Back Inflation and GO Diving

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 02:27:35 GMT, "Curtis" <cavey_curtis@$$ yahoo.com>
wrote in rec.scuba:

>
>"John Hanson" wrote
>
>> Hmmm, I have a Ranger with 55 pounds of lift. I seem to remember
>> having that "pushing my face forward" feeling when I first started
>> diving and it was probably with that BC. But, I was grossly
>> overweighted back then and now never experience that feeling.
>
> We'll have to hook up soon and get you to try a BP&W.
>
> I still have an old ALBP, STA and 27# Pioneer.
>
Okay. Flight and trip booked as of yesterday afternoon. I'll be
flying in at the usual time and leaving Monday evening at about 1800.

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 06:38:55 -0400, "Lee Bell"
<pleebell@bellsouth.net> wrote in rec.scuba:

>John Hanson wrote
>
>> Hmmm, I have a Ranger with 55 pounds of lift. I seem to remember
>> having that "pushing my face forward" feeling when I first started
>> diving and it was probably with that BC. But, I was grossly
>> overweighted back then and now never experience that feeling.
>
>snip
>
>> I've never used my Ranger for doubles but I'm sure it wouldn't compare
>> to a back plate and wing. But, I think it works wonderfully for
>> single tanks, especially the larger steel tanks.
>
>I've seen Rangers, but not used one. It looked like a reasonably good BC to
>me. On the other hand, 55 lbs. of lift is quite a bit more than most people
>would need for a single tank. I have a 55 lb Oxycheq for my twinset, but use
>a much smaller wing for my single tank diving. Most often, I use an 18 lb
>lift Halcyon wing that's no longer made. I forget what the bigger one I have
>is except that it's bigger than the 18, and a lot smaller than the 55.
>
I bought it used. It was owed by a big guy who dove dry, which might
be why it has the bigger bladder. I'll be purchasing a drysuit within
the next year also and would like to switch to a BP&W. I even have a
buyer lined up for my Ranger.

I plan on doing an Isle Royale Charter next year that is being set up
by my LDS. It's limited to 5 "advanced divers" and one of the
requirements is a drysuit.

> I bought it used. It was owed by a big guy who dove dry, which might
> be why it has the bigger bladder. I'll be purchasing a drysuit within
> the next year also and would like to switch to a BP&W. I even have a
> buyer lined up for my Ranger.

I'm not a drysuit diver and doubt I ever will be. It makes sense to me to
use a larger wing for that kind of diving, but I'll leave judgment on that
issue to those with some experience.

Let me know if you want to borrow my stainless plate and 27 lb wing next
time you're down this way.

Lee

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 08:00:30 -0400, "Lee Bell"
<pleebell@bellsouth.net> wrote in rec.scuba:

>> I bought it used. It was owed by a big guy who dove dry, which might
>> be why it has the bigger bladder. I'll be purchasing a drysuit within
>> the next year also and would like to switch to a BP&W. I even have a
>> buyer lined up for my Ranger.
>
>I'm not a drysuit diver and doubt I ever will be. It makes sense to me to
>use a larger wing for that kind of diving, but I'll leave judgment on that
>issue to those with some experience.
>
>Let me know if you want to borrow my stainless plate and 27 lb wing next
>time you're down this way.
>
I just might. I'll be down there in 3 weeks.

<hierophantfish@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1188360166.705838.306920@g4g2000hsf.googlegro ups.com...
> On Aug 27, 8:14 pm, "Adam Helberg" <sendspamh...@yahee.com> wrote:
>> "ben bradlee" <No...@Way.Bite.Me> wrote in message
>>
>> news:MfmdnTe4-ICvV0zbnZ2dnUVZ_gidnZ2d@centurytel.net...
>>
>> > There was a discussion a while back on wing type and back inflation types of
>> > buoyancy compensators. Here is something new.
>>
>> > Yesterday I used a wetsuit, BP/W, and 16# of lead. The dive plan was to swim a
>> > few
>> > hundred yards and sit on the bottom and pull weeds. Sixteen pounds of lead puts
>> > me
>> > in the grossly overweighted (GO) category. The first thing I noticed - besides
>> > that it takes a whole crapper full of air to lift the extra 10 to 12 pounds of
>> > weight - is that it was not possible to sit upright on the bottom of the lake
>> > with
>> > the bladder capacity at neutral buoyancy. The wing pushed my head down so as to
>> > be
>> > parallel with the earth. On the surface it was the same. All this leads me to
>> > conclude that one could drown rather easily with this type of equipment given
>> > the
>> > right circumstances.
>
>> Sounds like you were overweighted. If you did this to work on the bottom then you
>> should just deflate the BC and you can walk around the bottom. You can also adjust
>> trim by moving the weight farther back toward the wing.
>> Adam
>
> He doesn't mention the type of BC he is using, so I'm not sure how you
> are arriving at your conclusion that he was overweighted and needed to
> move the weight farther back. There are back-inflation BC's (like
> the one I have) that have pockets for weights. You don't move the
> weights anywhere in that case. They stay put in the pocket. I
> suppose if you wanted to, you could add a weightbelt or a tank weight
> if you felt that might help adjust your trim. I've never had to do
> that. Furthermore, if he felt he couldn't sit upright at "neutral",
> and he was overweighted, then why not just let some more air out ? I
> mean if you let all the air out and you're that much overweighted,
> then eventually your butt is gonna be firmly planted on the bottom.
> With no air in the wings, there should be no reason why you couldn't
> sit upright.

Hi, I agree with you he should have just released more air from the wing and taken
less weight.

He mentioned he's using a back plate and wing and in this system you can move the
weight around. Moving weight to the back, either by sliding main weights to the back
or using weights behind the plate would also help him with his trim.

He does not state what kind of wet suit he's using but mentions himself that he was
overweighted. If most of the weight is in front that would pull him face down with a
wing inflated.

Adam