Diving without your primary light

[BLKOPSDVR]

Hello, I'm new to the scubaboard but I have been lurking for some time. I was introduced to DIR a few years back and have been DIR ever since. One thing that I have done a few searches on is diving without your primary light or for those that have not made the investment into the primary light yet. Those searches came up empty, so onto my idea/question.

Would it be DIR to use a Zeagle trim weight pouch, which can be slid onto the waistband, as a way to mimic the light being there?

The idea is to add the amount of weight to the pouch that your particular light is negative. This way you have a place to hook your long hose under, and when you do decide to dive with the light the balance of your rig should not change much if any. Simply slide the pouch off and add the light.

In therory this seems like a good idea. People are always looking for ways to take weight off the weightbelt and you could ditch this like you could ditch a light if you needed to reduce your negative weight.

Here is the trim weight pouch I'm talking about...
http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/Item...1/Context_954/Sort_SKU/DescSort_0/ZGLTWP.html

Let me know your thoughts.

 

[Jasonmh]

Well, I can't say if it is DIR or not, but I use this:
Zeagle Tech Utility Pocket
http://www.scubatoys.com/store/Scuba_Zeagle_Accessories.asp

I put a surface marker and safety spool in there. I don't have the money to get everything right now (like canister light and drysuit with pockets) so this gives me a way to route the long hose and a pocket at the same time. I don't know if it is DIR or not (am taking the class in Nov), but I can say that it works very well for stowing the long hose and had never had a problem with it or a problem with deploying the long hose.
HTH

 

[Doc Intrepid]

One of the tenets of DIR is "if you don't need it, don't take it". If you don't need a cannister light right now, no harm in not having one. But I'm not sure that adding weight just to simulate the weight of the light is the optimal way to go. (You won't have any problem adjusting once you add the light.)

Anything can hold the long hose in place. In his book Jarrod specifically mentions a knife sheath being used. Other options would be a pr of shears or a pouch. You don't mention whether you're diving wet or dry, but if wet, a pouch provides a place to put an SMB and spool, wetnotes, spare double-ender, small strobe, or any of the rest of the items normally carried in the pockets. Halcyon also makes a pouch equipped with a grommet that allows it to be bolted to the backplate, which sits precisely where the can light would sit. Works great. Called a "right hand zippered pocket".

Use whatever you prefer, but rather than simply put weight there to simulate a light, a pr of shears or a pouch might offer you significantly greater utility.

Best,

Doc

 

[notabob]

What Doc said. Diving DIR does not mean using approved equipment. There's no such thing. If you've been diving DIR for a while you should know that. The key to diving DIR (at least from an equipment standpoint; being a holistic philosophy there's much more to it) is only using what you need, and _thinking_ about the gear that you do use, as opposed to just blindly following the agenda. If you want to add something - does it make sense to have it? What effect will it have on the rest of your team? In your case, if you don't already have pockets on your exposure suit, I'd mount a pocket (such as the one Halcyon makes or something similar) on the harness webbing where a light would usually go. It would need to be fairly rigid and shouldn't have any straps on the bottom of the pocket if you're going to use it to secure the hose. If you already have pockets on your suit, don't put anything there. If you're using a 7ft hose and it feels loose w/out something to hold it in place, it can be tucked into the waist harness. Alternatively, you may want to get a shorter 5ft hose, especially since you aren't doing any overhead diving and have no real need for a longer 7ft. A 5ft hose will wrap very nicely around your torso, and won't need anything to hold it in place. All that said, if I were you, I wouldn't do anything of what I just said above before thinking it all through and deciding whether it actually makes sense for the diving you do or not.

Personally, in the rare instances when I don't use the can light (an occasionall short excursion to warmer waters that makes bringing the can light and drysuit impractical), I'll bring my 3mm wetsuit and the side pocket, since the wetsuit has none. The pocket will contain the essentials normally stored in my drysuit pockets.

Hope this helps,

-Roman.

 

[California Diver]

when im not using my cannister light i tuck my longhose into the waist "belt" it holds it there well and its easy to pull it out if you need to deploy your long hose. im not sure if its dir or not but oh well.

 

[Ben_ca]

when im not using my cannister light i tuck my longhose into the waist "belt" it holds it there well and its easy to pull it out if you need to deploy your long hose. im not sure if its dir or not but oh well.

Same here. IT's DIR I'm pretty sure. I don't compensate for the weight... I've never seemed to be lopsided. The only thing I miss when I'm without lightcan is the ease of tucking the long hose away.

 

[nagonoj]

Same here. IT's DIR I'm pretty sure. I don't compensate for the weight... I've never seemed to be lopsided. The only thing I miss when I'm without lightcan is the ease of tucking the long hose away.

Tucking the long hose in to the waist belt is definitely DIR, deploying long hose from waist belt is part of DIR drills,once you get use to it you won't even feel that it's there.