Hey SD fans, welcome back, and for those here for the first time, my name’s Mark, I am the
editor-in-chief of the Scuba Diver media brand, and welcome to the Scuba Diver YouTube Channel.
A buoyancy compensating device, or BCD, is a core essential of your dive kit – without one, you’d
have nothing to mount your cylinders on! However, when it comes to choosing a BCD, there are a whole
host of options available out there – let me tell you, things have changed a lot from when I first
started diving in a Fenzy ABLJ horse-collar with oral inflator. I remember nearly getting
excommunicated from our local dive club when my uncle and I turned up with ABLJs with power
inflators. And you’d have thought we had committed some sort of cardinal sin when we progressed on
to a stab jacket, or stabiliser jacket, which was the name given to what are now referred to
as jacket-style BCDs. Jacket-style BCDs are still immensely popular, but backplate-and-wing set-ups,
as favoured by technical divers, are definitely en vogue at the moment for recreational divers,
so join me as we look at the pros and cons of both systems. I’ll also be telling you about
a third option which could tick all of the boxes of what you want in a recreational BCD.
A BCD is the chassis on which your diving system is mounted. Not only does it hold your cylinder,
or cylinders, but it also provides you with a means of controlling your buoyancy
via its power inflator and bladder. It needs to be able to support you on the surface both before and
after your dives, and underwater, it has to enable you to achieve neutral buoyancy throughout your
dive. Stripped bare, those are the core functions of a BCD – things like integrated weight pockets,
trim weight pockets, pull dumps, storage pockets, D-rings, etc, are all just add-ons
which are nice to have, but are not essential. Let’s talk bladder shape and location first,
as this is one of the main differences between jacket-style BCDs and backplate-and-wings. With
a jacket-style BCD, the bladder sits here at the back but extends around the sides,
so it effectively gives you a comforting hug as you inflate it. A major benefit of this is
that at the surface when it is inflated, it holds you in a nice upright position,
keeping your head well clear of the surface. Underwater, if you are correctly weighted,
you will not have too much gas in the jacket, so when you get into a nice, flat position,
what gas is in there will sit on either side of your cylinder. Throughout the dive, this gas will
migrate around the bladder depending on your body position – if you turn on your side slightly, say
you were looking under an overhang, for instance, the gas will move to this side of the jacket. Now,
it is a delicate balancing act maintaining this position, as if you turn too far, the weight of
the cylinder will make you turn turtle on to your back, but with a bit of practice, you should be
able to hold this position before going back into your normal diving position. You can usually get
a feel for the gas moving around in the jacket, but beware, I have dived in some jacket-style
BCDs where instead of gas movement being progressive, it will just suddenly move enmasse,
and this can be quite unsettling as you try to make small adjustments to your body position.
With a backplate-and-wing, the bladder – which will either be a round doughnut,
or a horseshoe-shape – is just mounted on your back. This makes it far more streamlined than a
jacket-style BCD for when you are moving through the water on your dive, as there is just no bulk
around the front of you. Another benefit is that the location of the bladder automatically puts you
into a nice, horizontal trim position, which is what all divers want to achieve anyway. You won’t
be able to turn on your side and hold position as easily as you would in a jacket-style BCD,
as the bladder is constantly trying to get you flat again, but if you are correctly weighted, it
can be done. On the surface, a backplate-and-wing can take a little getting used to, especially
if you’ve been diving jackets before. Where a jacket-style BCD will hold you upright at the
surface, a backplate-and-wing tends to push you forwards if you put too much gas into the bladder.
This can be dealt with by not putting too much gas in, and then kind of leaning back
slightly. It will never hold you as clear of the surface as a jacket-style BCD,
but with practice you can still easily float around on the surface in a relaxed fashion.
Let’s talk fit and adjustment now. A jacket-style BCD generally has a hard plastic back section
which holds the cambands to secure it on to the cylinder. These often have a grab
handle built into the top, which is useful for when you are lifting your gear about. However,
some forgo this plastic section and rely on the cylinder to provide the strength and support.
The one defining feature of jacket-style BCDs is the generous use of padding – expect
a padded backpad, padding on the shoulders, and so on. This makes them extremely comfortable whether
you are in a rash vest, wetsuit or drysuit. Most jacket-style BCDs then have a cummerbund, and
two chest straps. Like the shoulder straps, these can be quickly and easily slackened or tightened,
so you can obtain a good fit when you put it on. A backplate-and-wing generally forgoes a lot
of these elements. The core of the set-up is the backplate itself, which can be made from aluminium
or stainless steel. Aluminium is lighter, so better for travelling with, but you will still
need to add weights to counteract the buoyancy of your exposure protection, whereas stainless-steel
is heavy, so you will be able to reduce, or in some cases, not need, any lead. The downside
is that it is heavy for travelling with. If you are wearing a drysuit or wetsuit,
a backplate can be reasonably comfortable as you have some cushioning between you
and the metal, but it is nowhere near as comfy as a well-padded jacket-style BCD. However, there are
some backplates now that have removeable pads that make a massive difference to the comfort level.
The backplate is then threaded with one piece of webbing, which makes up the waist strap
and the shoulder straps, and a short second piece of webbing provides the crotch strap
to stop the set-up riding up. Again, there are pros and cons to this one-piece webbing approach.
A much-touted benefit is that apart from the waist buckle – usually in the style of
an old-school weightbelt release – there are no clips or anything that can potentially break.
