Diving without ditchable weight.. comments?

[RonFrank]

I'm thinking about going to the darkside, and getting a BP/W after diving with one this weekend, and really enjoying how it dived.

However if I do something similar to what I dove this weekend, I will end up a bit negative in the ocean in a 3mm, and even more so if I rent steel.

So what are the thoughts on diving without ditchable weight?

Should I get a lightweight STA, or go without an STA when diving 3mm suits so I can then add ditchable weight?

There are a lot of options. For cold water dry diving a BP/w with weighted STA I still add 10lbs. I could also plan on an alum for warm water/3mm suit diving, and then have to add a few lbs of weight.

OTOH, I kinda like the idea of not needing weight!

Is ditchable weight a must for divers?

What do those that dive without weight do if they need to get positive (or someone else needs to get you positive?

 

[Blackwood]

Is ditchable weight a must for divers?

Proper weighting is crucial, but it doesn't matter if its ditchable IMO.

Shoot for enough weight that you can maintain neutral buoyancy at shallow stops (e.g. 10-20 feet) towards the end of your dive (i.e. with a light tank).

If you are neutral at 10 feet, you'll be positive when you ascend, and thus ditching will serve no purpose.

Never have so much weight that you can't swim up (CESA).

 

[all4scuba05]

Some folks leave their snorkels at home and some have it on their dives. Some of those say they'll never need it anyway.
So what about ditchable weights? Well, some say they'll never need to ditch them anyway. So why bring them. To each his own.

 

[cummings66]

I dive with no ditchable weight, but my rig is balanced. So no IMO ditchable weight is not a must for divers. In some cases it's a big negative, caves for example. My last dive I watched my buddy lose his weights which accidentally released on him. Wasn't a big deal as he held the safety stop, but once on the surface he couldn't go down again.

As to how you can get me positive, well you could add air to my drysuit if you needed it, or the wing depending on which is damaged. Or how about you could start bringing me up and I'd get positive anyhow. I don't believe a diver needs ditchable weight, but if you really wanted to ditch some of my weight you could get rid of my canister light I suppose.

 

[PerroneFord]

If I was diving in the ocean I'd want some ditchable weight or some redundant buoyancy. A bag or a drysuit is a lot easier to deal with than lead.

You could look to do a light plate (like DSS's Kydex plate, or an aluminum plate from another manufacturer) which might shave off enough to give you some ditchable weight in your 3mm. To that you could add a weighted STA for diving in cold water and still use just a light weightbelt. I'd shoot for trying to keep about 3-6 pounds on the belt if possible. Just enough to ensure you could keep your head out of the water if you ditched.

 

[Mo2vation]

I'm thinking about going to the darkside, and getting a BP/W after diving with one this weekend, and really enjoying how it dived.

However if I do something similar to what I dove this weekend, I will end up a bit negative in the ocean in a 3mm, and even more so if I rent steel.

So what are the thoughts on diving without ditchable weight?

Should I get a lightweight STA, or go without an STA when diving 3mm suits so I can then add ditchable weight?

There are a lot of options. For cold water dry diving a BP/w with weighted STA I still add 10lbs. I could also plan on an alum for warm water/3mm suit diving, and then have to add a few lbs of weight.

OTOH, I kinda like the idea of not needing weight!

Is ditchable weight a must for divers?

What do those that dive without weight do if they need to get positive (or someone else needs to get you positive?

I dive with a 4 pound weight belt.

FOUR.

Does that count as "ditchable weight"? I hardly think so.

Then again, I dive with a 11.5 pound plate. And a Dry Suit. And an HP130. In SoCal.

When I'm diving doubles, I have no ditchable weight at all.

When you get to a point where you have done enough dives to have your kit together, and you're not flailing about any more, and you're not being a big, heavy, over-weighted, rototilling clown - I can't honestly see the need for ditchable weight.

On dive two on Saturday, I totally forgot my weightbelt (nearly 4 weeks of diving exclusively doubles rot the brain...) I was fine. I know I am until I get to about 1000 pounds in my 130. The dive was shallow (like 50') and I sip gas so we still did an hour and I came up with 1100... no biggy.

I mean, if there is an issue at depth whereby I blow out my wing, I got my drysuit. If I blow out my wing AND my drysuit, I got a my bag. If I blow out my wing, my drysuit AND my bag, I got my buddy.

Ditchable weight is over-rated once you start leaving your snorkle behind.

YMMV.

---
Ken


(of course if you dive in Orange County, I'm confident if the Snorkle Police don't cite you, the "Ditchable Weight" Police may get 'cha....)

 

[cool_hardware52]

I'm thinking about going to the darkside, and getting a BP/W after diving with one this weekend, and really enjoying how it dived.

However if I do something similar to what I dove this weekend, I will end up a bit negative in the ocean in a 3mm, and even more so if I rent steel.

So what are the thoughts on diving without ditchable weight?

Should I get a lightweight STA, or go without an STA when diving 3mm suits so I can then add ditchable weight?

There are a lot of options. For cold water dry diving a BP/w with weighted STA I still add 10lbs. I could also plan on an alum for warm water/3mm suit diving, and then have to add a few lbs of weight.

OTOH, I kinda like the idea of not needing weight!

Is ditchable weight a must for divers?

What do those that dive without weight do if they need to get positive (or someone else needs to get you positive?

Keep in mind that your current Jacket BC is likely 2-5 lbs positive.

We have quite a few users who dive with a 5lbs SS backplate for tropical conditions, and add the bolt on weights for cold water. Most are using AL80's for the warm water dives.

If you want the absolute best set up for warm water, and the absolute best for cold water it's going to involve different wings at a minimum, and maybe different plates.

If you want to have one setup for both warm and cold water size the wing for the cold water configuration, and the plate / sta for the warm water configuration. It will be a compromise, i.e. more wing than you need for warm water, and you will need to add weight to your rig for cold, but it can be done.

Tobin

 

[creamofwheat]

With my regular diving (dry suit, in the PNW), about half my weight is on a belt, the other half is not ditchable (dive in a BP/W).

When I was in Cozumel and diving a 2mm shorty, my backplate (6lbs) was more than enough and I did not need ditchable weight. However, I was carrying a rather large SMB (with a 50lb lift I think), which could be used for redundant buoyancy if necessary.

When I was in the caverns, with doubles, 7mm suit (plus hood), no ditchable weight.

You should be able to swim your rig up without ditching weight, IMO. Therefore, I don't think ditchable weight is necessary...but that's me.

 

[lamont]

I dive without ditchable weight, but I'm in doubles, a drysuit, thinsulate (hydrophobic) underwear, have a 40# SMB and dive a balanced rig. Plus, I know to use propulsion against runaway buoyancy (in the event of catastrophic loss of buoyancy while diving a wall, I'll kick up like my life depended on it). I'm starting to do decompression diving where dropping a weightbelt and explosively decompressing is not really an option for the dives I will eventually be doing...

 

[TheRedHead]

I dive with a wetsuit and 0-4 lbs of ditchable weight depending on the suit, usually with a HP 100. I can swim my rig to the surface and also carry a DSMB. There aren't too many circumstance where one would want to ditch their weight at depth.