OW skills with a BP/W

[CompuDude]

Originally Posted by kancho

I have heard PADI does not allow BP/W for courses. Maybe students are allowed but the instructors can't use them. I am not sure about the other organizations

Absolutely 100% untrue.

Individual instructors with an anti-bp/w bias on a power trip may claim otherwise, but they are lying to you if they say so. There are no such regulations in the PADI Instructor Manuals.

That said, it's often easier for an instructor to demonstrate a specific skill if his gear closely matches what most of the students are wearing. For this reason, I wear a traditional BC for pool sessions, as most students tend to wear simple, rented traditional BCs, and demoing gear doffing and donning for someone wearing a BC, while wearing a bp/w, is tricky (especially with long hoses add to the equation).

On the other hand, it's good to expose students to a variety of gear configurations.

For this reason, I wear a traditional BC with regular short hose regs + octo + console in the pool, but for all open water sessions, I wear my normal single tank bp/w righ with long hose and bungied secondary.

[MLenyo]

cool, thanks guys. is it normal to pay for rentals in a rescue course?

[MSilvia]

Originally Posted by MLenyo

cool, thanks guys. is it normal to pay for rentals in a rescue course?

Yes, if you don't have your own gear, and can't borrow any, renting is usually the way it's done.

[CompuDude]

Originally Posted by MLenyo

cool, thanks guys. is it normal to pay for rentals in a rescue course?

I'm sure there are some shops that include rentals with their classes, but none that I've been to (that I can think of). Most around here charge for rentals. Although, most people who advance as far as Rescue already own their own gear... and I'd recommend that, if you don't.

[kancho]

Just buy some quality inexpensive gear. In the long run will be cheaper and then you can get used to your gear. If you need to rent make sure it is decent. My LDS' gear isnt that great.

[skdvr]

I took my advanced course with my BP/W actually it was the first dives I made with the BP/W. I was a little nervous about not being able to control my buoyancy as well with it since it was my first dives with it, but everything went great.

I then used it for my drysuit course and had a bit of a hard time taking the rig off while floating on the surface. I had read about how to take it off over your head but had not tried it yet. I did not even think about it in class when the instructor told us that we would have to doff and don while floating on the surface. So when it came to the day and he asked me to do it I am sure that I had the ever famous "Oh S***" look on my face. I thought about it for a second and just unbuckled my waist strap and reached back and grabbed my tank while I forced myself underwater and pulled it right over my head. It was not to bad at all. Getting it back on was a little tougher. I kept getting the dump valve stuck on the shoulder strap but I got around it and passed just fine...

Phil

[MLenyo]

i have a new question! how do you properly weight yourself and/or can you properly weight yourself on or near the surface with a bp/w?

[woody]

Originally Posted by PlatypusMan

You mean you don't just cut them out of the harness like I do?

You're the one. I thought I was getting mugged underwater!

Didn't I let you cut me out this past summer. If not you missed out!

[skdvr]

Originally Posted by MLenyo

i have a new question! how do you properly weight yourself and/or can you properly weight yourself on or near the surface with a bp/w?

If you mean properly weight yourself (not weigh yourself) you do it just like you would with any other BC. If you are getting the water with a full tank you will need to know the swing weight of the tank (the difference between the buoyancy when it is full of air and the buoyancy with 500 lbs of air). While you are floating on top of the water with your wing inflated, you will want to hold a normal breath and let all the air out of your wing (keep the reg in your mouth) and if you are properly weighted you should float just about eye level. I actually prefer for myself to have my head just below the water, but Eye level is that PADI teaches. Now if you are floating at eye level with a full tank you will need to add the amount the same amount of lead to your belt that is equal to your tanks swing weight, so you will be heavy at the start of your dive and by the time your tank has 500 lbs you should be hold your safety stop at 15 ft without having the feeling that you will pop to the surface. Obviously every configuration will be different, so if you go from a 7mm to a 3mm suit you will not need as much weight...

Example:
BP/W, 7mm wetsuit, AL 80, 10 lbs of lead (swing weight of a AL 80 is 5 lbs. Full -1.4 and at 500 lbs +3.4)

If you get in the water with 10 lbs of lead and you let the air out of the wing and you are floating right were you want to then add 5 lbs to your belt and go diving. Hopefull you can have someone on the dock, shore or whatever that can help hand you weights back and forth.

After I make a change to my weight belt I like to make sure I take my tank all the way down to 500 lbs of air (as long as the dive will alow). My normal buddy goes through air quite a bit faster than I do so I tell him before the dive that on our safety stop I am going to use my octo to dump air to get my tank down to 500 lbs. Once I am at 500 lbs I would like to stay there for a full 3 min, unless my buddy is getting to low on air. That way you will know for sure if your weight is correct or not. If you need to make any adjustments they should be minor.

I hope this is what you were looking for and I hope that it makes sense...

Phil

[Gombessa]

Once you "dial in" the right length for the shoulder straps, there's no way it'll accidentally slip off. In fact, it's not as easy as a jacket BC to doff/don in the first place.

Some people are able to slip the bp/w over their heads to doff/don in the water. I've never tried that before. Supposedly it should be easier in the water because the buoyancy of the rig makes it lighter...

Originally Posted by MLenyo

so I have a couple questions about a bp/w setup..

do you just slip your shoulders in and tighten the straps? what else keeps it "secured" on your person?

also, for OW skills such as removing and replacing a BC while underwater (and also at the surface), what's different if you're diving with bp/w?