Posted by Eins on August 01, 2001 at 23:49:33:
In Reply to: Buoyancy control in drysuit diving posted by Eins on August 01, 2001 at 11:56:32:
A big Thank You to all who have responded, and I notice you all have done so in good faith. I can certainly appreciate that. Instead of responding individually, I will try to cover all the points in this post.
First of all, and this goes mainly to Bill, I apologize for a mistake. I said that I'm more or less buoyant after eliminating the squeeze but that was wrong. When I said buoyant, I meant neutral. But Bill and Steve, just to name two, have correctly concluded that I have more air in my suit to just be painless. Yes, I like to be very comfortable in my suit, and more importantly, I want to be warm also. Maybe my undergarment's performance is under par, but if I don't add the kind of air I do, I'm cold very fast. But that may also be due to me being so skinny. On cold winter days I'm known to add extra weight just so that I can fluff up a bit more.
Now, where you all err is in the area of position control and trim. Maybe I have not emphasized it enough, but my suit fits quite snugly and there is simply no room for vast bubbles of air gone astray. Let me put it very clearly: I have never been in a situation where I lost control of my trim or position, inverted or not, or whatever. I understand that this is a problem for many divers and the fact that some of you overemphasize it may only indicate that you have problems with it yourself. Well, I don't, and maybe you can learn something from me in this respect. I have a perfect sense of my position in the water column and I can control it perfectly just with pulling in or stretching out my legs, using their buoyancy contribution as it happens to be in any given moment. Maybe some Walker needs to watch me to learn something ;-) No offense intended and I don't want to brag about it, but some of you guys just seem to think I am waving around like a flag in the wind. Well, I am not.
The amount of air in my suit is indeed the reason why, during an ascent, it would need to be handled together with air in the BC if I had that inflated. While ptf is right in that both can be combined in an elegant maneuver, I still believe that it is easier to control and to work with only one buoyancy device instead of two.
About pain, squeeze and squeeze marks. I wonder what is good about diving under conditions of being cramped into a suit. This is exactly the feeling I experience when I don't inflate enough. Why is it desirable to dive under conditions that I am just a bit away from feeling pain. What is wrong with feeling comfortable as long as I can control the consequences? Yes, Bill, I buy into the thermal benefits of being cold during the dive and warm during the off gassing. But I certainly don't want to freeze and shiver, do I?
I don't know why you find a benefit in coming back from a dive with squeeze marks on your body. OK, I'm just a rec diver, but what is wrong about wanting to feel cozy, and no pain or even limitations in movement due to a suit that fits too tight? With all due respect, that reminds a bit of overcome macho traditions that only what hurts can be good. Not for this diver.
At least one other diver had the balls to defend the only-drysuit procedure that seems to have come out of fashion. After weighing all the pros and cons I think I'm going to give the majority's suggestions another try during the next dives but I reserve the right to go back to my system if I find it the better one for me.
And yes, I agree, one cannot learn how to dive on the Internet. But I believe one (at least a responsible person) can very well learn new aspects of diving over the Internet. Isn't that why we are all here and quite actively so?
Arno
PS: I am also not surprised how long a 6 ft³ bottle can last to inflate a drysuit. But I am surprised why, of all divers, MHK uses an added failure source when this bottle does not even contain Argon (which, in 90% of the dives, it is said not to).
MHK a stroke, after all? ;-)
I repeat, this is said with TIC!