (5 or 6 pounds too heavy). Your BC should need just 5 or 6 pounds of lift. NOTE: lift in water is completely different from weight on land. If you are weighted correctly and REALLY need 38 pounds of weight to sink then you have ZERO buoyancy when you are in the water. Therefore you will have 30 pounds of LIFT. If you are neutrally buoyant and you add 1 pound of LIFT to your BC, you will go up. If you add 30 pounds of LIFT you will be well out of the water.

If anything, I suspect you are overweighed. If you are wearing 38 pounds of lead, that is a LOT. When I first started diving I wore 32 pounds of lead. I had trapped air, I breathed heavy, I (unconsciously) kicked my feet, etc.. Now, with similar gear, I might wear 18 pounds of lead.

Maybe you need someone to help you with buoyancy. You might benefit from a Peak Performance Buoyancy course.

 

[Bestshooter]

I know about buoyancy , I dive a lot in Venice. I have my advanced diver cert . I use about 16 lbs there and in freshwater I’m somewhere around 12. The Cooper river is a totally different animal. First time I’ve done it. I’m def looking into a backplate and wing system. I don’t know much about them but seem pretty common in this river diving .

 

[lexvil]

The lift can vary with b/c size, this is one of those cases where a backplate may really be the best choice as you can just switch wings for each type of use.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I agree with SD's assessment that you are over weighted. May I ask what sort of exposure protection you are using? An AL-80 becomes pretty floaty as it becomes empty. Back plate and Wing with a balanced rig is what I will also suggest.

 

[tbone1004]

you do typically use extra lead when river diving, but that sounds quite excessive to me....

 

[NAUI Wowie]

I know about buoyancy , I dive a lot in Venice. I have my advanced diver cert . I use about 16 lbs there and in freshwater I’m somewhere around 12. The Cooper river is a totally different animal. First time I’ve done it. I’m def looking into a backplate and wing system. I don’t know much about them but seem pretty common in this river diving .

why do you need 16 pounds of weight in venice in fresh water and 38 pounds of weight in american fresh water? even with an 8 mil suit vs 3 that should only increase weight needed by 8 pounds not 22 pounds. You sound HEAVILY overweighted to me. Especially in fresh water where you need less weight than the ocean.

Something to this you are not mentioning.

edit.... you use 12 pds in fresh but 38 on this river? that sounds dangerous for you. imagine if you have a BCD malfunction and it wont inflate. Youd be up ship creek without a paddle

 

[NAUI Wowie]

you do typically use extra lead when river diving, but that sounds quite excessive to me....

I just learned something new today. How much more weight would you use in a river if experienced?