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Richie, I love ya , but this is silly - we use 104's only when using C-4
Thinsulate under a drysuit . The 104's are 9 pounds negaitve emtpy, the
cave light is seven. The regs are a coupple more - exactly perfect, and
the wings get a litle gas - see one of my videos and see how the wings
lay perfectly to the tanks. GEtting awya with something dumb does not
make it a good choice. Convoluted gear is dumb. Now the accident rate is
piling up with these devices. We don't use them.
Richard Pyle wrote:
>
> > the bottom. I like convoluted things - the dumber they are, the beetter
> > they are , I always say.
>
> Now we're getting somewhere. The first step to solving a problem...is
> admitting you have a problem.
>
> Seriously, though, I still don't understand what you have against the
> bondage. The argument that you can't fully inflate the wings is
> nonesense, of course (as long as the bondage is done correctly and you
> don't have a hair-trigger over-inflation valve). I have never had any
> trouble at all manually inflating them all the way up. The bondage
> straps have never snagged on anything.
>
> Even you have to admit that shifting your body position with non-bondage
> wings will shift your center of buoyancy. In your case, you told me you
> used that to your advantage bacause it made you more stable hanging on
> your side while scootering. That's cool - I have no problem with that.
> But for me, and I imagine for a lot of other people, it's much more
> important to minimize the shift in center-of-buoyancy when in different
> body orientations.
>
> The fundamental problem is that the rigs you're used to using - double
> steel 104's; that rebreather of yours; etc. - are very negative when the
> BC is fully deflated. That means you run the BC much fuller than I would.
> That means shifting your body orientation causes a proportionally smaller
> shift in center-of-buoyancy. But I'm telling you - trust me on this -
> diving is much less convoluted if you can keep your rig and your body
> independently neutral WITH THE BC COMPLETELY EMPTY. I understand why
> you've never had the chance to try diving that way. You don't want to use
> aluminum 100's, becasue you don't feel as warm & fuzzy about over-filling
> the hell out of them. You probably never considered using syntactic foam
> to make that RB of yours neutral with no gas in the BC; or if you did, I
> imagine you probably wrote it off as too convoluted (which I would tend to
> agree with you on). We both know that PVC pipes are a convoluted and
> potentially dangerous solution. Also, as you've told me in the past, with
> the drysuit you want the extra weight on the rig so you don't need to add
> any lead to your body.
>
> I understand all of that, so I'm not on some massive crusade to show you
> the light of static neutrally buoyant rigs. But I promise you - the first
> time you make a dive where you do not have to add a single puff of gas to
> the BC for the entire dive, and where you can effortlessly hold your body in
> any position, you will be as convinced as some of the people I see on the
> lists who try Hogarthian for the first time. ("Hey, you know what -- this
> actually works!").
>
> It's taken me a long time to get to the point where I am comfortable
> diving (deep) without a BC, at least for solo dives. (Before everyone
> attacks me on this, be aware that my rebreather counterlungs can give me
> all the lift I need - and I can use my SMB in an emergency or for floating
> at the surface). Like I said, a BC should only be needed for wetsuit
> compensation, flotation at the surface, and emergencies with buddies
> without static neutral rigs. I don't see why anyone would need 20 lbs of
> lift for any of these, let alone the industry standard 80 lbs. This is
> the problem I have with all BC's (bondage or othrwise). I keep looking for
> a BC with 10-15 lbs maximum lift, that can innocuously be put somewhere
> out of the way. Maybe I'll find one at DEMA.
>
> Well, I guess that's enough trying to teach pigs to sing.
>
> Aloha,
> Rich
>
> Richard Pyle
> Ichthyology, Bishop Museum deepreef@bi*.bi*.ha*.or*
> 1525 Bernice St. PH: (808) 848-4115
> Honolulu, HI 96817-0916 FAX: (808) 841-8968
> "The views are those of the sender and not of Bishop Museum"
>
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