4 questions after a first dive weekend

[DiverDownD3]

As others have suggested you need to find a mentor. I know mine has been more than beneficial to me. Or you can hire a DM to dive with you until you get some of these issues resolved. Just a thought. Good luck.

 

[Doby45]

Nothing you have posted is really gear specific, this all appears to be "new diver" specific. It is hilarious how people jump on the whole "You should not be in a BP/W and you should be in a jacket." bandwagon and tell you to start changing your equipment. Every bit of that is crap. You have good gear, so now learn how to use it. Trim and weight will be an issue regardless of the BCD you wear and you will find the BP/W will actually give you more options on that weight placement when it comes to trim. Cam band pouches are useful in this capacity and so is putting weight directly on shoulder straps if need be. Ditchable weight is your choice and how you ditch it is your choice. I personally hate weight belts (my choice) and prefer to have weight either in a cam band pouch or dumpable pouches that attach to the backplate and waist belt.

These are the ones I use on my Zeagle Express Tech and they also fit on my HOG SS backplate.

As you can see in the pic below I have 2 2lb weights attached to my shoulder straps and that with regular ole zip ties.

There are options out there and I will say that you have a VERY good start with the equipment you currently own.

 

[Neilwood]

Agree with @Doby45 regarding the kit.

I did my OW in a jacket but almost immediately afterwards changed to a BP&W - didn't find any huge issues due to the change in buoyancy compensator other than issues I would have had with a jacket namely that I am an inexperienced diver who is still learning the finer points.

Ignore those that say you are only a new diver and shouldn't be in a BP&W - the BP&W is only a tool and if anything it is a better tool than a jacket BCD. Like any tool it gets better when you learn to use it properly.

 

[Ojai Diver]

I'm among those who found the supplied inflator hose on the DSS rig to be too short. It rested on my shoulder, barely adequate for blind power inflates and deflates. I prefer to orally inflate on dives.

Yes, I am aware of the butt dump.

Yes, I did adjust the back plate so I can touch the top of it, and I can also put my fists under the straps.

I changed mine out for their longer one, and like that much better.

Regarding the weight belt, it is not a problem for me under my harness. No need to undo the harness to dump; just unbuckle, hold at arms length (per my early '90's NAUI training) and it's off to Davy Jones's Locker.

 

[Lorenzoid]

Agree with @Doby45 regarding the kit.

I did my OW in a jacket but almost immediately afterwards changed to a BP&W - didn't find any huge issues due to the change in buoyancy compensator other than issues I would have had with a jacket namely that I am an inexperienced diver who is still learning the finer points.

You were probably wise to switch sooner rather than later. I switched to a BP/W after a couple of hundred dives with a jacket BC, and I found it a bit of a struggle. However, I should add that in conjunction with the new gear configuration I was attempting in earnest for the first time to achieve horizontal trim in shallow water (i.e., almost no air in the BC) while hovering motionless. It's possible I would have had just as much difficulty learning this in the jacket. With the jacket, I had always used a weight belt, with weights distributed at my sides or underneath, and perhaps that acts as a keel. With the BP/W, I used no additional weights, just the inherent weight of the plate and tank on my back, and not surprisingly with this "inverted keel," I had a major tendency to roll and pitch. My instructor said it was a matter of balancing, like learning to ride a bicycle. It took me hours of practice to master it.

 

[filmguy123]

Thanks everyone for all the help and input. I'll say a few things here:

• I do have some local (and not local) instructors which I will be (and currently am) pursuing. It'll be a few weeks until I can begin this process though, and so it's been good to reflect on this, and I will be going to a local pool to mess with all of this and take the advice given here.

• Yes, the initial instruction I've had isn't what I should have had for the direction I've ended up going - learn as you go, eh? If I could redo it all, I would have done the training MUCH different, but either way I've learned a lot through the process.

• I am ok with a steeper initial learning curve, as I am not one to lose my patience over needing hours of practice to get up to snuff before enjoying diving. I enjoy the learning process. I'm weird like that

• If I had to do it all again, I would still opt for the BP/W setup. Is it more to setup? Yes. But while there are some initial struggles that I've had prior to in person BP/W training, the benefits are already clear to me.

• Really appreciate all the feedback on how to weight, customize hose if needed (I will do this as a last resort), and the other tips and general feedback as well.

If I had to tell a new diver what to do based on my experience, I would say that if you want plug'n'play simplicity, just get a simple back inflate BC jacket (but maintain a lot of the other hogarthian mentality with primary donate, simple brass & glass SPG, etc.). But for someone who likes to tinker and has the mindset of be willing to put in the time to master a new school and enjoys floating up and down at 20 feet practicing, and messing with weighting and gear config etc. - I think the long term benefits are worth it. That's probably my engineer brain, more than the average consumer mindset.

Of course, I would also recommend any new diver I meet to get private instruction and interview the instructor in depth. Wow, I wish I knew what I know now when I signed up for my LDS Basic OW class! In any case - thank you for all the great tips here! Super helpful. I'll report back once I've had some better training from the proper sources (which should be from here on out...)

Thanks!!

 

[tbone1004]

youd be surprised how much that second to last paragraph would have changed if you had even an hour with someone who knew what they were doing. It's unfortunate but it's easy enough that if someone knows what they're doing there is hardly any tinkering involved. There actually tends to be more tinkering with a jacket bc to get it to trim properly if you want to dive horizontally than in a plate if you have it fit to you properly

 

[filmguy123]

Actually, very true point tbone. 100% that. I talked to a dive instructor who uses BP/W before I went out last weekend, and while he wasn't there to help me with weighting or diving and what not, in a matter of minutes he had setup that whole rig to my body size so all the D-rings were in the right place and the fit was good. Stupid easy, but would have taken me forever on my own.

I will also say that all the PADI divers on the trip were a bit enamored with my setup (even though my skills weren't impressive!!). Lots of interest and compliments on how streamlined the setup was, how cool the gear looked, and when I explained the rationale how much sense it made to them. I imagine if I had actually been a good diver, I would have made a few converts then and there!

 

[Neilwood]

I think that with more and more divers seeing bp&w setups on dry land, having the concepts explained to them and seeing them in action underwater there is more of a movement towards them.

I don't think as many people think of them as "tec only" as possibly used to be the case.

As @tbone1004 suggests, had you had an experienced mentor help in the water you would have been there a lot quicker. I was quite lucky in that my OW and AOW instructor uses one so set up was simple

 

[LarryHinDC]

I don't dive with a BP/W, so no advice from me on that! The one question I will address is 3. I think the issue here is what was defined for you as "properly weighted." I imagine that the weight check done to determine what was your proper weight was probably done at the beginning of a dive with a full tank, when the best time to do it is at the end of a dive with an empty, more buoyant, tank. So perhaps adding that pound or two will bring you to properly weighted at the end of the dive, which is when you are having troubles.

Best of luck!

Larry