Hi to all the experts out there.
I appologize for the length of the question, but I want to ensure that my assumptions are correct. (Yes I am an engineer. )
I'm new to diving, and I've been doing my research on gear. I am not asking what BC to get, rather, I am trying to understand some of the reasoning that some have offered with regards to using a lighter weight, lighter lift Travel BC vs a more conventional BC for local (ie cold fresh water) diving. Just for reference, I am in Colorado, and I hope to do some lake and reservoir diving, in addition to vacation diving in nice warm island waters.
Here is my understandsing so far. Please correct me if I am wrong on any of my assumptions.
I will assume for this discussion that I will be using a weight belt (I do plan to travel without weights).
At the surface, fully loaded (full tank), one should be neutral with a lung full of air, and an empty BC. Lift capacity of the BC should be an non issue. We then add a couple of lbs to account for the empty tank at the end of the dive.
So, at the start of the dive, I'm maybe 2-4 lbs negative. At the end of the dive, I should be neutral again.
With just my skin, in warm fresh water, I'm diving with 8 lbs. (I'm 190 lbs, male).
Of course, if I'm in cold water, I'd be wearing a wet suit (dry suit not in scope for me at this point). If it is a 7mm suit, the math suggests that I should be wearing about 22-24 lbs to be neutral at the end of the dive. (I'm thinking 12 - 14 lbs just for the suit.)
Now, with wetsuit compression at depth, I know that I will loose some of the wetsuit boyancy, which at 60 ft could be as much as 1/2, which suggests to me, that I will need to compensate with 6 to 8 lbs of lift in the BC to bring be neutral again.
SO:
The reading that I've done shows that a Travel BC seems to always offer 20 -25 lbs of lift at the low end. This suggests that I can take 5 lbs of dead weight (other gear) and still have a nice saftey margin.
My question, after all of this is, why would I want a fully loaded BC that has 30-35 lbs of lift, vs a Travel BC that may have less lift, but still offers all the lift I 'think' I need?
Thanks
Mortis.
I appologize for the length of the question, but I want to ensure that my assumptions are correct. (Yes I am an engineer. )
I'm new to diving, and I've been doing my research on gear. I am not asking what BC to get, rather, I am trying to understand some of the reasoning that some have offered with regards to using a lighter weight, lighter lift Travel BC vs a more conventional BC for local (ie cold fresh water) diving. Just for reference, I am in Colorado, and I hope to do some lake and reservoir diving, in addition to vacation diving in nice warm island waters.
Here is my understandsing so far. Please correct me if I am wrong on any of my assumptions.
I will assume for this discussion that I will be using a weight belt (I do plan to travel without weights).
At the surface, fully loaded (full tank), one should be neutral with a lung full of air, and an empty BC. Lift capacity of the BC should be an non issue. We then add a couple of lbs to account for the empty tank at the end of the dive.
So, at the start of the dive, I'm maybe 2-4 lbs negative. At the end of the dive, I should be neutral again.
With just my skin, in warm fresh water, I'm diving with 8 lbs. (I'm 190 lbs, male).
Of course, if I'm in cold water, I'd be wearing a wet suit (dry suit not in scope for me at this point). If it is a 7mm suit, the math suggests that I should be wearing about 22-24 lbs to be neutral at the end of the dive. (I'm thinking 12 - 14 lbs just for the suit.)
Now, with wetsuit compression at depth, I know that I will loose some of the wetsuit boyancy, which at 60 ft could be as much as 1/2, which suggests to me, that I will need to compensate with 6 to 8 lbs of lift in the BC to bring be neutral again.
SO:
The reading that I've done shows that a Travel BC seems to always offer 20 -25 lbs of lift at the low end. This suggests that I can take 5 lbs of dead weight (other gear) and still have a nice saftey margin.
My question, after all of this is, why would I want a fully loaded BC that has 30-35 lbs of lift, vs a Travel BC that may have less lift, but still offers all the lift I 'think' I need?
Thanks
Mortis.