Diving without releasable weight

[2airishuman]

For all you well-seasoned divers out there... have you ever been in or witnessed a situation where dropping weights for yourself, buddy, or other diver was a critical factor in preventing or managing an emergency or near emergency type of scenario?

No, but they do occur, most often at the surface, but not always.

...I usually stick about 2lbs into each 10lb pocket which obvious holds lots of unused space for more weight. When diving with an AL80, I put about 3 lbs in each pocket plus about 2 or 3 lbs into two trim pockets I can slide onto the tank band.

Basically, what I'm asking is: Will I die?

It depends on a bunch of things. For me:

• How negative I am, at depth, at the beginning of the dive, considering the accuracy of my weighting, compressiblity of my suit, and the amount of gas I have.
  • Most people can swim up 10 pounds without much trouble.
• The extent and reliability of surface support I have, considering the distance to shore.
  • Most scenarios where ditching is critical occur at the surface.
  • What is acceptable when there are observant people watching for me, on a boat, is not the same is what is acceptable on a shore dive.
• The depth and safety of the bottom.
  • Wall dives pose obvious risks.
  • Sharp debris, standing timber, black layers, entanglement risks, and mud bottoms that pose a silt-out risk can be just as bad.
• Current, particularly the risk of any downward current.
  • Downwelling currents are a major common factor in accidental deaths involving accomplished divers working within traditional rec limits.
    • And were present (but never conclusively determined to be a factor) in two separate deaths of highly accomplished divers who used to participate at ScubaBoard.
  • A downwelling may make it impossible to swim up a negative rig in the event of a buoyancy failure
• The actual difficulty involved in ditching any non-ditchable or hard-to-ditch weight.
  • Things like a stainless steel backplate, negative cylinders, and STAs can't be ditched without ditching the rig
  • Pockets on a cam band are almost as bad
  • A belt inside a crotch strap is somewhere in between, as are weight pouches that are accessible but not designed for easy ditching
• Whether I'm bringing a slung pony
  • On some dives my emergency buoyancy plan is to put a line on my kit, ditch it, and ascend on the line while breathing from the pony

I have reached a point where I really, really like the Mako Quick Weights, which are 1.6 pounds each and can be individually detached from a belt or harness strap. Ditchable weight without the bulk or hassle. Sometimes I have as many as 6 of them on the waist belt of my BC.

I also use a rubber weight belt. I think I have one from Mako and one from Leisure Pro, and they're nearly identical.

 

[kelemvor]

That harness looks like it could accommodate many different brands of weight pouch systems. Maybe you need to find another brand that will offer ditchable weight in the smaller footprint that you desire.

 

[MAKO Spearguns]

2airishuman: that is an interesting configuration. Wearing quick weights on the harness waist strap and a rubber belt that can be easily dropped. Makes a lot of sense, I think.

Since MAKO got mentioned a few times, (thanks) perhaps I can remind people that if a diver ditches their MAKO lead and or belt, I replace for free. Details are on my website.

Thanks

Dano

 

[hammet]

2air....

the reason I dive my configuration is because I appreciate a minimal approach to gear with few attachments. Its streamlined, easy to gear up, and easy to travel with.

Also, if it wasnt clear already, I was referring to warm water diving. Mostly with just a neoprene vest, a 5mm wetsuit at the most. I use another setup for anything involving 7mm wetsuits.

 

[Outbound]

It's only necessary to have ditchable weight if it's enough weight that you or your rescuer can't easily swim it up or keep you afloat on the surface. When I dive in warm water in a 3mm full suit I use 2 lbs in each trim pocket and that's it. Putting that weight in the weight pockets is annoying because most places have hard weights and they go clunking around inside the pockets and shift around all the time.

As for rescue class and ditching weights, I think it's a good concept to know and understand, and it is important to know the configurations of the people you dive with. But in a real rescue situation I'm inflating the victim's BCD and hauling ass back to the boat or to shore. Ditching weights just wastes time. If it's necessary in order to get the victim buoyant enough at the surface, sure. Otherwise, you're just delaying CPR.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

2airishuman: that is an interesting configuration. Wearing quick weights on the harness waist strap and a rubber belt that can be easily dropped. Makes a lot of sense, I think.

Since MAKO got mentioned a few times, (thanks) perhaps I can remind people that if a diver ditches their MAKO lead and or belt, I replace for free. Details are on my website.

Thanks

Dano

I've recently discovered rubber belts, and they are nice. I use them for single tank OW courses in a BP/W, and I find that more snug than weight belts made from nylon webbing when wearing a dry suit (no experience with a wet suit, but I imagine the same is true).

 

[hammet]

I think I just solved my problem. It looks like these pockets may be able to be attached so that they are oriented upside down. So in that respect, they are just like the scubapro weight pockets i mentioned above. Voila! Ditchable weights!
Back side:

@Scubada

 

[Degenerate]

Can I ask how the neck seal separated? I am shopping for drysuits right now and considering several with the SI-tech quick neck system as an option. Wondering how solid this system (or similar) locks the seal in.

Bit offtopic, but the quick neck system is awesome and locks in very well.

 

[TMHeimer]

I'll add my 2 cents on my setup.
I have never been involved with or seen a weight dropping situation in a real life emergency situation.
I wear 42 pounds. Two 10 pound weights are integrated in the BC and of course releasable.
8 pounds are in the "trim" pockets--not quickly releasable, as it'd take a while to get them out (especially with thick gloves or lobster mitts).
The rest (14 pounds) is in my "pouch" weight belt, which is attached to (scuba) suspenders. So this as well is obviously not at all "quick releasable".
The rare time I dive with a buddy I make darn sure they know where the 20 pounds can quickly be released.
To be honest, I've never purposely released them to check how fast I would ascend in a real OOA emergency (buoyant ascent)--which of course is not advisable to practice.....Guess I could try that in 3 feet of water.

 

[Norrm]

Once found a 10kg weightbelt inside a double decker bus at 25m. No idea how that happened

Did you happen to look up at the ceiling of the bus, directly over the spot where you found the weightbelt? I'm working a theory.