These so-called ‘failure points’ are avoided at all costs by tech divers,
but I have to be honest, in literally thousands of dives, I have seen maybe two pinch-clips break,
and in both instances it was right at the point where the diver stood up and the weight of the
cylinder and lead weights was loaded on to the clips. A couple of well-placed zip ties
later to hold the pinch-clip in place and they were off into the water for their dive.
The downside of this webbing set-up is that there is no quick adjustment of the shoulder straps,
and you have to wriggle to get into them. With practice, this is not too much of a chore,
but I still find it a royal pain in the backside, especially if I am changing between drysuit and
wetsuit and have to slacken or tighten the webbing up. Some backplates allow a degree
of movement when you undo the waist strap, and this helps a lot, but personally, I still like
straps I can just grab hold of to pull down and tighten up, as on a jacket-style BCD.
On the comfort side of things, the webbing is not as comfy as well-padded shoulder straps on
a jacket-style BCD, but some backplate-and-wings now feature neoprene padding that slides over the
webbing, and this does make a difference. However, it is worth noting that there are
backplate-and-wing style BCDs out there that don’t have, well, a backplate.
This is my trusty Dive Rite Transpac II harness, paired with a small travel wing.
Ignore the frayed bits and holes, it was chewed by a mouse – long story. Anyway, the Transpac II
has no backplate, instead, once it is securely attached to a cylinder with these two cambands,
the cylinder itself provides the rigidity. This makes it more lightweight than a
backplate-and-wing, so better for travelling with, but also, having this thick padded backpad
makes it just as comfortable as a jacket-style BCD. Also, it has comfy jacket-style shoulder
straps with pinch-clip adjusters. For me, it is the perfect blend of both designs.
Right, so that’s bladders, backplates and straps covered. Let’s move on to pockets and
other accessories. With a jacket-style BCD, you usually get at least two pockets, either zipper
or Velcro closing, for storing things like back-up torches, mesh bags for collecting rubbish you find
on your dive, or a DSMB and spool. When selecting a jacket-style BCD, put it on, inflate it fully
and then see if you can still access the pockets – it is amazing how many out there have crappy
little pockets that you just cannot get into when the jacket has any gas in it. Ridiculous. You’ll
also have a number of D-rings, either metal or plastic, that you can attach things to,
but beware you don’t end up with too much dangling off you, otherwise you look like a Christmas tree.
On a backplate-and-wing, they are spartan to say the least when it comes to extras. You are not
going to find any accessory pockets, let’s put it that way. There will be an array of metal D-rings,
but as I said, you can then end up looking a right mess with stuff hanging everywhere.
Yes, you can bungee and fasten torches and DSMBs on to your webbing,
but frankly this is bit of a heath robinson solution. We’ve mentioned them before in
other videos, but you might want to consider a pair of tech shorts, such as those by Apeks,
Scubapro or Fourth Element. These have pockets so you can stash your DSMB and spool, your torch,
back-up mask and so on, safely away. You are streamlined, nothing is dangling, job done.
Let’s talk weights. Thankfully, weightbelts are going the way of the dodo, and most jacket-style
BCDs these days have integrated weight pockets, and in some instances non-dumpable
trim weight pockets on the back. While a basic backplate-and-wing has none of these,
most companies offer weight pouches and pockets that can be retro-fitted,
and these make a backplate-and-wing far more user-friendly in my opinion.
The manufacturers obviously think so too, as many line-ups now feature a backplate-and-wing already
decked out with these pockets from the get-go. One big difference between a jacket-style BCD
and a backplate-and-wing is how they can grow with you as your diving progresses – or not,
as the case may be. A jacket-style BCD is ideal for what it is intended for, but that’s it.
Apart from rare cases, such as AP Diving’s Commando, for instance, which is capable of
holding a twinset, a jacket-style BCD is for single-cylinder recreational diving only. If
you head into technical diving down the line, you are going to have to buy a whole new rig.
With a backplate-and-wing, you can get one for your recreational diving to start with,
but if you are then tempted by tech, as it is a modular system, it can grow with you.
In a matter of minutes, you can replace the single-cylinder wing with a larger wing designed
to support a twinset and stage cylinders, but retain your existing backplate and harness set-up.
The other benefit of a backplate-and-wing is that it can grow with you as you, well, grow. Children
grow at a prodigious rate these days, and rather than go through several jacket-style BCDs as they
move through their teens and into adulthood, get them a backplate-and-wing and all you need
to do is adjust the webbing harness as they get bigger. Sorted. This is actually my son’s BCD,
and while this extra-small adult jacket still fits him at the moment, he has already progressed
on to this backplate-and-wing, which should see him right for many years to come.
As with all diving equipment, whether you opt for a jacket-style BCD
or a backplate-and-wing is all down to personal choice.
Both do the job they were intended for, and both have their pros and cons, as I have discussed.
But, for recreational divers, there is a third option that sits between the two.
The back-inflate BCD, such as the Aqua Lung Rogue, Scubapro Hydros Pro, the Atomic Aquatics BC2,
or the Dive Rite Hydro Lite. These have adjustable shoulder and chest straps, integrated weights
and even pockets in some cases, much the same as a jacket-style BCD, but the difference is that
the bladder is only on the back, so more like a backplate-and-wing. You get the buoyancy benefits
underwater of a backplate-and-wing, but the ease of adjustment and fit of a jacket-style BCD,
plus, they are generally quite lightweight, so ideal for the travelling diver.
If you are diving recreationally on a single cylinder, and not planning on venturing down
the technical diving route, then a back-inflate BCD could be just what you are looking for.
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Remember, if you are going diving in the coming days, enjoy - and stay safe.