I do love a BP wing but if my drysuit didn't have pockets i would miss that 1 feature from a jacket BCD.
I never dive wet without something like this: Highland Neoprene Pocket Shorts - Dive Gear Express
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I do love a BP wing but if my drysuit didn't have pockets i would miss that 1 feature from a jacket BCD.
I have some of the same problems, thanks for mentioning this.
Can those weight pockets slide all the way to the front? How do you ditch them? Do you think the weight harness would fit a tall guy (6'6", 195cm)
Thanks,
Bill
I do love a BP wing but if my drysuit didn't have pockets i would miss that 1 feature from a jacket BCD.
I just bought a BP/W. Aluminum back-plate. Did my first dive with it last week.
I immediately thought, after jumping in the water, that I would never use a jacket style again. The difference in comfort and mobility was instantly apparent. My arms and chest were unencumbered. It took a lot less effort to move. It was so nice not having a bulky set of pockets or being squished by the bladder when I inflated. It even packs smaller in the dive bag.
I still need more experience with it to test out a few trim solutions, though of the five dives I did with it I did not make any changes from the suggestions made to me by my wing-experienced buddy.
Setting the webbing up for my body size on the boat was pretty easy given that I had some help from a guy who has been using a wing for years. The learning curve in the water was pretty fast too. I found the wing did not dump air as easily as my jacket BC (which has many dump valves) - I had to adjust my angle in the water a bit to get the air to stream out when horizontal - but, the air seemed to go out faster than my jacket BC, especially on the surface when I was still vertical.
During the dive I noticed that I added or released air way less than I did with the Jacket BC. Much less fuddling. It did not ride up as much as the Jacket and felt a lot more stable. The wing has two tank bands too so the tank felt more secure and I did not feel it moving at all.
There are no plastic clips on the wing or giant, plastic integrated weight pockets and there is a lot less fabric. Hence I think the wing is a lot less buoyant than the jacket BC I have.
I bought my current jacket BC in the tropics. When I was back home in Canada diving in the lake with my thick wet-suit I noticed that the jacket BC was a little too tight. I will not suffer this problem now for the wing will adjust easily no mater if naked or dressed for ice.
I did notice that I hang differently when floating on the surface but I just leaned back a bit and felt comfortable.
This is my third BC. The first jacket style BC I grew out of. The second I bought only recently and now regret not trying a wing sooner. Had I made my first BC a wing I could still be using it, I would have saved a lot of money and likely enjoyed my diving even more.
Consequently I can't imagine using a jacket BC anymore.
MT
The secret to backplates is the crotch strap Seriously, a snug crotch strap can make up for a harness that is a bit loose (although not one that is uneven).
After reading some of the posts here and searching the web for information on some of the BC models mentioned I came across this interesting document about the history of BCs:
http://www.seavisions.biz/images/BCD.pdf
Interesting to see how much things have changed over the last 50 years.
MT