A weighty question

[Warhammer]

LOL! Yeah, that would be cool, but I suspect there would be a malfunction. My reg would surely flood and I'd have to drink the pond scum! Prehaps there may be a few regs that this would be possible with, but my Apeks just won't do it. I can get about 1 breath from it when over on my back and submerged, then the river starts to flow. I hadn't noticed this until I was in Hawaii. I had even stated before that it didn't do it. Until Hawaii, I had only dove it in cooler water and I swore it breathed dry anyway I tried it. Then while on 1 of my dives in Hawaii, I turned upside down to watch a school of dolphins pass overhead and got drowned! I improvised by turning my head when I needed a breathe, worked great and must have stayed turtle for 5 minutes or longer. Oops, I'm wandering again.

I have witnessed a few divers ascend to the surface, horizontal, without using anything other than breath control. Now that's perfection! Someday, someday.

Back to your situation. I think you have a good plan with the clip-ons. But I believe your going to find your trim problem more likely in your BCs position on your body, or something causing 1 of your sides to be heavier than the other. And that could be the placement of the tank weight, but i don't really think it's the tank weight itself. At any rate, have fun and be safe. I'm headed to a quarry myself in the morning for a deep dive, followed by buddying with a friend of mine whom is doing his OW checkouts, then a night dive.

 

[JoelW]

On the Zeagle "kinda-ditchable" tank band weight pouches, I bought a set to use with my Zeagle. I moved on to a bp/wing before I used them, but I sold the set to the guy I do most of my diving with. He has been using them for a bit. His biggest complaint is that the weights shift from one end of the pouch to the other depending on attitude. To take care of the problem he has added some filler into the pouches to keep the weights from shifting.

Another tank band weight to try are the trim weights from Dive Rite. They are lead filled canvas tubes with a webbing strap that will fit over a 2" band. I am using a pair of the 4# on the lower strap of my backplate. A weight keeper and a bit of rubber tube keep them from moving around on the strap and up tight against the plate.

JoelW

 

[TexasMike]

Breathing while on back (Turtle breath??): My reg is the Zeagle 50D/Flathead which is essentially your Apeks in Zeagle colors. I haven't tried being on my back yet, so I don't know if mine would flood but will have to experiment and see. Will report later.

But after thinking of how a reg functions, why would that attitude cause it to admit water? I'm picturing a breath cycle in my head while on your back and I can't see where the water would actually enter. Explanation please?

And I think you are right again that some of gear is causing the roll. Currently, my console is on a retractor on the left hip D-ring. I am thinking of putting the hose under my arm and moving the shortened (read modified) retractor to the ring on my upper right chest. Should be more streamlined and easier to grab. AND bring it closer to my centerline.

Joel: And I think you might be on to something with the weights shifting in the pouches. I hadn't thought of that until you mentioned it. So I will have to pay attention to that while I'm working this out.


Oh, and it looks like my weekend dive plans have been superceded. I am in the process of selling my house and have just this afternoon received a real live offer. So I think I might stick around to see if we can't get this baby into contract. Then I'll have more money for dive gear...or a bigger truck.....nyah....get gear.

Have fun on you weekend, folks!