Like that pocket on your BC? Fine, add it to your backplate webbing no big deal.
Go nuts:
BC Accessory Pockets by Dive Rite - Dive Gear Express
$30 each (and up). Pretty soon, the old "BP/W's are cheaper!" claim will be dead too.
Also $30 a pop...plus, one will need to do this for each set of thermal gear. Let's see...for me right now, that's three (dry, heavy, light), so two pockets each will be $180.
How much crap do you take?
Sorry, but this isn't really about me (but it is shorter than your list). Anything that's externalized can make the argument that it is 'dangling/sticking out', although this really varies by degrees...and I did notice that one of the comments had stated that their solution for a lack of pockets was to clip off their DSMB/reel to their rear D-ring.
I assume a submarine strap is a crotch strap?
Yup, that's the modern 'polite' name for it. FYI, back around the time that you were born, the training of the day also included statements like "Address Left, Strap Right", as back in those days, the strap wasn't very wide.
A lot of BP/W guys dive with their belt under the crotch strap on purpose.
I know. And FYI, some coldwater wreck divers have been known to have used double steel buckles, and/or taped shut with duct tape, to avoid losing a weightbelt. Ditto for duct tape on fin straps.
However, the question of Ditchable -vs- Nonditchable is simply YA trade-off consideration of the objective risks involved and one not to be made lightly. Fortunately, since we're not deep into a Tech forum, the general educational policy for Recreational Divers is to have ditchable weights, to assume Ditchable here is a very reasonable default configuration & policy.
Having a diver in the water next to a running propeller seems like a good way for a Darwin award, but OK.
I didn't say that I liked the particular experience; it was what it was.
But since I've run into this in more than one ocean, I've learned that it doesn't appear to be all that rare/isolated of an event, so I've chosen to be better prepared for that contingency requirement in my trade-off prioritizations.
Actually I think for people who change thermal often a BP/W is way better, as you can swap out bladders.
Which means more gear to be purchased, stored, maintained, carried (airline baggage fees, etc). However it is also a question of how much optimization one wants to pursue: the penalty for having a BCD with an extra 10lbs of lift isn't particularly profound at the Recreational diver level again, so the Law of Diminishing Returns applies.
The downside is that all those things need to be added on, after the fact, as separate items...
At additional cost and complexity. What's funny about a lot of this "Customization is Good" theme is that it suggests that we all have to buy custom tailored suits, shirts, pants, socks and shoes because no one is an "Off The Rack" size anymore.
That's a trick question, right?
Pretty much...and even if one says "Yes", then the goal posts shift to: 'Okay, but for
how many dives?', and so forth.
-hh
