Firstly, the litehawk version I have is the older blue/single cam band version, not the current gray/two cam band version.
My experience with the litehawk is a bit mixed.
Ok ok I know it's not a BP/W that people here seems to like, but I got it at a really good price
from a seller here.
The good. While under water, and moving about under water horizontally, I have the most wonderful time. It's. Easy to use and feels great.
The not so good. I find it very difficult to hover vertically. Actually let me correct myself. I find it very difficult to hover with my head on top and legs below. If I want to hover and I don't swim , the BCD is happier to hover with my head below and my legs above. Even when I start vertical with my head above, after 10-20 seconds I would be upside down. Much to the amusement of my dive buddies. It also makes my 3 minute safety stop pretty tricky. I am certified with peak performance buoyancy and used to have no problems hovering with jacket style BCD. Almost every time I tried to hover, the BCD will turn me upside down, and I would have to use the bottom dump to dump air before swimming to the surface.
The bad. This usually happens at the end of the dive when I am in the surface waiting for the boat to come to me. The BCD tends to push me face down. I have learned not to over inflate it at the surface, but it is still a struggle.
I think the problems I am facing is with the placement of weights. I usually dive with 8-10kg of weights depending on the tank I use. My last 9 dives were with 12liters aluminium tanks. The dives were in the sea, and water temp was a nice 28c. I always use a 5mm shortie a 3mm bootie with thin rubber sole, and hard blade fins. Fins are slightly negative buoyant. I was using 10kg. I may be carrying too much weight, but I think too much weight should not make me turn upside down, specially since I don't have the same problem with a jacket style BCD.
What I do is to have 2kg in each of the left and tight pockets.
The other 6kg I distribute on my weight belt just above my hips. Usually 2kg on left and right and 2 kg on the back.
The people I dived with says it's the fault of the BCD design, and that the bungee cord is causing the air pockets and turning me upside down. Well, they may be on to something because when I switched to a rented BCD, jacket style, I had no issues.
But I think to correct the problem I need to redistribute the weights. But I have had no luck after many tries. Mind you, I am not that experienced, so not really able to figure out weight placements.
Body shape wise, well I am pear shape, 5'4" and 120kg.
So I am hoping you have a suggestion on :-
1) how I can distribute the wights better when using the litehawk. One suggestion I got was to but a cam belt and use it it a tank weight belt and put some weights on lower part of the the tank. This a good idea?
2) should I try using the litehawk without the bungee? I am too scared to mess about with equipment, but when I was reading around it seems that any bungee bladder systems seems to be frowned upon.
Thanks.
saif.
My experience with the litehawk is a bit mixed.
Ok ok I know it's not a BP/W that people here seems to like, but I got it at a really good price
from a seller here. The good. While under water, and moving about under water horizontally, I have the most wonderful time. It's. Easy to use and feels great.
The not so good. I find it very difficult to hover vertically. Actually let me correct myself. I find it very difficult to hover with my head on top and legs below. If I want to hover and I don't swim , the BCD is happier to hover with my head below and my legs above. Even when I start vertical with my head above, after 10-20 seconds I would be upside down. Much to the amusement of my dive buddies. It also makes my 3 minute safety stop pretty tricky. I am certified with peak performance buoyancy and used to have no problems hovering with jacket style BCD. Almost every time I tried to hover, the BCD will turn me upside down, and I would have to use the bottom dump to dump air before swimming to the surface.
The bad. This usually happens at the end of the dive when I am in the surface waiting for the boat to come to me. The BCD tends to push me face down. I have learned not to over inflate it at the surface, but it is still a struggle.
I think the problems I am facing is with the placement of weights. I usually dive with 8-10kg of weights depending on the tank I use. My last 9 dives were with 12liters aluminium tanks. The dives were in the sea, and water temp was a nice 28c. I always use a 5mm shortie a 3mm bootie with thin rubber sole, and hard blade fins. Fins are slightly negative buoyant. I was using 10kg. I may be carrying too much weight, but I think too much weight should not make me turn upside down, specially since I don't have the same problem with a jacket style BCD.
What I do is to have 2kg in each of the left and tight pockets.
The other 6kg I distribute on my weight belt just above my hips. Usually 2kg on left and right and 2 kg on the back.
The people I dived with says it's the fault of the BCD design, and that the bungee cord is causing the air pockets and turning me upside down. Well, they may be on to something because when I switched to a rented BCD, jacket style, I had no issues.
But I think to correct the problem I need to redistribute the weights. But I have had no luck after many tries. Mind you, I am not that experienced, so not really able to figure out weight placements.
Body shape wise, well I am pear shape, 5'4" and 120kg.
So I am hoping you have a suggestion on :-
1) how I can distribute the wights better when using the litehawk. One suggestion I got was to but a cam belt and use it it a tank weight belt and put some weights on lower part of the the tank. This a good idea?
2) should I try using the litehawk without the bungee? I am too scared to mess about with equipment, but when I was reading around it seems that any bungee bladder systems seems to be frowned upon.
Thanks.
saif.
