Drysuit diving and considering weight belt

[CT-Rich]

How does putting on the harness work? Do you put it on first and then your BCD/tank?

Harness goes on, then tank/BCD. If you ditch weights you are only releasing the pouches. The harness stays with the diver.

 

[TMHeimer]

Harness goes on, then tank/BCD. If you ditch weights you are only releasing the pouches. The harness stays with the diver.

Yeah that's what I do, except I use wt. belt on suspenders (for scuba of course) instead of harness. So you'd only release the pocket weights (2 ten pounders), since the belt would be a mess to get off.
I dive wet only (7 mill farmer john). Why would weighting be any different for a drysuit (I've never dived dry so have no experience with the weighting)?

 

[Marie13]

How does putting on the harness work? Do you put it on first and then your BCD/tank?

Yes.

 

[Stoo]

Wow, you going to chip in on all this new gear?

Nobody has ever said diving is a poor man's sport. If you're going to do it right, you need the right gear. There are usually options to buy used and sell used minimizing the cost.

 

[Stoo]

Why would weighting be any different for a drysuit (I've never dived dry so have no experience with the weighting)?

It's only different in the sense that typically a drysuit diver will need more lead than the same diver in a wetsuit.

I normally dive in fresh water, wearing twin steel tanks. When I travel to the left coast every year, the water is of course salty, and I'm wearing a single tank. Here, I wear 12 pounds (or nothing, depending on which tanks I am using) and I wear 30 out there. The harness really helps my crappy old back.

 

[Marie13]

Wow, you going to chip in on all this new gear?

Aluminum tanks don’t play well diving dry. You need too much weight. A BP and basic harness can be gotten for fairly cheap. Wing can usually be found used as well.

I’m with Stoo. If you’re going to dive cold in a drysuit, do it properly. I refuse to dive AL80s now. Requires just too danged much weight on my overly buoyant self.

 

[Storker]

If you're going to do it right, you need the right gear.

I'd appreciate if you told the folks I've buddied up with over the years that they aren't using the right gear. Because I'm not going to do that.

Some of them dive in a trilam suit.
Some of them dive in a (crushed or compressed) neoprene suit.
One of them dives wet, 7+7 mil.
Some of them use single tanks.
Some of them use twinsets.
Some of them use a BP/W.
Some of them use a jacket BCD.
Some of them prefer to have most of their weight on a belt.
Some of them use weight pockets.
Some of them have no ditchable weight.
Some of them distribute their weight between weight pockets and a belt.

And I believe that I've seen more or less any combination of those tank/BCD/weight options. It all seemed to work for them, and it was never their gear which made me decide who I didn't want to dive with again and who I'd like very much to dive with again.

 

[Stoo]

I'd appreciate if you told the folks I've buddied up with over the years that they aren't using the right gear. Because I'm not going to do that.

I guess this is a thinly veiled shot at me, but you won't get any argument from me. Lot's of people use lots of gear configurations and make it work. I also believe some think they have everything dialed but it's only because they haven't had an opportunity to try some other configuration.

I'll be my own example: For years I only dove in vulcanized rubber drysuits. My first exposure to diving dry was in a commercial environment and the company supplied Vikings. Awesome suit in every way I believed. Then I started regular trips to the west coast to dive and that meant flying. A Viking Pro suit weighs I dunno, 200 pounds or something. (>>sarcasm<<). I decided to buy a tri-lam suit to use as a travel suit. What I discovered is that (a) it weighed about 1/3 what the Viking did, but also that it was a dream to dive in. Flexible, light. I honestly had no idea that it would make my diving so much more enjoyable. I was even willing to put up with the fact that I got somewhere between damp and soaked on every dive. (That's a whole story on its own).

Anyway, back to the point of my earlier comments and your "shot". The OP is having a specific problem in that he can't seem to hang enough weight on his body. I don't know why that is. Maybe he's a big guy. Maybe he's using a 7mm drysuit. It doesn't matter. He wanted suggestions as to how he could add weight to his gear configuration. So I suggested some:

1. Ditch the BCD because the pockets can't hold the lead he feels he needs. Use a SS backplate... it adds another what, 10 pounds?
2. Use a DUI harness. The things hold up to 40 pounds in ditchable weight.
3. Where possible, use steel tanks. They sink more. I have no idea if the OP owns tanks or rents. If he rents, he should rent steel to help with his "problem". If he owns 4 Alu 80s, I'm not suggesting he dump them, but he might.

Anyway, that's it. If someone wants to wear some configuration that isn't working for them that's up to them. I merely stated what he might do, what works for me. Coincidentally, pretty much everyone I dive with dives with a similar configuration for the simple reason it works well.

 

[Storker]

I guess this is a thinly veiled shot at me

It isn't.

It's an obviously sarcastic comment at your (what I consider a rather bombastic) statement. Not at all intended to be thinly veiled.

 

[Stoo]

It's an obviously sarcastic comment at your (what I consider a rather bombastic) statement. Not at all intended to be thinly veiled.

Well apparently it wasn't "obviously" anything. I don't know what you would find bombastic about my comments. The OP asked for suggestions. I gave him several. And I suspect that the vast majority of people diving dry would agree with them.

Anyway, if you feel that random, coddled-together gear figurations are the best option, you're "obviously" welcome to you opinion...

We do agree that gear isn't a good metric for selecting a dive buddy.