In need of purchase decision assistance (PDA with Tobin)

[AML]

Hi,
So here is the scoop.

My wife and I both need to buy bcd and regs.

We dive only warm water. I have a 3mm full length Pinacle. In the big vests they have for rental, usually seem to be small scuba pros I wear, i use 8lbs on a belt. I dive with a 1 lb neg buoyant gopro on tray for video. I find I have a difficult time staying horizontal, my choices are head up angle, or head down, I am sure it is having all the weight on a belt.

I have been looking at the Torus17, though I'm wondering if it will let newest enough weight to stay in one place on the bottom for a steady video. The other concern is I never know what kind of tanks I am going to have.

Stats: 5'10" 163lbs, 8% body fat, in 3 mm with nothing else on I sink when vertical, float when horizontal. I exercise and have a home gym, so my weight fluctuates between 160 and 170.

Now my wife is fit as well. She is 5'6" 122 she has a 5mm Henderson full length. She gets cold even in80+ water on longer dives. But the damn wetsuittakes a whle before she can sink, even with 12 lbs. Guess the kind of material it is takes about 5 min to fully saturate at the surface. So with all the rental bcd crap she has worn, and with the 5mm she takes 12lbs on a belt. Naturally she has the same issue of the legs sinking making it mrs challenging to remain horizontal.

Stats: 5'6" 122, 5mm

Thank you for reading this and making equipment recomendations, or shall I say, engaging in purchase decision assistance (PDA) with us
AML

 

[cool_hardware52]

Hi,
So here is the scoop.

My wife and I both need to buy bcd and regs.

We dive only warm water. I have a 3mm full length Pinacle. In the big vests they have for rental, usually seem to be small scuba pros I wear, i use 8lbs on a belt. I dive with a 1 lb neg buoyant gopro on tray for video. I find I have a difficult time staying horizontal, my choices are head up angle, or head down, I am sure it is having all the weight on a belt.

I have been looking at the Torus17, though I'm wondering if it will let newest enough weight to stay in one place on the bottom for a steady video. The other concern is I never know what kind of tanks I am going to have.

Stats: 5'10" 163lbs, 8% body fat, in 3 mm with nothing else on I sink when vertical, float when horizontal. I exercise and have a home gym, so my weight fluctuates between 160 and 170.

Now my wife is fit as well. She is 5'6" 122 she has a 5mm Henderson full length. She gets cold even in80+ water on longer dives. But the damn wetsuittakes a whle before she can sink, even with 12 lbs. Guess the kind of material it is takes about 5 min to fully saturate at the surface. So with all the rental bcd crap she has worn, and with the 5mm she takes 12lbs on a belt. Naturally she has the same issue of the legs sinking making it mrs challenging to remain horizontal.

Stats: 5'6" 122, 5mm

Thank you for reading this and making equipment recomendations, or shall I say, engaging in purchase decision assistance (PDA) with us
AML

Your suit's buoyancy will determine how much ballast you need, and that ultimately will determine how much wing capacity you need.

In a 3mm and buoyant al 80's a Stainless plate, harness and reg is often enough ballast, and this ballast is positioned upp over your buoyant lungs and is also well located with respect to the buoyant al 80 on your back.

Switch to a negative steel tank, and the SS plate will over weight you. A lightweight (kydex) plate would be a better choice. The solution to being over weighted is never a larger wing.

Lightweight plates + al80's mean you will need other ballast somewhere, and you can be back to weight belts and trim issues.

So......

Any chance we can narrow down the choice of cylinders? Al 80's are pretty common warm water cylinders.

Tobin

 

[AML]

Tobin,
I have yet to dive anything other than al80's, but I just am trying to keep in mind the possibility a resort may use something different.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Tobin,
I have yet to dive anything other than al80's, but I just am trying to keep in mind the possibility a resort may use something different.

While that is possible, it is far more common for the traveling warm water diver to find al 80's.

My recommendation for 3mm suits and al80's is simple, medium SS plates, T-17 wings and Hog harnesses.

Add in negative Steel tanks and you need kydex plates. That means loosing the ballast benefits of the SS plates for most (if not all) of your diving.

Tobin

 

[AML]

Same for my wife?

 

[cool_hardware52]

Same for my wife?

Ah yes, sorry.

At 5'5" Your wife would do well with a medium plate. If she's diving now with al 80's an 12 lbs of ballast it implies that her 5mm suit is about 8 - 10 lbs positive.

With a SS plate she may need ~4-6 lbs in a belt.

Tobin

 

[AML]

So we would both need medium ss plate torus17s. And the steel plate is recommended because even though it is heavier and not needed from a durability standpoint, it's extra weight means less weight on a belt or in trim pouches?

 

[cool_hardware52]

So we would both need medium ss plate torus17s. And the steel plate is recommended because even though it is heavier and not needed from a durability standpoint, it's extra weight means less weight on a belt or in trim pouches?

Backplates aren't stainless because of needed strength or durability, stainless is used because it is dense, ~495 lbs / cu ft.

For both you and your wife's application the added ballast a SS plate provides up over your buoyant lungs is the primary benefit.

Tobin

 

[blake7]

Add in negative Steel tanks and you need kydex plates. That means loosing the ballast benefits of the SS plates for most (if not all) of your diving.

Would a Kydex plate and Torus 17 with Steel cylinders work with just a dive skin as well? What is the in-water buoyancy of just the medium Kydex plate + Torus 17 + your Hog harness? What is the total weight of that setup for travel purposes? You have the medium SS plate weight 4.7lbs on the website, but I couldn't find a similar number for the medium Kydex plate.

Thanks!

 

[cool_hardware52]

Would a Kydex plate and Torus 17 with Steel cylinders work with just a dive skin as well? What is the in-water buoyancy of just the medium Kydex plate + Torus 17 + your Hog harness? What is the total weight of that setup for travel purposes? You have the medium SS plate weight 4.7lbs on the website, but I couldn't find a similar number for the medium Kydex plate.

Thanks!

A kydex plate and harness is about -2 lbs. A reg is about -2lbs. *Most* common steel cylinders are about -2 lbs empty.

That's 6 lbs of ballast offset by effectively maybe 1 lbs of suit buoyancy, not a good idea IMO. If I was diving with little to no exposure suit I'd want a buoyant al 80 cylinder.

The solution to being over weighted is never a larger BC.

Tobin