Question Do you ever practice dropping weights and handling the unexpected ascent?

[WillieJustice]

If properly weighted, not an issue. You'd lose about 5 lb of wetsuit buoyancy (relative to safety stop depth) and at the beginning of the dive you would have 5 lbs of air that you'll breath later. On the plus side, you should be able to compensate for at least 5 lbs with lungs alone, so you'd need to swim up about 5 lbs initially. (The wetsuit expands/helps as you make progress.)

OTOH, if you use bad advice for weight (e.g., 10% of your body weight), you could have a problem.

Take it on yourself to empty your wing at max depth and see how hard it is to make progress. (Be careful not to stir up the bottom, though!)

The bottom isn't the bottom. It is a sulphurous cloud. Roiling that or even getting into it is a seriously bad idea in my estimation. Overweight? With no lead at all I don't know how to be less overweight if I was overweight with that configuration. Hence the questions. In this one, my weight was nearly perfect, if maybe an eyelash overweight. If I was using a SS BPW configuration, I might have been different but I don't know how a Zeigle Stiletto compares to a BPW setup that way.

 

[Belzelbub]

OTOH, if you use bad advice for weight (e.g., 10% of your body weight), you could have a problem.

Oh, yeah. Forgot about that. That was the rule of thumb in my first OW course long ago. In reality, my ballast requirement is nowhere near that.

If I was using a SS BPW configuration, I might have been different but I don't know how a Zeigle Stiletto compares to a BPW setup that way.

I like to have some ditchable weight. For me, it’s not for swimming up. It’s for extra buoyancy at the surface should it be needed. I like my Stiletto, but out of the box, it’s not set up for being able to trim it out well. The main pockets are positioned fine. It’s the rear trim pockets that are in the wrong spot. As delivered, they are on the bottom tank band. It’s a simple fix to move them to the top band though. That definitely helps.

 

[boulderjohn]

he main pockets are positioned fine. It’s the rear trim pockets that are in the wrong spot. As delivered, they are on the bottom tank band. It’s a simple fix to move them to the top band though. That definitely helps.

It helps, but it does not fix it.

I started working for a shop that sold Zeagle not long after they went to that system. It was very frustrating for me. The shop used me primarily for the more advanced classes, and students would come to me with their newly purchased Zeagles. It was very frustrating. I learned that you really can't use those trim pockets to trim the diver for horizontal diving. I had to MacGiver a way to trim them out without saying anything bad about the BCD they had just bought from my employer.

I honestly think Zeagle put the pockets where they are in order to help the diver be comfortably vertical whilst floating on the surface. I don't think they are at all intended for horizontal trim while diving.

 

[Belzelbub]

It helps, but it does not fix it.

Did for me, but may be due to the little I usually dive with. Didn’t need much. I can see how this may not be enough in some configurations, but the Stiletto is not for that. While never officially marketed as such, the Stiletto was designed for Spearfishing. Specifically the west coast FL type of spearfishing. I don’t get the reasoning for the original positioning, but not sure vertical positioning is it. A buddy of mine uses a Zeagle Covert XT. That comes with trim pockets on the upper band.