Ditchable weight

[PfcAJ]

The balanced rig concept is what determines if you need ditchable weight... I guess I don't quite understand what you're asking?? It's kind of a personal thing that is dependent on your suit, your body type, and the tanks you use.

 

[elan]

We teach a concept called the balanced rig. This means balancing the ability to hold a stop with near empty cylinders at the end of of a dive with the ability to swim up your rig if the wing fails at the start of the dive.

If you cannot swim up your rig because it is too heavy at the start of the dive, then you need to offset this with ditchable weight. In the good old days this consisted of basically your weight belt and your canister light but with modern canister lights it makes little difference so you are talking about weight on a weight belt.

The best way to figure this out is to get in the water for a training dive and try it out.

Can double HP130 full of nitrox be a balanced rig?

 

[kanonfodr]

Can double HP130 full of nitrox be a balanced rig?

With the redundant bouyancy of a drysuit, yes.

Peace,
Greg

 

[Mayor]

When I hear double 130's my back starts feel funny.....

 

[elan]

When I hear double 130's my back starts feel funny.....

Would LP108s change the feeling ?

 

[on_two_wheels]

To the OP:

I live in Southern California. Here, it's rare you'll find a DIR diver with a single tank (just a few) or a wetsuit. Most of the ones I've seen wear weight belts and they are often under the harness. A bit of a pain to ditch but the assumption (for some) is if there is a wing failure at the beginning of the dive, there's plenty of air and teammates to assist getting it off without rushing. Plus, the drysuit actually means ditching won't even be necessary. In essence, the weight belt is seen as added weight placement more than just being ditchable.

Seeing you are in BC, I'm guessing you're in a drysuit. Therefore, you probably don't really need ditchable weight as TWO failures are unlikely. You mention single tank diving. Well, you could have a suit and wing issue if you have a 1st stage fail or OOA. In that event, it's not really a failure since your wing still works....just requires manual inflation. So again, probably don't need ditchable weight. We all know the OOA situation is simply unacceptable, though.

Personally, I put a single weight behind my can light and one behind the left d-ring. Both are held tight against the plate with a keeper and are in a single pouch. It's still streamlined and can be removed, if necessary. Again, highly unlikely since I have redundant buoyancy systems.

Hope this gets it back on topic.

 

[rjack321]

I have been reading about GUE and the DIR configuration and I haven't found much on ditchable weight.
Do you have ditchable weight when you are do a open water dive within recerational dive table limits with a single tank and whats your reasoning if you do or don't?

Thanks Ian

In BC, diving a drysuit you'll have ditchable weight. There's just no way to carry enough except on a belt which is by definition ditchable. Not to mention you want your tank/plate to float on the surface by itself if need be and having alot of integrated lead makes that tough. You shouldn't ever need to ditch your weightbelt though.

If the drysuit fails its usually not a complete loss of buoyancy. Use the wing to ascend.

If the wing fails at the beginning of the dive just swim up using your drysuit to help a little. Ditch the weight on the surface if you have to.

Weight belts go under the harness, there's really never a need to dicth lead underwater. Its quite dangerous to do so as well, with high risk of embolism - or DCS if on a deco dive.

 

[Jax]

We teach a concept called the balanced rig. This means balancing the ability to hold a stop with near empty cylinders at the end of of a dive with the ability to swim up your rig if the wing fails at the start of the dive.

If you cannot swim up your rig because it is too heavy at the start of the dive, then you need to offset this with ditchable weight. In the good old days this consisted of basically your weight belt and your canister light but with modern canister lights it makes little difference so you are talking about weight on a weight belt.

The best way to figure this out is to get in the water for a training dive and try it out.

Interesting concept. Thank you for this.

 

[ligersandtions]

To the OP:

I live in Southern California. Here, it's rare you'll find a DIR diver with a single tank (just a few) or a wetsuit. Most of the ones I've seen wear weight belts and they are often under the harness. A bit of a pain to ditch but the assumption (for some) is if there is a wing failure at the beginning of the dive, there's plenty of air and teammates to assist getting it off without rushing. Plus, the drysuit actually means ditching won't even be necessary. In essence, the weight belt is seen as added weight placement more than just being ditchable.

Hmmm, interesting observation...

There are actually quite a few socal DIR divers who actively dive singles when appropriate.

 

[TSandM]

To address the original question, there is no requirement in the GUE system that a diver carry ditchable weight. Most of us diving cold water end up with some, as Richard has observed, simply because it's too hard to figure out where to put enough weight for diving in thick undergarments without using a belt or harness. But in warmer water, if the rig is balanced, it is just fine to have none.

If you think about it, when do you need ditchable weight? It is very dangerous to jettison significant weight at depth, because it becomes difficult to impossible to control the subsequent ascent. Most problems you can posit (entanglement, for example) that might require ditching weight are things which should be solvable by your buddy -- and an attentive, capable buddy is a cornerstone of the GUE system.

The one time you might need to ditch weight is at the surface (if you have lost the boat, for example, and are dealing with a long float). If you are properly weighted, you shouldn't be very negative at all at the surface with an empty tank, and if you are boat diving, you should be carrying a marker buoy that has additional flotation.