I've always been able to dive with my ranger totally deflated but, on my trip to Belize, when I was at depth acouple of times I had to give my BC a few of shots of air to find that neutral buoyancy sweet spot. I still didn't have any problems with rotating to a vertical position. That leads me to believe that the problem would probably be with the position of the tank like Dsquid says. Try different positionings and see if you can correct the problem that way. Let us know how it works.
Zeagle
- Thread starter miked
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Zagnut
Thanks for the update and the experimentation!
You've reduced the number of possible contributing factors . It does seem to be a question of the BC's placement on the tank .
I plan to try all the various suggestions, but unfortunately, my next dive is not until April. I am going to try to get some "pool time " in, if the schedule allows.
I'll let you know when/if a solution arises.
thanks again,
Miked
Thanks for the update and the experimentation!
You've reduced the number of possible contributing factors . It does seem to be a question of the BC's placement on the tank .
I plan to try all the various suggestions, but unfortunately, my next dive is not until April. I am going to try to get some "pool time " in, if the schedule allows.
I'll let you know when/if a solution arises.
thanks again,
Miked
TexasMike
Contributor
Welcome back Zagnut!!!
Glad to hear you enjoyed at the "equipment" part of your trip. And I hope Zagnette had fun too.
Glad to hear you enjoyed at the "equipment" part of your trip. And I hope Zagnette had fun too.
I just got my back inflation bc. I heard somewhere (maybe on this board) that a rule of thumb is 1/3 in the trim pockets and 1/3 on each side. I used that with my new bc and it seemed to work very well.
Hope this helps a little.
Chad
Hope this helps a little.
Chad
hey all,
first a big THANK YOU to everyone who has submitted lots of great advice and insight. I recently purchased my first piece of gear: the Concept II Pro. The LDS was having their annual blow-out sale and I picked one up for nearly half-off. (I wasn't *planning* on buying it, but I had done my research and was waiting for the chance. I guess the diving gods were smiling on me that day
Anyhow, I recently got to try it out in Monterey Bay this weekend over two days of diving and trying all the variables out as I got familiar with this unit. I also had this thread in my head as I was diving to help add some first-hand experience to the discussion.
On the first dive of the day I inadvertently positioned the BC too low on the tank. I know it was "too low" because when I looked "up" really far while diving I sometimes bumped the 1st stage with the back of my head. oops. But I noticed that I had very little trouble keeping horizontal in the water...very effortless to dive.
On the next dive I put the top of the BC backplate even with the top of the tank valve...essentially trying to put the BC as far up the tank as possible.
I noticed that with this configuration I had a very easy time staying "vertical" in the water. This was not at all what I was expecting with a back-inflate BC. I think this explains the symptom miked described.
On the last dive I installed the BC lower on the tank (like the width of one tank band lower) and got a better horizontal trim attitude out of it. Going even lower might have been a bit better, but I ran out of time.
For all dives I used the "one-third" rule* for this BC's weight system. I put 8 pounds total in the somewhat-ditchable BC trim pocket and 7 pounds in each ripcord pocket. Seems to "just work" for me. [In hindsight, I should have tried shifting slightly more weight forward instead of to the tanks. That'll be for my next post]
* - If enough people talk about the same recommendation on the Internet, does it then count as a "rule"?
first a big THANK YOU to everyone who has submitted lots of great advice and insight. I recently purchased my first piece of gear: the Concept II Pro. The LDS was having their annual blow-out sale and I picked one up for nearly half-off. (I wasn't *planning* on buying it, but I had done my research and was waiting for the chance. I guess the diving gods were smiling on me that day
Anyhow, I recently got to try it out in Monterey Bay this weekend over two days of diving and trying all the variables out as I got familiar with this unit. I also had this thread in my head as I was diving to help add some first-hand experience to the discussion.
On the first dive of the day I inadvertently positioned the BC too low on the tank. I know it was "too low" because when I looked "up" really far while diving I sometimes bumped the 1st stage with the back of my head. oops. But I noticed that I had very little trouble keeping horizontal in the water...very effortless to dive.
On the next dive I put the top of the BC backplate even with the top of the tank valve...essentially trying to put the BC as far up the tank as possible.
I noticed that with this configuration I had a very easy time staying "vertical" in the water. This was not at all what I was expecting with a back-inflate BC. I think this explains the symptom miked described.
On the last dive I installed the BC lower on the tank (like the width of one tank band lower) and got a better horizontal trim attitude out of it. Going even lower might have been a bit better, but I ran out of time.
For all dives I used the "one-third" rule* for this BC's weight system. I put 8 pounds total in the somewhat-ditchable BC trim pocket and 7 pounds in each ripcord pocket. Seems to "just work" for me. [In hindsight, I should have tried shifting slightly more weight forward instead of to the tanks. That'll be for my next post
]* - If enough people talk about the same recommendation on the Internet, does it then count as a "rule"?
x509v3, thanks for the input. What you described in such clear detail seems to really pinpoint the reason that "vertical" was so easy (Too easy? ) to maintain u/w.
I know what Placement modifications need to be tried on my next dives.
The Concept 2 Pro sure is a great BC.I'm glad you enjoy yours.
Thanks again,
Miked
I know what Placement modifications need to be tried on my next dives.
The Concept 2 Pro sure is a great BC.I'm glad you enjoy yours.
Thanks again,
Miked
Hi,everybody,
First,sorry to drag up an old thread, but I'm not sure how to set up a link, and I wanted to wrap up the thread. ( "not sure" my a##, truth is, I have no clue-still an internet newbie after a year....)
Anyway, the point of the post is to say that I just returned from a dive trip to the Bahamas (Naussau), and finally had the opportunity to try out your suggestions- SUCCESS!!!!
No more rotating to vertical at depth, while still no "face planting" on the surface.
Horizontal or vertical were equally easy to maintain. {That said, I'm not claiming either perfect buoyancy or trim.}
Some of the other divers with wgt. integrated and/or back flotation BCs, that I met on the trip, said they would have "paid bigtime $$$" to have that problem-they more frequently had the reverse difficulties at first.
The major revision was BC placement on the tank which, coupled with some "snugging up" of weights within the pockets, did the job.
Score one more for the folks at Scuba Board.
Again, my thanks to all for the input,
Good luck,
Mike
First,sorry to drag up an old thread, but I'm not sure how to set up a link, and I wanted to wrap up the thread. ( "not sure" my a##, truth is, I have no clue-still an internet newbie after a year....)
Anyway, the point of the post is to say that I just returned from a dive trip to the Bahamas (Naussau), and finally had the opportunity to try out your suggestions- SUCCESS!!!!
No more rotating to vertical at depth, while still no "face planting" on the surface.
Horizontal or vertical were equally easy to maintain. {That said, I'm not claiming either perfect buoyancy or trim.}
Some of the other divers with wgt. integrated and/or back flotation BCs, that I met on the trip, said they would have "paid bigtime $$$" to have that problem-they more frequently had the reverse difficulties at first.
The major revision was BC placement on the tank which, coupled with some "snugging up" of weights within the pockets, did the job.
Score one more for the folks at Scuba Board.
Again, my thanks to all for the input,
Good luck,
Mike
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