BCD or Drysuit to Control Buoyancy?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ม.ค. 2024
- @jasonmoody1012
#askMARK BUYANCY CONTROL .. DRYSUIT OR BCD .which to use as recently passed my drysuit specialty and reading so many different opinions on this topic . Would love to hear your take on the subject .love the channel by the way
#scuba #scubadiving #scubadiver
LINKS
Become a fan: www.scubadivermag.com/join
Gear Purchases: www.scubadivermag.com/affilia...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
OUR WEBSITES
Website: www.scubadivermag.com ➡️ Scuba Diving, Underwater Photography, Hints & Advice, Scuba Gear Reviews
Website: www.divernet.com ➡️ Scuba News, Underwater Photography, Hints & Advice, Travel Reports
Website: www.godivingshow.com ➡️ The Only Dive Show in the United Kingdom
Website: www.rorkmedia.com ➡️ For advertising within our brands
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA
FACEBOOK: / scubadivermag
TWITTER: / scubadivermag
INSTAGRAM: / scubadivermagazine We partner with www.scuba.com and www.mikesdivestore.com for all your gear essentials. Consider using the affiliate link above to support the channel. The information in this video is not intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional SCUBA Training. All content, including text, graphics, images, and information, contained in this video is for general information purposes only and does not replace training from a qualified Dive Instructor.
![ชวนน้องลงทุ่ง - เงาะน้อยเพชรบ้านแพง X น้องมายด์ [ Music Video ] Official Saman Music](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Bq7Hw9culjE/mqdefault.jpg)
Disagree. It is better to use your BCD as a BCD.
It's this simple - although a drysuit can be a source of redundant lift, it should not be used as a buoyancy control device because it's just not designed for it. It's not as easy to vent gas from the drysuit reliably, especially if your ascent starts to run away. Also, If you have an issue and a team member needs to help you that is *much* more difficult for them to do that with your drysuit. It's trivial with a BCD.
It's not that difficult to manage your BCD... But sometimes it is difficult to get gas out of your suit. So why add difficulty?
DIR divers use their wing for buoyancy and only ever run as much gas as needed to prevent squeeze/maintain insulation. Dump valve on the suit stays fully wound out (except in the case if your BCD fails and you need to start using your suit for lift).
I understand your logic of using the suit as your combined insulator and buoyancy control device, but I disagree. There is no massive workload in working both and your BC has been designed to rapidly vent gas if you need to, and in a variety of orientations; the suit is not. So for me it's gas in the suit for comfort but buoyancy control using the BC and breathing. The other point you touch on is that the gas in your suit can move around a lot, and the more there is of it the greater change in centre of buoyancy with pitch. Further it's an unstable change in that moving head up will induce an even greater head up change. The prime example for me is with sidemount, where my BC is specifically designed to keep the buoyancy centred in the small of the back. Air in the suit rather than where it's meant to be makes it much harder to relax into a stable trim immune to pitch effects.
It's super easy to use both. It's how I was trained (the DIR way) it is simple once you get used to it. Trim yes but also so you don't put extra pressure on your seals and can keep your dump valve fully open. Keeps air out of your feet. Should only use the dry suit inflator to take off the squeeze. Another big reason is your profile with a lot of air in your suit your a round ballon vrs a streamlined profile making it much easier for propulsion. They are other reasons also but those are the main ones. You have a hard time finding a tech or cave diver using their dry suit for buoyancy and I tend to follow what they do as they tend to be the best safest divers.
I found in my drysuit class I didn’t really need my BCD that much for buoyancy. Just fighting off the suit squeeze was enough for me to get nearly neutral
Thanks for sharing! My PADI certification taught me bcd on the surface and drysuit underwater. The SSI community that I now dive with is trained to use the bcd instead of the drysuit and some have made fun of me for doing it the PADI way. But the way I was trained works for me and I find the drysuit to be easier to find neutral buoyancy with than the bcd.
Exactly! If your method works for you then it's the right way.
I use my Drysuit as a backup just use my drysuit inflator to ease the squeeze
I'm really not a fan of having my body positioning impact my buyancy.
Getting out of trim can lead to unexpected gas venting due to accumulation at the neck/shoulder and being, in some cases, significantly negative buoyant.
Nothing you want when you encounter sharks where you might have to get vertical or havo to realign with caves/wrecks.
I believe it's a dangerous techique to recommend or train. If you can't manage the suit squeeze and the bladder at the same time you don't belong in a dry suit.
I thoroughly empty my drysuit from 10m and less.
I find that putting air into the suit prevents squeeze and that's almost enough for buoyancy, maybe a little more in the bcd.
apeks rk4 is coming up, cant wait for you to share your thought about them
Yeah, I'm not sure on the design myself. While it does remind me of the front end of a Lamborghini, it seems a bit excessive. I do like the adjustable spring heels, I'd like to compare them to my RK3s
@@ScubaDiverMagazine hi mark, do you think the aqualung transmitter is compatible with the apeks dsx dive computer ?
@@aftvlog3925 they both use the same mh8a transmitter. 😊
@@tontsyy thanks buddy :)
This is going to be a hot topic for debate 😂
At first I was using my dry, then I felt it was harder to keep a nice horizontal position and my trying to empty my drysuit is harder than my wing. I might be a bit overweighted, but my insulation layer is a bit puffy.
#askmark. So I am a new diver. Don’t have all the gear yet but will be diving mostly in cold water (Atlantic ocean). Is it just more practical for me to just to get dry suit certified and forget about a 5 or 7 mm suit and bcd. Thanks
Most divers here in the UK go straight to drysuits and I can dive my drysuit here all year-round by changing what I wear underneath. Drysuits are more effective at keeping you warm and give you the added benefit of an extra method of controlling your buoyancy.
