I'm a newb and I'm wondering with a BP/W set up can you weight yourself any other way than with a belt? I really don't like a belt so I'm looking for alternatives. I'm trying to research different systems before I purchase.
This a very frequent request I hear when helping new divers select the appropriate components for a BP&W.
**Don't Fear Weight Belts**
Most new divers have been over weighted during class, and many are diving "fluffy" buoyant vest type BC's and buoyant aluminum tanks.
This all combines to result in 14-16-18-22-(gasp) 24+ lbs weight belts.
Massive ballast in a belt is a true pain, but 4-6-8 lbs is very easily tolerated by most divers.
Why not simply hang all your ballast on your rig? Stainless Back Plate, negative Steel tank, weight pouches, camband weights, you know heap it all on the rig, yippie no weight belt!!!!!
Here are the drawbacks:
Your rig will become very heavy and hard to move about out of the water.
If you need to don your gear in the water it's much more difficult if you have no ballast on YOU and are floating like a cork, and cannot get your feet under you to "swim" into the gear.
Weight pouches take up space on your harness waist belt that you might want for other uses, such as a canister light etc.
**HAVING ALL YOUR BALLAST ON YOUR RIG WILL REQUIRE A LARGER WING**
The minimum ballast required to go diving is equal to the buoyancy of your exposure suit when your tank is near empty, other wise you cannot hold a safety stop.
If your rig represents 100% of your ballast when your tank is empty you have to add the weight of your gas to this value to determine the maximum negative buoyancy of your rig with a full tank.
Lets say your exposure suit is 18 lbs positive, and your "rig" consists of a medium SS Backplate and Harness, regulator and HP100 steel tank.
Your rig will be about -18 lbs with a full tank, 6 lbs for the plate and harness, 2 for the reg, and -10 for a full hp100. Your rig will provide about 10 lbs of ballast with an empty tank (100 cuft air = 8 lbs) If your suit is +18 and your rig provides 10 lbs of ballast you need another 6-8 lbs in a weight belt, no big deal.
You can use a small, low drag easy venting 20 lbs wing. 20 lbs of lift will float a rig that's at most -18 lbs, and 20 lbs of lift can compensate for a fully compressed exposure suit (Your suit cannot loose more buoyancy than it starts with)
Lift is good.
What happens if you instead hang 8 lbs of lead on your rig?
Now your rig is no longer -18 lbs with a full tank, but it's -26. Now you need a 30 lbs wing.
A few lbs in a weight belt is simply no big deal......
Tobin