Jubilee BCD

[Zambezi]

I'm battling to get all the water out of my Jubilee BC after rinsing it out. Regardless of all my efforts, when I re-inflate it after cleaning I can still hear quite a bit of water sloshing around inside, enough to increase the weight quite a bit. Is there any "trick" in getting all the water out?? Is it detrimental to the BC's life span if it's stored with water in it?

All my buddies in our dive group are scubapro fanatics whereas I am a Mares fan ever since I bought my first pair of closed heel Mares fins in 1981 (I still use them for snorkelling)!! However, at the end of each trip my buddies rag me big time to the effect of "you should have bought decent equipment such as scubapro" as everone else is packed up and ready to go and I'm still trying to empty my BC.

Any ideas will really be appreciated.

 

[Zak OHara]

Zambezi,

RE: the Jubilee. I do not understand why you would be having more trouble than your other diving buddies getting water out. Are you trying to get the water out through the corrugated hose or through one of the dump valves. Here are a few tricks to do after your done diving.

• 
  Fully inflate BCD.

• You will now have a fully inflated circurlar bladder. Water will travel to the lowest point, with your help.

• Make the lowest point one of the dump valves. I would suggest one of the manual deflate valves on the bottom of the bcd.

• Simply pull the string

Doing this a couple of times you should have almost all of the water out of the bcd. If you are hyper concerned you could unscrew one of those valves, and get the water out. I discourage this because it increases the possiblity of losing one of the gaskets, not putting it back together properly (will result in the bladder not holding air), and simply more unnecessary wear and tear on the bc. Now having said that. IMO it is not critical to get all of the water out prior to storage. If you are storing the BC for any length of time, I would encourage you to flush the BC with fresh water. Basically fill it up w/ "fresh" water, slosh it around and empty. Do this a couple of times and your good to go. Some suggest a BC cleaner, microbacterial disinfectant, etc... This is up to you. I never used them, and no problems.

Sorry your friends are picking on you and your equipment. I think you stated it pretty well "fanatics". I have seen problems, failures, copycat, cheap materials used from all manufacturers at one point or another, and yes this includes Scuba Pro. The fact it takes you a little longer to get water out in no way reflects the quality of this product. You did not make a bad purchase.

We are thankful to have strong supportive customers such as yourself. I hope this helps.

Sincerely,

 

[Zambezi]

Hi Zak, thanks for the info.

I've been trying to empty it through the corrugated hose and not through the dump valve so maybe that's my problem. I normally inflate the BC fully and hold it upside down so the water can drain into the corrugated hose. Then press the release button so all the water drains out. I get quite a bit out but definitely not all.

As for my buddies ragging me, it's all good natured and makes life interesting. If any of their equipment gives hassles, I definitely don't let them forget it either.

Once again, thanks for the advice and to Scubaboard for an awesome web site. It's great to be able to obtain information directly from you guys so efficiently.

 

[Delhi Diver]

I have another question regarding the Jubilee BCD. I know it's basically a light BCD meant primarily for tropical use, but are there any restrictions on its use in cold water with heavier weights?

I have dived in a northeastern US quarry wearing a Mares Isotherm with 24lbs/11kg of weight, and didn't have any trouble with it (although next time I will move half the weight from the integrated pouches to a weight belt!). I might go wreck diving in the northeast with a similar configuration. I weigh about 175lbs/80kg.

So are there any restrictions? Thanks.

 

[Zambezi]

Hi Delhi Diver

Glad to hear someone else dive with a Jubilee, don't see too many around. How easy do you find it to get all the water out of it after rinsing it?

We live about 400 miles from the coast so do quite a bit of our recreational/training dives in a quarry 2000 metres above sea level. It's got a max depth of 33 metres/110 feet. During winter the temperature drops to about 45 (F) and sometimes quite a bit colder under the thermocline. When diving these conditions I wear a 5mm tropical wetsuit (local make) and 7mm Henderson farmer john over that, I refuse to get cold. I only weigh 58kg/128lbs so dive with 4kg of weight (how did you ever get 11kg into the weight pouches?? I agree with moving most of it to a weight belt).

With all that said, I've done about 20 - 30 dives in such conditions and have never experienced any hassles.

 

[Zak OHara]

There are no problems with this bc whether it is warm or cold water. As you mentioned distributing the weight around may be a good idea. If my memory serves me correct there are two non ditchable weight pockets in the back and bottom of the bcd as well.

Best

 

[Noviz]

Hi... another Jubilee user here....
I have NEVER had my Jubilee in warm water. Once upon a time I dove it with 30 pounds integrated (10 on each side, 5 in each trim pocket) with no problems. I love the darn thing.

That said, I took it apart. I removed the side panels (which are the weight pockets and cumberbund) and rigged the darn thing with webbing, sort of as a "Hog rig" would look. I use this way when pool diving with the school over the winter. This woks wonderfully! When I need the weight back on, I can restore it to actory specs in about 5 minutes.

Notmally I dive it in cold water 8lbs on each side, and 3+3 in the back. Because I wear a 6.5 mil J&J (size XXXL), I also wear a weight belt. If I need to ditch weight, I'll drop the bet. Those Jubilee pockets aint cheap!