Horse collar

[budgy]

Horse collar, or inflatable toilet seat cover, is a fair description of what it looks like. Adjustable buoyancy life jacket is its generic name. You rarely see them these days, mine was made in 1986, but ABLJ is what we call them. Fenzy was probably the most popular brand of that type of buoyancy device in the UK, where they are also known as Fenzies. My ABLJ looks identical to this one That was a bargain I missed out on. In the link photo the bladder is fully extended, the press studs hold a fold and make it more compact.

 

[DennisS]

I learned on a horse collar, just never heard it called a ablj. I always wanted a Fenzy. thanks

 

[Nemrod]

OK. I'm convinced that I need a horsecollar to experiment with. Anyone got a good used one at a CHEAP price? It'll have to be the type which I can fill from my tank. Send me a message.

Most horsecollar BCs in this country were not of the self contained tank type. They either used oral inflation or a power inflator. Fenzy types were around since the 60s, the power inflator type came along in the 70s. I am not a Fenzy fan but the conventional horsecollar can work very well--if you know how to use them--which is key. Today's divers probably would not do well at first, you have to use your lungs.

I have never heard of an ABLJ or such. That must be a may used across the big pond, here we called them a BC, buoyancy compensator, until PadI came along and decided to call it a buoyancy compensating "device". Now they call a SCUBA a scuba unit or device. They need to realize that is redundant, self contained underwater breathing apparatus, the "apparatus" covers the unit or device wordology, lol.

Most of us remove the CO2 cartridge and plug it with a 3/8 plug from a regulator. The horsecollar such as we are talking about uses the same valves, inflator, hoses and technology as any BC so they are not prone to leaking or malfunction at all.

Luis dives a Fenzy sometimes.

N

 

[budgy]

I had a fenzy some years ago, but the rubber material perished. It had oral inflation on the right hand side. I guess I should of washed and chalked it. We still see some about.

 

[Armymutt25A]

Now they call a SCUBA a scuba unit or device. They need to realize that is redundant, self contained underwater breathing apparatus, the "apparatus" covers the unit or device wordology, lol.

Maybe they count just the tank and regs as SCUBA and it becomes a unit when you add in a BC?

I think I had a horse collar when I was younger. Found it at my house - parents must have acquired it from a friend. Looked a lot like the ones in the pictures with a CO2 can for inflation. Never used it though. Probably still floating around in a box someplace - have to ask mom if she's seen it in the past decade.

 

[Slonda828]

Also, the term "Mae West" does not really refer to a horsecollar. It refers to older style skin diving vests or aviator's life jackets that made the diver look like Mae West. Those cannot be used for buoyancy compensation at all in the practical sense, as they lack an overpressure and feature a small oral inflation device like a modern snorkel vest. So horsecollar and Mae West are not really the same thing, at least not in the vintage diving community and many books on SCUBA.

 

[SailNaked]

A wing is essentially the same as a horse collar that you wear behind your body instead of in front. the difference seems to be the power inflator, and while some "horse collars" have power inflater they do not really conform to my thinking of using a horse collar, when we used them we made sure our weighting was exact on every dive, and rarely put any air in the collar. they were there in case you happen to need to float on the surface for awhile. ( an advantage is that they float you face up)

I still think that perfect weighting is a best way to dive, however like most people I am lazy and the difference between diving with 4# or 6 is more about what weight the boat or shop happened to have that day and not about achieving the perfect weight so that I do not have to use as much air in my BC, besides it is convenient not to have to worry about being light at the end of a dive. So throw some extra pounds in the bags and hit your power inflater.

 

[Nemrod]

A wing is essentially the same as a horse collar that you wear behind your body instead of in front. the difference seems to be the power inflator, and while some "horse collars" have power inflater they do not really conform to my thinking of using a horse collar, when we used them we made sure our weighting was exact on every dive, and rarely put any air in the collar. they were there in case you happen to need to float on the surface for awhile. ( an advantage is that they float you face up)

I still think that perfect weighting is a best way to dive, however like most people I am lazy and the difference between diving with 4# or 6 is more about what weight the boat or shop happened to have that day and not about achieving the perfect weight so that I do not have to use as much air in my BC, besides it is convenient not to have to worry about being light at the end of a dive. So throw some extra pounds in the bags and hit your power inflater.

What he said.

Back some years ago circa 1973ish, after observing it being done by a couple of other divers, I took an old horsecollar, cut the straps off, flipped it over and slid it over the tank band of my Voit Snug Pack. Then I just set my tank over it sandwiching it in. This results in a perfect little wing, not totally unlike my modern Oxy Mach V 18. I am pretty sure this is the evolutionary missing link for what is now called a wing/BP. I had seen this several times, worked in a dive shop part time for college money, had all the fixings, made my own. I dived it quite a bit but for doubles it was still the inner tubes and Clorox bottles.

I have never owned a jacket or conventional PadI style BC. Back bags are the gas. A horsecollar is so much like a wing it is funny how it fell into oblivion. Both a wing and a horsecollar work best when there is very little air in them and the lungs are used for minor buoyancy adjustments. The best BC I ever had for maintaining "skydiver" trim was a Dacor horsecollar with the dual bladders. One bladder was strictly under the tummy so there was no shifting of the air away from center as with a conventional horsecollar or wing.

N

 

[mdb]

My favs were both SQ models: a BC called the Roughwater, front mount horse collar design, auto inflation, crotch strap and a front pocket.

The second model, the B/C Pack-BCP-is a pure back inflation unit with a hard back with a one piece harness-just snug up the webbing and the whole BC snugs up. The only modification I made was a SS adjustable belt buckle. This is still my favorite BC. I hope the inner bladder holds out.