How to add weight pouches to my rEvo?

[doctormike]

Part of my objective is to NOT have to use tools and make big changes to switch between diving wet and dry. That could mean switching back and forth every week. Plus it means carrying that SS BP with me if I fly somewhere to dive in cold water (e.g. Scapa, where I'm hoping to go in Sept).

That's why I like attaching weigh pockets.

Tools? Is that a rEvo thing? On the JJ, the backplate just gets fixed to the rebreather by wing nuts, just like a set of doubles. I just put the extra backplate down before putting the JJ backplate on.

You switch between wetsuit and drysuit every week?

Yeah, I guess that wouldn't be a great solution if you fly to cold water diving places. The only time I have done that was pre-CCR, to Newfoundland. Although, Rick provides AWESOME support, and I'm pretty sure that he had an extra backplate lying around the shop that I could have used... BTW, that's a great trip, if you are interested.

 

[Dsix36]

Don or Slamfire, what do you do with that soft weight? Stuff it in with a zip tie to hold it up against the center bolt that the cover attaches to?

After tanks are installed drop the weigh tin and then the scrubber cover keeps it from falling out. No tools, zip ties, etc.

 

[Slamfire]

Don or Slamfire, what do you do with that soft weight? Stuff it in with a zip tie to hold it up against the center bolt that the cover attaches to?

Nothing. I just stuff it. The tank and the cover have been enough to hold it in place. So far it's never fallen out, nor has it looked like it was close to. I just pay attention so that no stitch fiber or pouch portion impedes the cover from forming a seal.

 

[broncobowsher]

I like that pouch on the tanks. Might have to try that. I'm trying to adjust trim and get a little more weight up high. Right now I have the 6Lbs at the top pouch with 16Lbs on the waist. That is medium-heavy undergarments and drysuit.

But the 4-5Lb soft weight across from the battery sounds appealing as well. But does that throw side to side balance off? That might be just enough to get my feet up. I'm not off by much.

Before this post I was looking at adding some old ankle weights around the handle just to see what that would do. Might be a bit much.

 

[stuartv]

Wow! 22 #s?! That just sounds like crazy weight. What kind of dry suit is that? And what cylinders are you using?

 

[JohnnyC]

Just partially flood it! Since you can't dewater the thing, instant negative buoyancy!

What is your aversion to just diving dry with it all the time and not changing a bunch of stuff? Can you swim a flooded unit up with your current configuration in a wetsuit? Get a super lightweight undergarment for warm water, and whatever you have now for cold water and just dive dry when you're on it. I tried doing the wetsuit/drysuit thing for both rebreather and cave. It's just a pain dicking with stuff all the time. Since I've started doing both dry exclusively, it's been much more enjoyable.

 

[KenGordon]

What is wrong with a weight belt? For only 5 or 6 kg it will be like it is not there. Or a couple of blocks of solid on the waistband even?

 

[broncobowsher]

Wow! 22 #s?! That just sounds like crazy weight. What kind of dry suit is that? And what cylinders are you using?

It's not the suit, it's what's under the suit. The current Weezle is working pretty good in the low 50° waters. When it warms up and I can get by with a little fleece I'm down closer to 12Lbs or so. When I first started with the 4th element Halo, that took even more. But I found myself overheating in that.

 

[stuartv]

Just partially flood it! Since you can't dewater the thing, instant negative buoyancy!

What is your aversion to just diving dry with it all the time and not changing a bunch of stuff? Can you swim a flooded unit up with your current configuration in a wetsuit? Get a super lightweight undergarment for warm water, and whatever you have now for cold water and just dive dry when you're on it. I tried doing the wetsuit/drysuit thing for both rebreather and cave. It's just a pain dicking with stuff all the time. Since I've started doing both dry exclusively, it's been much more enjoyable.

Diving dry all the time has additional risk beyond diving wet. I don't have to worry about tearing a seal on a wetsuit. If I'm diving somewhere warm, I'll probably wait until it's somewhat close to time to dive to fully suit up. If I tear a seal then, it's at least a pain in the butt and potentially a day-killer. If I'm flying to dive, it's a lot easier to carry a thin wetsuit.

I don't know if I can swim my rEvo up with a flooded loop. I do know that I expect to dive dry any time I'm doing a technical dive. But, if I'm (for example) just doing a day on a 2-tank recreational charter down in NC, the diving will be NDL diving, the water is (usually) warm, and I'd prefer to dive wet.

If I flood my loop, I believe my Nomad XT wing has adequate lift to still get me up. If the loop floods AND my wing has a catastrophic failure AND I can't swim it up AND I am unable to use my SMB to help me swim it up AND my buddy is not able to help, then I reckon I might have to unclip my BO, ditch my rig, and swim up holding a BO cylinder in one hand.

That may sound like I'm being cavalier about it and I don't mean it that way. Before I did my rEvo training, the question of diving wet or dry was a big one to me that I talked to my instructor about. That conversation convinced me that diving wet, at least for recreational dives where I'm not carrying a ton of BO cylinders, is adequately safe. If I flood the loop, my wing has enough lift. If I don't flood my loop, but the wing fails, I CAN swim it up (and have done that, in class, to verify). If the loop floods AND the wing fails catastrophically, then yes, it's a more serious problem, but that many failures is not something I would normally plan for, and there are options, even if it does happen.

What is wrong with a weight belt? For only 5 or 6 kg it will be like it is not there. Or a couple of blocks of solid on the waistband even?

Two buckles in my front. 2 straps around my waist. A lot of clutter that I don't want IF I don't NEED it.

I may fix a pair of weight pouches on my rig's waist belt, up against the back plate, if it comes to that.

 

[macado]

Obviously my weighting will be different but here's what I do. You might be surprised that you don't need as much weight as you think in salt water.

In warm freshwater (65-75f) no weight required. Annoying with 2-3 AL80s since wing is very inflated.
In cold freshwater (37-65f) I use 2-4lbs (depending on what layers I use this includes an additional fleece vest and I like to be able to loft my undergarments.)
In saltwater I just use 8lbs (2x4lbs) on top of the unit. This works pretty well for me.

Unfortunately even in a 7mm wetsuit I sink like a boat anchor in my rEvo II mini (stainless steel). No way around that unless I switched to carbon fibre tanks here. I don't do this that often and it was downright
uncomfortable with multiple stage bottles so I really don't like doing this.

I ended up replacing the stock rEvo wing with a donut wing that has more lift and I like it much better.

I agree with Don's solution. If you need more weight put a mesh weight in between the scrubber. A lot of people do that up here. Some of my friends also use a very small weight belt (4-6lbs) if they need just a little more weight. It's a nice way to distribute the weight and still have some that is easily ditch able if you wanted.

If you're using AL80s try maybe dong a weight check with a couple near empty tanks or just add a couple extra pounds. I know some people say you can drop tanks but if I have to bail out I really don't want to worry about now being too light and blowing deco stops or having to dive with a large suit squeeze.

Granted I don't like diving super over-weighted but a few extra lbs can be really nice in cold water since you can loft your undergarments a bit more.