Weight

[Silty Bottom]

(20-11-2008 04:49 PM)jb2cool Wrote:  Some might say it's wrong, some might say it's right.

I use my drysuit to keep me dry and my BC to control my bouyancy. Sounds right to me.

Same here

The way I look at it my drysuit as basically a large air-cell, that's a lot of space for air to migrate around and cause potential problems. I find it easier to control the small one on my back Just enough air in the suit to control the squeeze and use my bc or wing for bouyancy.

I can also dump air from my bc at any position in the water, horizontal, head down, head up, it's all good.

[neilh]

(20-11-2008 04:33 PM)Angry Dan Wrote:  I have read a lot of people add air to their drysuit to prevent squeeze but use their BCD for bouyancy. I know this is frowned upon as there are 2 systems that need to be controlled during ascent

It's not universally frowned upon. Some subscribe to the view that your drysuit is a pretty large space to have gas in and is hard to control as a result. Your wing/bcd is a much smaller, more "focused" bouyancy cell. Therefore it is somewhat easier to manage a large amount of gas in your wing/bcd than it is in your drysuit. If you put enough gas in your drysuit to take off the squeeze then there isn't that much in there to manage on an ascent.

It definitely takes practice and there's no denying that you then have two sources of gas to manage, but it's not impossible

(20-11-2008 04:33 PM)Angry Dan Wrote:  Would you expect where the weight is carried to effect buoyancy?

No. Weight is weight. Where you carry it will affect your trim and how easy it is to hold a position in the water and it may consequently have an impact on how easy it is to get the gas in your suit and wing/bcd to where you need it to dump it, but it's not going to affect how positive or negative you are.

A weight check is key - you need to be able to hold that stop with pretty much empty cylinders. Personally I make sure I can drop to 3M and hold a stop with around 20-30 bar of gas and a little in the suit to take the squeeze off.

[Angry Dan]

(20-11-2008 04:59 PM)neilh Wrote:  No. Weight is weight. Where you carry it will affect your trim and how easy it is to hold a position in the water and it may consequently have an impact on how easy it is to get the gas in your suit and wing/bcd to where you need it to dump it, but it's not going to affect how positive or negative you are.

A weight check is key - you need to be able to hold that stop with pretty much empty cylinders. Personally I make sure I can drop to 3M and hold a stop with around 20-30 bar of gas and a little in the suit to take the squeeze off.

Sounds like I need to spend some more time down at the NDAC then.

Thanks for all the info/hints

[EllieCee]

This has been bugging you since Sunday????

Ellie

[Ian]

(20-11-2008 04:56 PM)Silty Bottom Wrote:  The way I look at it my drysuit as basically a large air-cell, that's a lot of space for air to migrate around and cause potential problems.

Migrating air also has 2 potential benefits.

1) You can get air wherever you need it to keep you warm

2) You can adjust your trip on the fly by using exagerated movements to deliberately move air around the suit.

Obviously you need to be in control above all else, but once I got used to flying my drysuit I found myself missing the ability to adjust trim underwater in a wetsuit!

(20-11-2008 04:56 PM)Silty Bottom Wrote:  I can also dump air from my bc at any position in the water, horizontal, head down, head up, it's all good.

A definite benefit of using the BC, especially if you are not yet fully in control of your bouyancy!

[Angry Dan]

(20-11-2008 05:08 PM)EllieCee Wrote:  This has been bugging you since Sunday????

Ellie

Not as much as the ignorant rebreather (possibly GUE) divers that could not wait their turn for the bus back up to the top!

[neilh]

(20-11-2008 05:20 PM)Angry Dan Wrote:  Not as much as the ignorant rebreather (possibly GUE) divers that could not wait their turn for the bus back up to the top!

What did the rebreathers look like?

[Angry Dan]

Would you be suprised if I said bearded?

[neilh]

(20-11-2008 05:51 PM)Angry Dan Wrote:  Would you be suprised if I said bearded?

Ah, BSAC then

[Angry Dan]

I was only jpoking about GUE.

They were annoying one in particular decided he was going to sit on the equipment crates but there was not enough space so he was perched on the edge and his side slung tank was all over my kit and resting on the hoses. So I moved my kit out of the way. Then when the bus came down I picked up Ellie's kit and put it on the bus, all the rebreather people then just piled all there kit on and filled it up so I sat waiting for the next bus.

What made it worse was there were more psople that had been waiting longer than them that did not make the bus I got on.