Alternative weight distribution / stowing equipment

[dmaziuk]

Although, i reread it, he does say it lacks trim pockets. My bad

You can put a trim pocket on a camband. Or you can put it on a shoulder strap. Neither stops you from wearing a belt if you find yourself too "top heavy" either.

The downside of having them on shoulder straps is they get in the way when you fiddle with stuff on d-rings and in a back-(inf/p)late you do need to be comfortable riding very low in the water topside. The upside is you can get to them and ditch the weights, you can move them up and down to find your perfect balance spot, and you get better face-down trim esp. towards the end of the dive when Al80 gets light.

You won't know which way you like it better unless you try both.

 

[offfi]

Thanks everyone for the input.
There are quite some useful links.
I know what a retractor is and that I could try just a normal weight belt. ;-)
I'm grateful for every post or idea, as there might be some gems among them.

 

[MRadke]

I don't have anywhere near the experience of some of the posters, so I'll only tell you what works for me. I dive a Zeagle Express Tech with 24# wing, Scubapro Jet XL fins and dive shop AL80s I use a lavacore shirt for exposure protection, which has zero buoyancy.

In the ocean, I use a one pound weight on the back of each shoulder and 6 pounds in the pockets for a total of Eight pounds. This leaves me slightly overweight but allows maintaining a safety stop in the rare event that my tank gets below 500#.

In fresh water and the cenotes, I use no weight whatsoever, even if I have a 3 mil shorty on.

I may be a unique case because for fun, I did my weight check in the last cenote with my bladder fully inflated and was still able to sink it on exhale.

As far as carrying stuff, bolt snaps are your friend for most things.