Picking up BP/W setup from the ground?

[Larryjd1]

portable folding work table from home depot

Or bring a sherpa...

 

[StefinSB]

I do it with steel tanks and a steel backplate. Usually LP72's or 85's. Hell, did it on Sunday with LP85's. do NOT do that with weight pockets on the rig though, you'll give yourself a concussion

Exactly. So the overhead technique works for you Florida warm water divers but maybe is questionable for other areas.

 

[tbone1004]

Exactly. So the overhead technique works for you Florida warm water divers but maybe is questionable for other areas.

works fine in the Carolinas and in our cold lakes. I don't use weight pockets, only belts. The real key though is to not have the rig on the floor if you can help it. If there are no gear benches/tables then I assemble everything in the back of the truck and just walk it from there.
If I was in the OP's situation though, which for me would probably be a HP100 in a 7mm wetsuit or a drysuit and shore diving where I didn't hike with it on my back from the truck or wherever? I'd have any extra lead I needed on a weight belt, and I would pick the rig up over my head, every time.

 

[sea_ledford]

Exactly. So the overhead technique works for you Florida warm water divers but maybe is questionable for other areas.

I used to do it all the time in Northern Cal. It's a technique. Not appropriate for all situations or individuals. I think the put one arm in and put it on like a jacket is much more likely to cause me back issues. Lifting and twisting is always a no-no.

 

[Tattoo John]

For what it's worth, when I said I picked my bp/w up to don with one arm I didn't mean that I do the over the head thing. I thought that was something DIR divers did to prove they had sufficient testosterone for the dive they were about to do. Well, dir divers and Hitler.

That right there... I mean come on... THAT'S FUNNY, don't care who you are.

 

[Sawdust82]

Ive been diving this summer exclusively with a good buddy of mine. 7mm suits, hoods, gloves, single al80s, diving mostly from rocky shores. We always help each other with the hoods and then with our rigs, keeps us safer on the rocks

 

[hedonist222]

left hand gripping the tank valve and then I swoop my forearm under the shoulder straps are the top and lift

this reduces stress on shoulder strap

I have a xDeep zen deluxe for reference

thinking about installing a kayak handle

this makes lifting the bcd onto the tank easier - same for transportation

 

[tep]

Where's the demonstration of how to properly flip double 120's over one's head?

I get it, but I think I stick to having a keen eye for the nearest bench-like object.

Lloyd Bridges would have done it!

 

[fisheater]

Lloyd Bridges would have done it!

There's a reason why, early on in the production of Sea Hunt, he asked for balsa wood tanks.

 

[Ghost95]

Funny story about donning over the head.

Had a guy and his buddy show up on the boat. One was all decked out in his PADI superdiver regalia and the other was a normal looking guy. I watched them ignore the brief and heard Superdiver's comments about how he would do things if it were his boat. Blah, blah, blah. Whatever, just another day.

Anyway, we get to the spot and start getting everyone suited up and in the water when superdiver gets up and starts swinging his kit off the bench. I ask what he's doing and he says "I'm putting on my gear so I can go diving." I asked why he's not sitting on the bench to do that, like we talked about in the brief and he tells me that the only way he can get a good fit was to don the tank over his head. Says he's fine because he's a firefighter or something. Whatever... Seeing as I can't let him brain one of the other passengers I make him and his buddy, who's already suited up, wait until after everybody else is safely out of the way before he tries his over the head thing on a rolling boat.

Everyone else gets off the boat and superdiverfirefighter goes to get his gear on. Fins and weight belt are already on. Tank and jacket go up over his head and at maximum extension...the boat takes a roll.

Superdiverfirefighter loses his balance and when he tries to recover, his finned feet get in the way. Tank and BC go over the side. Dude ends up rolling around on the deck. Regulator is free flowing and drifting away.

Me, because I probably shouldn't deal with the public much, "Wow, that was impressive! It does seem like you're loosing a lot of air though."

The dude scoots off the back of the boat like a seal and retrieves his gear and swims it back to the boat. I grab it out of the water and put it on the bench. Superdiverfirefighter gets back onboard, sits down and straps in, in silence. He and his buddy, who is now giving me the eye roll and shaking his head, get in the water and make their first, all be it short dive, for lack of air, without further problems.

Next dive he sat his ass on the bench where it belonged and had no other issues getting suited up. He didn't say a word for the rest of the trip. Not to me, not to the other passengers, and not to his buddy that I saw. His buddy was talking to everybody and having a good time though. I don't think we missed anything.

The kicker to all this was that the guy was diving a SeaQuest Explorer BC. You remember that one? Velcro cumber bun, no adjustment straps whatsoever. I'm not really sure what fit he could only get right by standing up and donning over his head.

Moral of the story, only do the over the head thing on stable ground if you have to do it at all. It's not a good thing to try on a boat even if you are a PADI superdiverfirefighter.

Safe diving all.