While drysuits do take a bit more training to use properly, they're definitely worth it.
Other than the eye watering price 🤣
I always liked: Buy Cheap, Buy Twice.
And Buy Once, Cry Once.
Hey mark. Can you give us your opinion on the new aluminium tower the Olimpic comité is building in the French Polinésia damaging corals and aquatic life. International surf association already issued a negative opinion on the matter. Thanks
I think it's an awful idea. From what I understand they're replacing a wooden structure that's been in place for many years with a new aluminium multi-story structure. But they're drilling into the reef to set foundations and the boats have already smashed into the reef and damaged coral.
And on top of that most people involved and asked have voiced negative opinions. I'm sure they can find a better way for the judges to get a decent view of the surfers. We have pretty good camera lenses today.
Is there anything the scuba community can do to stop this?
#ask mark
Hi mark
Thanks for all the help
Going to be upgrading my equipment hopefully
My local agent only does oms and halcyon. I know there’s more out there than that but the shop’s only 10mins away and want to keep it local. Like both brands and will mostly likely mix and match but if you had a choice which would you favour
Hoping to go down the technical route eventually
Also looking at a set of 12ltr carbon fibre twins
What would be the pros and cons?
Thanks for any feedback
👍
Kyle
Halcyon feels like the stronger brand right now. I've played with OMS gear and it's well put together but, I'd rather invest in Halcyon.
We don't tend to see many carbon fibre cylinders while scuba diving because of their buoyancy and limited lifetimes. They're also more fragile to bangs and require more frequent tests in places. They're wonderful and light out of the water but, they tend to float so you need to bring more lead or gear to descend. I used to fill loads of CF cylinders for the Fire Dept. and they would float like balloons.
If you find that you need to carry them around for long distances on dry land then they can be a good choice. but most divers opt for Ali or Steel cylinders
Ok, please divers help, I’m purchasing my first dive computer and after a long research I’m down to 2 choice, shearwater perdix 2 and Suunto Eon Core. I know Shearwater is everyone’s favourite (based on my research) but I like the design on Eon Core and how it displays info on the screen. But will I be making a mistake buying it instead of shearwater since in my store there is only $200 difference between them? So if price is taken out of equation, which one would you recommend? Please help, I can’t decide 😫
I am a big fan of Shearwater and the fact the display does have a degree of flexibility in rearranging the display. At 64 as the eyes go I find the display the easiest to read
The EON Core doesn't seem to support Buehlmann with or without customizable GF.
That alone would be a hard no from my side.
You will always have issued matching with buddies diving a non-suundo dive computer.
Edit: Another thing that can be really bad is the fact that the Suunto will lock for 48h after a vilation.
This is something that should absolutely not happen in 2023.
@@TheBlackClaymore Thank you 🙏 I much appreciate it:) Yeah leaning more towards the perdix and my store has deal now they have $200 off so not too bad. I’ll rush down and get it :))
@@Gnisha Oh I wasn’t aware of that fact, thank you for letting me know. We’ve made decision so we are getting Perdix 2. Especially the store is giving us little bit of deal since we are purchasing 2 computers. One for my husband and one for me, plus the Pods. So it’s worth the money I guess. So we’ll be new owners of Shearwater perdix 2 tomorrow:)
Perdix
You hear horror stories about bcd power inflators getting stuck open. Does it ever happen with drysuit inflators? What then?
Yes, it happens. And you do as you were taught, which is almost exactly the same as if it happens to your BCD.
Disconnect the LPI hose, try to dump the additional gas, flare your arms and legs (make a star/skydiver shape) in the case of a runaway ascent to try to minimise the rate of ascent.
What training agencies taught you to use the suit exclusively for buoyancy underwater?
PADI, HSE and maybe RAID but, I can't promise that one, I can't remember specifically how they train.
BSAC
@@ScubaDiverMagazine what happens then if you progress into technical diving where you are carrying more gas and therefore are heavier in the water at the start of dives?
My PADI materials discussed both approaches.
As a newly certified drysuit diver I came away with a few things: When I was properly weighted, I found that relieving the squeeze of the suit matched my buoyancy requirements. When I was perfectly neutral, the suit felt like a hammock that supported me from neck to toe. If I went deeper the squeeze would indicate to me that it was time to inflate and It always made me perfectly neutral. As I ascended, it was really just a subtle shoulder roll to get the air to vent. I never got out of trim. I never used my BC underwater and it was quite a pleasant dive.
How would you compensate for lost air weight at the end of the dive?
The weight difference can be easily about 5kg on a D12.
Not a problem I have yet encountered. I breathed down most of my gas off a single 100 cu ft cylinder then we breathed off a stage bottle at 15 ft. for 10 minutes. I guess I was "properly weighted."@@Gnisha
When I teach drysuit, I teach squeeze off your suit the rest in you wing. However I don't dive like that and I tell my students that I only dive my suit. I tell them why, in my opinion, diving the suit only is a superior technique, which pretty much is what Mark talks about in the video.
The only time I don't dive like that is if I'm diving caves in a drysuit. Some of the downward descent angles I find difficult to maintain using just my suit. I tend to preempt the descent and remove most all of the gas from my suit and put it in my wing where I find it easier to control. I'm hoping I can stop doing this with more experience.
For those of you that feel using your suit only feels like the air is moving around and is too difficult to manage trim, I suggest that you are probably overweighted, your suit doesn't fit correctly or, like myself in caves, you may need more practice.
At the end of the day, you do you as long as you are safe.