bruises, eh? You must have some really rough looking weights. You could try soft weights but we just use standard bullet type - no tramatic injuries with these.
Reasons for weightbelts in PSD:
1) weights should be the last thing on and the first thing off. This ensures that it can be easily jetisoned quickly and won't get hung up on anything. A good procedure is to have all divers "ditch" their weights just prior to leaving the water - the repeition of doing this on
every dive will build muscle memory for the divers to be able to ditch fast if they ever have to. Check the DAN stats - allot of drowned divers are found with the weights still on with air still in the tanks and most of the problems occur at the surface or just prior to surfacing. If divers practiced this skill routinely and actually had the presence of mind to ditch their weights we'd probably see allot less accidents - but people don't practice this lifesaving skill
Most int systems are very difficult to load when the diver has all his gear on and some are a pain to rethread (zeagle) so many divers never want to practice ditching as it is quite an ordeal to reload. If its too had to do in practice what are the chances that they'll be able to pull it off in a real situation?
2) Right hand release is prefered. As the right hand pulls the belt the left is on the BC inflator managing bouyancy. Many int systems require 2 hands and aren't smooth/quick to operate (ie - release a buckle, then disengage velcro, then pull weights out. By the time the int weights are dumped bouyancy can be too far gone and control is lost creating a greater risk of injury
3) familiar system. All divers are usaully taught to use the belt in OW so everyone is familiar with it. Not so with int weights. A rescue diver may not be as fast releasing int weights if he doesn't use/practice with them himself. There are so many types of systems now that even the same brand of BCD may have different "versions" of their system. Its difficult to tell how a rescue diver may relese weights just by looking at it
4) shore personnel can tell at a glance if the diver has weights on and possibly if he's over/under weighted. Don't laugh, I've seen it all the time; the guys are jacked and gear up so quick and find they can't descend because the forgot to add weights to the BCD
5) Doffing the scuba unit u/w to manage an entanglement. Highly unlikely but if it is an option the diver decides to do if all the weights are in the unit and not on the divers body its a recipe for disaster
6) equipment management on shore. We may not have the luxury of having our rigs pre-assembled on a bench where the diver gears up on the bench and walks a short distance to the water. We may require people to carry the gear over land. Carrying a fully assembled rig w/ pony is heavy enough - add an int weight system and its a back injury.
Swapping out bottles is also difficult if weights are int into the BCD.
7) Some int weights only function at a certain diver position or are less than optimum at certain postions. ie - the zeagle pouches fall away fine if the diver is vertical but not so well in the horizontal position (upside down, not at all). The diver has the entire weight belt in his hand when ditching so can manipulate it to suit the angle for a good drop clear of his person
8) Cheap. Int systems are expensive and is just another peice(s) to get lost or broken. Weight belts are cheap and easy to maintain - use steel buckles and keepers and even firefighters won't wreck them
Anybody have any others?
