Alternative Placement of Weight Belt?

[n733lk]

My son uses very little weight. Would it be safe to simply purchase a pair of trim pockets for his tank (they could even be attached upside down for emergency dumping purposes)?

 

[Bubbletrubble]

Personally I hated the DUI harness. The shoulder straps were always falling off. Then when I started diving off my own boat and we remove our gear in the water, it really became evident they suck as my friend has to restring his weight harness every time.

@Peter_C: Hmmm. If the shoulder straps were falling off, the W/T was probably adjusted to be too loose.

When we dive from a friends RIB locally, we also doff gear in the water prior to reboarding the boat. If I'm wearing a DUI W/T on such dives, I'll usually remove some of the weight using the velcro flaps...not by activating the ditch mechanism. With the W/T version 2, a diver can place all of the weights on one side in a convenient zipper pouch that can be handed up to someone in the boat rather easily. Another thing to keep in mind is that all of the weight need not be removed from the W/T prior to doffing the BCD. In most cases, a cold water diver's exposure protection will provide a significant amount of positive buoyancy at the surface.

I'll agree that it really sucks to have to re-string the W/T on a rocking boat. Since we typically only do a couple dives off of the RIB, this is only an issue for Dive #1. For Dive #2, we have the option of activating the ditch mechanism and handing up the weight to someone already in the boat.

My son uses very little weight. Would it be safe to simply purchase a pair of trim pockets for his tank (they could even be attached upside down for emergency dumping purposes)?

@n733lk: If your son is an inexperienced diver, it is good practice to have some ditchable weight that the diver himself can ditch.
If the weight is positioned on tank cambands, he won't be able to reach them without removing the BCD.

If he really only needs a few lbs. of weight, get him a rubber weight belt.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Then when I started diving off my own boat and we remove our gear in the water, it really became evident they suck as my friend has to restring his weight harness every time.

I would think pulling the pockets (and subsequent restringing) of the harness could be avoided if he transferred a bit of weight to the BP or tank so he was positive when removing the gear.

 

[scubatomwetzel]

My son uses very little weight. Would it be safe to simply purchase a pair of trim pockets for his tank (they could even be attached upside down for emergency dumping purposes)?

No!!!!!!!!!!!!! He has to be able to drop for emergency!! Good luck.

 

[g1138]

Might I suggest ankle weights w/ quick releases clipped to his shoulder straps?
You could also clip it to his waist strap since it's unlikely he'll ditch and don his BC underwater. You should already have a good enough eye on him, so if he gets his first stage entangled in something you can bail him out.

It'll certainly be a cheaper alternative than spending $130 for a harness. I'm sure your son's going to hit a growth spurt anytime soon.

 

[scubadiveilat]

Alternative options are:

You can place a 2-4lbs weight on the BCD strap holding the tank. And add a 1 or 2 (2lbs) on a belt depending on his weight. ALSO! There is an alternative way in set up the weights on the belt that they don't shift around. By looping around them. If you need I can send you a photo of the idea. Have fun!

 

[n733lk]

Thanks to everyone for all the ideas!

We'll Git-R-Done one way or another.

 

[Frosty]

I'd say if he wears very little weight then why not as suggested earlier get a rubber weight belt. cheap and easy solution

 

[tengsr]

I personally do th funky chiken dance, and bounce up my weight belt to just below my belly button, then haul on the slack to tighten it up. If its resting under the top of my hip bones I know its not tight enough. I use extra pounds in my bc's pockets, but I lost all weight on one side so there's a big rock in there now

 

[divermike1011]

+5 on rubber weight belt, but to give you a more accurate answer I'd like to know how much weight your son currently uses and what type of tank he uses (size and AL or Steel). If your son wears just a little bit of weight I'm going to go against the grain here and suggest some non-dumpable cam band weights, if you're using an AL tank this should off set the weight of your son's tank and give him better trim in the water. If he wears more then say... 5-6 lbs I'd put two to four lbs on the cam band and and the rest on the much recommended rubber weight belt.

Michael