Uncontrolled descent

[MaxBottomtime]

Since the OP mentioned a pony bottle I don't think he was diving doubles. Buoyancy swings are very small with aluminum tanks and only 8-9 pounds with most steel tanks. I try to keep my single rig balanced enough that I can swim it up at any point in the dive with a loss of buoyancy. I also dive dry and carry a liftbag but have yet to have an emergency.

 

[BRT]

You may want to consider a balanced rig. With an empty BC you should never have so much weight that you descend faster than you can stop with a couple of fin kicks.

In a drysuit you can go very negative, very fast, if you start to drop without putting in air.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read/comment on this thread. The main idea that I was trying to get across was to be very careful about what and where you attach things that can cause problems. I got away with having my gloves attached to the inflator hose for a long time but eventually this practice caught up with me in an unexpected manner. The gloves now get attach to a D ring instead.

 

[lermontov]

Thanks to everyone who took the time to read/comment on this thread. The main idea that I was trying to get across was to be very careful about what and where you attach things that can cause problems. I got away with having my gloves attached to the inflator hose for a long time but eventually this practice caught up with me in an unexpected manner. The gloves now get attach to a D ring instead.

why dont you put on your gloves before you get in the water as the last thing to do?

 

[kafkaland]

Since the OP mentioned a pony bottle I don't think he was diving doubles. Buoyancy swings are very small with aluminum tanks and only 8-9 pounds with most steel tanks. I try to keep my single rig balanced enough that I can swim it up at any point in the dive with a loss of buoyancy. I also dive dry and carry a liftbag but have yet to have an emergency.

The buoyancy swing from full to empty does not depend on the tank material, only on its size and content. 80 cf of air weigh about six pounds, no matter what tank they're in. What does depend on the tank though is how the center of gravity shifts. Aluminum tanks become lift at the bottom, whereas most steel tanks don't shift much.

 

[Bert van den Berg]

Hi lerrmontov,

The reason for not putting on the gloves before splashing is that some of us need the extra dexterity to do things that are difficult or impossible to do with gloves on our hands. For me it is slinging a pony bottle to two D rings because I dive solo (no dive partner) and am required to have a redundant air source or the dive operator gets a bit unhappy.

 

[Storker]

The reason for not putting on the gloves before splashing is that some of us need the extra dexterity to do things that are difficult or impossible to do with gloves on our hands. For me it is slinging a pony bottle to two D rings because I dive solo (no dive partner) and am required to have a redundant air source or the dive operator gets a bit unhappy.

How thick are your gloves? Are they 3-finger or 5-finger? I have a hard time imagining any kind of dive requiring thick wetgloves where I'd choose to jump into the water with the gloves off. For me, that would mean nearly instant chilblains.

As @Imla says, it's quite possible to get used to working with thick gloves. I have a small-sized boltsnap on my long hose, and I don't find it particularly difficult to clip it to my shoulder D-ring even when I'm wearing 6.5mm 3-fingers. Same with my hosed AI computer, which is rigged with a standard size boltsnap and clipped to my left hip D-ring. If you have problems operating the boltsnaps on your pony, perhaps you could change them to a larger size, with a ring that's big enough to stick your gloved finger into.

Another thing is that I'd worry about my safety if I weren't able to don and doff all my gear while wearing gloves. If the manure intersects the rotating ventilation device, I want to be able to ditch whatever I think I should ditch without having to take off my gloves first. Even more so if I didn't have a buddy at hand.

 

[lermontov]

not being able to manipulate your equipment with gloves on is a liability- you've done plenty of dives have you always done it this way?

 

[seeker242]

Curious. Was it a hot drop? I recall being taught to never drop without an inflated bc, so that you don't sink uncontrollably if you have inflator problems. Unless you are hot dropping in a current or something like that.

 

[doctormike]

Hi lerrmontov,

The reason for not putting on the gloves before splashing is that some of us need the extra dexterity to do things that are difficult or impossible to do with gloves on our hands. For me it is slinging a pony bottle to two D rings because I dive solo (no dive partner) and am required to have a redundant air source or the dive operator gets a bit unhappy.

You seem to have a pretty big dive count, so I'll have to give you the benefit of the doubt on this one, but...

1) Every time that I have splashed with a slung bottle (pony, deco or bailout), I attached it on the boat or shore. It's certainly harder to do that on land than in the water, and sometimes for the sake of expediency the crew will help me attach a bottle, but I wouldn't want to have to attach it on the surface after splashing, especially if there was a current. I don't get in the water unless I am ready to dive.

2) Not sure what kind of gloves you are wearing, but using either heavy wet gloves or dry gloves I have always been able to do things like don and doff a slung bottle, connect and disconnect an LP hose to my dry suit or wing, etc... I think that's actually a necessary skill for any advanced diving training. The only time I heard of a diver removing his gloves was when someone on our charters needed to dump air from his dry suit because of a malfunctioning dump valve - he had to pull his neck seal, and that was hard to do with heavy gloves. Other than that, your bolt snaps on your pony bottle should be big enough for you to manipulate with gloves on.

3) I know that sometimes you need to get deep fast, but I personally never splash without a full wing, then I dump gas to sink once I'm OK on the surface.