Removing and Replacing BC underwater with weight pouches

[yle]

Every one of my OW students wears a 7mm wetsuit in the pool and integrated weights. And every one of them has successfully removed their BCD, underwater, so that they could adjust the tank band, and replaced the BCD, while neutrally buoyant. Occasionally a student will need a second try to get it right, but most get it on their first try.

When they remove the BCD it is heavy and they are very buoyant, due to their suit. So the trick is simply to keep the BCD above them. If you try to do this kneeling on the bottom and set the BCD on your knee, it's very difficult: BCD drops, person goes up. Just think about where the weight is (in the BCD) and where the buoyancy is (on the person) and make sure you always keep the BCD above and person below. I encourage my students (and I demo) to do it while horizontal.

 

[Diver0001]

Every one of my OW students wears a 7mm wetsuit in the pool and integrated weights. And every one of them has successfully removed their BCD, underwater, so that they could adjust the tank band, and replaced the BCD, while neutrally buoyant. Occasionally a student will need a second try to get it right, but most get it on their first try.

When they remove the BCD it is heavy and they are very buoyant, due to their suit. So the trick is simply to keep the BCD above them. If you try to do this kneeling on the bottom and set the BCD on your knee, it's very difficult: BCD drops, person goes up. Just think about where the weight is (in the BCD) and where the buoyancy is (on the person) and make sure you always keep the BCD above and person below. I encourage my students (and I demo) to do it while horizontal.

So do you have them do it facing up with the BCD above them? Can you elaborate?

R..

 

[yle]

So do you have them do it facing up with the BCD above them? Can you elaborate?

R..

They start facing down, turn themselves to the right and end up facing up. BCD stays still as they turn, essentially. It's a little tricky, because the BCD wants to turn with them; but I coach them (and demonstrate) how to hold the BCD in place as they turn. After they have turned, they can "hug" the BCD, tank and everything attached... they basically have the BCD on backwards. At that point remaining horizontal isn't as crucial. They have access to their tank band and first stage. Replacing the BCD is just a matter of reversing the steps; it usually takes them a few seconds to turn around, right arm through, left elbow through, and the rest is trivial.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

They start facing down, turn themselves to the right and end up facing up. BCD stays still as they turn, essentially. It's a little tricky, because the BCD wants to turn with them; but I coach them (and demonstrate) how to hold the BCD in place as they turn. After they have turned, they can "hug" the BCD, tank and everything attached... they basically have the BCD on backwards. At that point remaining horizontal isn't as crucial. They have access to their tank band and first stage. Replacing the BCD is just a matter of reversing the steps; it usually takes them a few seconds to turn around, right arm through, left elbow through, and the rest is trivial.

what would happen if your student tried to do this in open water and lost their grip on the tank/bc for a moment?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

what would happen if your student tried to do this in open water and lost their grip on the tank/bc for a moment?

They better have a good grip on the mouthpiece with their teeth!
I guess they would have to grab a hose and reel in their rig. It might look like a monkey F'ing a football.
I know I'll never find out, you'll never catch me wearing one of those things.

 

[Diver0001]

They start facing down, turn themselves to the right and end up facing up. BCD stays still as they turn, essentially. It's a little tricky, because the BCD wants to turn with them; but I coach them (and demonstrate) how to hold the BCD in place as they turn. After they have turned, they can "hug" the BCD, tank and everything attached... they basically have the BCD on backwards. At that point remaining horizontal isn't as crucial. They have access to their tank band and first stage. Replacing the BCD is just a matter of reversing the steps; it usually takes them a few seconds to turn around, right arm through, left elbow through, and the rest is trivial.

Thanks, It sounds like the point you get to is what I was describing earlier in the thread where you need to get out of the BCD and get a bear hug on it before it drops and you float. It sounds like you're saying the same thing but showing them initial steps that make sense for working up to the bear hug.

Personally I would find this a very risky thing to suggest doing with a loaded w.i. BCD in any kind of real world diving situation. For equipment familiarization in the pool, ok, tricky but potentially fun. In the real world, however, having at least some of the weight on a weightbelt seems pretty essential to me once the suits get thicker and your ballast gets over a few kg.

R..

