Oceanic Islander 2 and drysuits doable?

[bennenrkc]

I am the type of person that doesn't like to rent anything. I have need brought up to always buy what I need and want when I could afford it. When I first got interested in diving I thought we would be warm water divers only.

In my enthusiastic rush I went out and bought the cheapest travel back inflate bcd I could find. I have been very happy with my choice until now.

I have now decided that I want to dive more than the few times a year I can travel.

I recently bought whites fusion drysuits and am now faced with the question of whether the islander 2's will work with a drysuit.

Sorry for the long post and any help is associated.

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[divezonescuba]

That is unlikely to work well.

Drysuit diving requires a significant amount more weight than tropical diving that the Islander is designed for. It would not be unexpected for you to need more weight to dive dry than the Islander has buoyancy.

I use approximately 30 pounds of weight and use a BCD that has 50 pounds of lift.

 

[bennenrkc]

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I was worried that that would be the case. I am hoping to switch to a bpw setup if we are going to have to switch. For your setup is the 50 lbs of lift the minimum I should shoot for? I dont see alot of single wings that have that much lift. If you are using 30 lbs of weight plus ~ 5lbs for the cylinder that would put most of the single tank wings out of the running or am I missing something? I am trying to learn as much as I can and any education is appreciated.

 

[GCullen94]

On a backplate and wing system you should not need more than 35-40lbs of lift in a wing, I can dive my drysuit (DC Ztech) with 14 lbs of lead and a steel 119 with a steel backplate, and switch to wearing an ali 80 with a 3 mil shorty and my steel plate and have 4 lb. and still be balanced. It's all about diving a balanced rig. A BC is going to take more lead to sink because a BC itself is positive but a BP/W is 5-6 lbs negative to start with, meaning you need less lead. My 7 mil to drysuit I added 6lbs of lead.

 

[CoralSeaMan]

If you are going to do drysuit diving in the Midwest you will need a lot more lift than the Islander is designed for. Not only is the BC not designed for it in terms of lift but you may also find it is not very rugged. I like my Islander in the Caribbean, but I would not use it in drysuit diving.

 

[bennenrkc]

So the consensus so far is no Islander 2. Which then raises the question what bc? The local shop wasn't overly thrilled that I bought the drysuits online. I got a great deal on some demo suits so I know i made the right decision for my pocketbook but I would like to help the local shop whenever i can. The problem with buying the next bc there is they are an aqualung dealer and I know I don't want to go back to a jacket style bcd. So I think I am pretty much stuck with buying online, which they are going to be even less thrilled about especially when I take the class with them.

The reviews online seem to suggest that the DSS kit is a great package, and DRIS has the HOG kit on sale so I am trying to decide between the two of different options. The Hog setup is less money wise and DRIS has been really good to me so I am leaning towards that setup. Any pros and cons are appreciated.