Quote: (Originally Posted by mort)
I have been doing a lot of reading online about rebreathers and one question persists in my mind:
How do rebreather pilots control their buoyancy?
Do you do it with loop volume, or do you use a wing bcd that I can't seem to see in pictures, or do you use your dry suit?
(Pardon the questions if this has already been asked.)
Good question. The first few Rebreather dives are trying as far as buoyancy goes. The more OC experience you have the worse it is. Forget the inhale=rise/exhale=sink. When you are neutral, you are neutral. Period. One should try to dive minimum loop volume at all times. This helps with buoyancy control. Use the BCD just like in OC. Using the counter lungs for buoyancy creates a lot of problems. Too much gas in CL=hard to exhale. Using CL for buoyancy control should be a last resort. As far as a dry suit, you could use it, but then you are dealing with gas in 3 different places. If diving wet and the BCD is not functioning, then you have no choice. Try not to make too many depth changes. You have at least 2 different gas spaces/volumes to deal with. Depth change causes one to at least deal with loop volume and gas in the BCD.
The first 3-5 dives on a Rebreather will really make you unhappy with yourself as far as buoyancy control. After about the 8th dive it gets much better.
Rebreather's have many benefits. Getcha one.
Bill