 

[rivers]

T
The problem with a belt is that the dive shops tend to have old ones with bad teeth and I've lost a few of them or that they sit uncomfortably.

Buy your own belt? just a suggestion

 

[scubadiver888]

I have been in a situation, once, where I was hooked on something and had to take of my BCD to free myself. I had an insta-buddy and he turned out to be useless. Ideally, he should have helped me but I had to unhook myself. So as much as I avoid getting entangled it can happen that you have to take off your BCD.

As a DM I have to demonstrate taking my BCD off and putting it back on. It goes much more smoothly if I wear a weight belt. I put enough weights on the belt that without my rig I am approximately neutral. The rest of the weight goes on my rig. This has many advantages. If I take off my rig I am neutral. When I float my rig at the surface I don't need a large wing with a lot of lift just to make it float. Smaller wing makes for a smaller hole when traveling in the water. Wearing a weight belt means I can demonstrate putting on a weight belt in water.

As others have pointed out, wearing some weight on a belt is the best solution.

You might be able to figure out how to take off your BCD with all the weights in the BCD by putting it on your knee but when I did my DM we had to exchange our gear. If the other DM was neutral and wearing a belt then I would be too light when I took their rig and they would be too heavy when they took mine. If my rig is neutral at the end of the dive and I'm neutral without my rig then the only weight I need on the rig is for air I breath. If I have a balanced rig and all other DMs/Instructors have balanced rig, we can swap gear.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I have been in a situation, once, where I was hooked on something and had to take of my BCD to free myself. I had an insta-buddy and he turned out to be useless. Ideally, he should have helped me but I had to unhook myself. So as much as I avoid getting entangled it can happen that you have to take off your BCD.

As a DM I have to demonstrate taking my BCD off and putting it back on. It goes much more smoothly if I wear a weight belt. I put enough weights on the belt that without my rig I am approximately neutral. The rest of the weight goes on my rig. This has many advantages. If I take off my rig I am neutral. When I float my rig at the surface I don't need a large wing with a lot of lift just to make it float. Smaller wing makes for a smaller hole when traveling in the water. Wearing a weight belt means I can demonstrate putting on a weight belt in water.

As others have pointed out, wearing some weight on a belt is the best solution.

You might be able to figure out how to take off your BCD with all the weights in the BCD by putting it on your knee but when I did my DM we had to exchange our gear. If the other DM was neutral and wearing a belt then I would be too light when I took their rig and they would be too heavy when they took mine. If my rig is neutral at the end of the dive and I'm neutral without my rig then the only weight I need on the rig is for air I breath. If I have a balanced rig and all other DMs/Instructors have balanced rig, we can swap gear.

The biggest complaint I usually hear about weight belts is they are uncomfortable, or pull the diver down while the wing is trying to pull up, or they have no ass to support the belt and it tends to want to slip off.
My advice is to first consider a rubber belt since they stick better, are more comfortable since they give. Use several smaller weights since they are spread out more and sit flatter, avoid weight pouches on a belt with soft weights since they are bulkier, and use a steel tank if you have any exposure protection that needs to be offset along with a heavier plate.
Like I said earlier, I think weight integrated BC's are a really bad evolution in dive gear driven only by convenience and looks with no thought to performance or potential drawbacks.

If if the training agencies are now considering the weight integrated BC to be the new standard in diving for recreational divers then they need to update their training to reflect the fact that nobody should be taking one of those things off at depth for any reason and design a new set of protocols for dealing with problems besides doff and don of BC at depth. Some of those WI models don't even have a quick release system to drop weights in an emergency if needed. One brand I saw has squeeze clips to undo the weight pockets, not really a good system for blind weight release in an emergency with thick gloves on. Maybe the agencies should should rethink that too since it seems the manufacturers gear and training seem to go hand in hand these days.

 

[yle]

what would happen if your student tried to do this in open water and lost their grip on the tank/bc for a moment?

If they do it the same way we do it in the pool, they would be fine. This is why we do the skills in the pool first, so they can identify and work through any potential problems until both the student and I are comfortable with their ability to perform the skill. If you saw how my students perform this (and as I wrote earlier, 90% of them do it with no issues on their first attempt), you would see why their "grip" on the tank is irrelevant.