Diving without ditchable weight

[gr8ful divr]

In trying to get my trim as good as possible I have had many very experienced divers (mostly cave diving instructors) tell me to get as much if not all of my weight off my waist. Most have suggested putting all the weight on the tank with trim pockets. I tried it this weekend and it seemed to work pretty darn well. But it got me thinking. In the unlikely even of an out of air emergency, what would be the best/safest method to employ to get to the surface?

 

[boulderjohn]

In trying to get my trim as good as possible I have had many very experienced divers (mostly cave diving instructors) tell me to get as much if not all of my weight off my waist. Most have suggested putting all the weight on the tank with trim pockets. I tried it this weekend and it seemed to work pretty darn well. But it got me thinking. In the unlikely even of an out of air emergency, what would be the best/safest method to employ to get to the surface?

It doesn't involve ditching weights as a first or second choice.

In an OOA emergency, your first option is your buddy. If all else fails, you should be able to ascend comfortably at a safe ascent rate, exhaling slowly all the way. If you can't do that with your weights in place, you are way overweighted.

If you pass out, your buddy should be able to take you to the surface with all your weights in place.

Ditching weights is very much a last resort sort of thing.

The people who hate non-ditchable weights are the people who pick you up on dives in small boats. If they have to take your scuba unit on board with all the weights before you pull yourself up, they are quite unhappy about it.

 

[Don Burke]

In trying to get my trim as good as possible I have had many very experienced divers (mostly cave diving instructors) tell me to get as much if not all of my weight off my waist. Most have suggested putting all the weight on the tank with trim pockets. I tried it this weekend and it seemed to work pretty darn well. But it got me thinking. In the unlikely even of an out of air emergency, what would be the best/safest method to employ to get to the surface?

Ditching weights is mainly to keep a diver on the surface with a BC failure. The exception would be a diver so heavy due to neoprene compression that he needs to ditch weight to ascend.

Barring being that exceptional case, the procedure is to swim up.

I prefer to have some of my weight as ditchable weight in case I need to stay on the surface with gear failures. It has never been an issue, but I would prefer to be ready.

 

[www.scubamazing.com]

going through my rescue course. The only time I saw it necessary to ditch weight was when you were trying to keep someone afloat that couldn't. Other than that, you should be able to swim them to the surface.

I'd hate to ditch an unconcious diver's weight while down under and then watch him shoot to the surface.

But as long as the weight won't stop a scuba unit from floating, I'd think it'd be fine.

 

[OWSI176288]

IMHO, I think it's more important to obtain a "balance rig." This is a scuba unit (tank/weights/bcd or backplate and wing) that:

(1) you can swim up to the surface with a full tank of air. The value being in case you forgot to open the tank valve as you jump in from a boat, or have a BCD/wing fail at depth.

And:

(2) be able to maintain a 15 foot safety stop with a near empty tank.

Weither you need ditchable weights, or should use ditchable weight or not, is dependent on the above two criteria/requirements.

 

[Kray_Z]

ows... thats a good reminder for me.. today i will be working on trim on my bp/w, forgot to consider a near empty tank. thanks

 

[Guba]

I just recently trimmed some weight from my diving rig...I watched my diet, exercised and lost 10-12 pounds. Okay, I'm not bragging, but the effect was that at my next dive outing, I checked my BC and belt weighting and found I could actually ditch three pounds of lead from my rig! I feel much lighter now : )
As for where that weight is distributed, I carry most of my weight in trim pockets on either side of my tank. I keep about one third of the total amount of lead required on my weight belt as ditchable weight. My trim is very good for my purposes and I still have the safety margin of being able to jetison some lead if required.

 

[BigTuna]

IMHO, I think it's more important to obtain a "balance rig." This is a scuba unit (tank/weights/bcd or backplate and wing) that:

(1) you can swim up to the surface with a full tank of air. The value being in case you forgot to open the tank valve as you jump in from a boat, or have a BCD/wing fail at depth.

(2) ....

OWS, how much negative weight do you think most people can swim up?

How far up do you suppose one would have to swim it before increasing positive buoyancy (in WS, DS, or BC) starts to help noticibly? [I'm sure the answer to this one depends on the change in pressure, not distance. In other words, one would only need to swim up a short distance if shallow, but larger distances if deep.]

Just wondering...could you swim up with 15#? 20#? 30#?

 

[Kray_Z]

hey GUBA did loosing some realy help that much? im in the process of loosing a little so i was wondering, but jt sounds like ill have a lighter rig and a lighter me by the time I get done

 

[OWSI176288]

I stated "Weither you need ditchable weights, or should use ditchable weight or not, is dependent on the above two criteria/requirements."

The topic of the forum was "Diving without ditchable weights" Re-read my post - No where did I ever say don’t use ditchable weights. IMHO obtaining, and mantaining, a balanced rig is more important. if it requires, doesn't require, includes, or doen't include, ditchable weight is a sub-issue.

I am just saying you need to not only think about where you put the weight, but also (1) how much weight you need (to ensure a diver is not overweighted), and (2) how much weight you plan on dropping (ensure a diver is able to make a controlled assent and/or hold a safety stop). This requires an assessment of all components of one's gear configuration. Because becoming too positive from dropping a lot of weight might not be a good thing, and could be just as bad or worse, as being too negitive.


how much negative weight do you think most people can swim up?

Don't know. I would guess somewhere between 5 to 10#. Which is why you want a balanced rig - one you can swim up in a controlled manner. Of course this may or may not require dropping weight. Depends on the type of tank, thermo protection, etc.
But it something I want to figure out and test at...say 30 or 40 feet before I am at 100+ feet with a real problem.


How far up do you suppose one would have to swim it before increasing positive buoyancy (in WS, DS, or BC) starts to help noticibly? [I'm sure the answer to this one depends on the change in pressure, not distance. In other words, one would only need to swim up a short distance if shallow, but larger distances if deep.

Again...don't know....as depends on type of tank, type of thermo protection, etc. I am guess it would be good to have this figured out ahead of time before you need it.

Just wondering...could you swim up with 15#? 20#? 30#?

No...I dought anybody could. But I do know (as I've practiced it), that I can swim up my double 104's and two AL80 deco bottles and still hold all required deco/ safety stops in the case of a catastrophic gas loss. And they weigh a lot more that out of the water! I.E. balanced rig