Dry suit BC

[Kidder]

I am curious what would be the best B.C. to use with a dry suit. I currently have an Avid (sherwood jacket style).

[Hollywood703]

There is no perfect answer to this question as pretty much any BC will work with a drysuit.....what type of diving do you do and where do you do it? Your Avid should work just fine, unless you are looking to get a new BC anyway!

[thesmoothdome]

Any BC should work fine. In some cases, such as if you bought the BC for warm water diving, it may not fit over the bulk of a dry suit, but a jacket style can work just fine.

[Kidder]

That's cool I'm not looking to spend on a BC just a dry suit.

[Kidder]

I'll be diving in deep lakes and quarries mostly

[WV Diver]

I have the same BC you do that I use with my drysuit. Works fine, as would any BC.

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by Kidder

I am curious what would be the best B.C. to use with a dry suit. I currently have an Avid (sherwood jacket style).

I use the same for both. However fit is different. My BC fits well over my 7mm wetsuit and hooded vest but is a little loose over my trilam drysuit. Wetsuits add bulk. Makes about a 1/2 size difference. Tri-lam over polartech is not close to 7mm thick

I know a few "old school divers" that do not use BCs. They just get the weight "right" and dive smaller tanks with less swing. You can't believe how much swimming drag is caused by the BC. I think I'm going to borrow one of thier 1970's vintage plastic backpacks and use it with my drysuit. I don't used my BC once I'm underwater. I just used air in the suit to keep the squeeze in check and the side effect is bouancy adjustment. I bet I don't need a BC. I'll wait for a day with low surf and decent viz to try

That said, other than the above experiments my plan is to switch over to a SS backplate and wing. Most drysuit divers I know use this kind of setup.

[Kidder]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

I use the same for both. However fit is different. My BC fits well over my 7mm wetsuit and hooded vest but is a little loose over my trilam drysuit. Wetsuits add bulk. Makes about a 1/2 size difference. Tri-lam over polartech is not close to 7mm thick

I know a few "old school divers" that do not use BCs. They just get the weight "right" and dive smaller tanks with less swing. You can't believe how much swimming drag is caused by the BC. I think I'm going to borrow one of thier 1970's vintage plastic backpacks and use it with my drysuit. I don't used my BC once I'm underwater. I just used air in the suit to keep the squeeze in check and the side effect is bouancy adjustment. I bet I don't need a BC. I'll wait for a day with low surf and decent viz to try

That said, other than the above experiments my plan is to switch over to a SS backplate and wing. Most drysuit divers I know use this kind of setup.

Wow. That's an interesting concept. I've heard of people only using their dry suit for bouancy. Let us know how it goes. How do you like the Tri-lam? I'm up in the air versus crushed neoprene.

[thesmoothdome]

Technically, you would not NEED a BC underwater if you're using your dry suit for bouyancy. How about on the surface though? Sure, you can close the exhaust valve and add enough air to float, but that's not just comfortable or streamlined if you have a surface swim to do either.

Underwater, if the suit were to flood, your ability to control your bouyancy would be comprimised. Once you do surface, you're definately going to encounter issues of staying above water.

Taking it a step further, if you have an uncontrolled ascent in your drysuit, which obviously isn't common if you're experienced with your drysuit, but things happen, you are taught to flare out to slow your ascent and grab a seal to allow air to escape that way. Odds of damaging the seal are high in that situation. Now you're at the surface, just had a bad experience, and have no way to stay there without dropping your weights, which you would not have to do if you had your BC in the first place .

[Aussie]

When I dive with my Mares Isodry Tri-lam I use my BPW. SS plate with a the Zeagle 34lbs wing with single cylinder and 55 manta wing with twins. It is a very streamline setup and can be changed to warm water diving very quickly. I like having one bit of kit which can be used for many different diving conditions and styles.

Aussie