Ever seen a fat guy struggling to keep his pants up?

[BigFame]

you know like constantly pulling them up because he has no tush and no hips and a belly working against anything staying up around his waist? Well that may have been me, and I have my first pool class and am worried about how much of a pain that weight belt will be. I weigh about 300 pounds and if I undestand the equation correctly (10% of your weight plus 14 pounds) then I am looking at a 47 pound belt?!?!?!?!?!? How the heck is that supposed to work? I can't keep a regular belt on well with the added weight of jeans and now I am facing trying to keep a nearly 50 pound belt up over a streamlined and wet rubber suit?


Any one have any thoughts? advice? and bigger divers solve this problem for themselves somehow?

 

[ScubaSteve]

They make suspenders for the weight belts which allow you to loop the belt through it and use your shoulders to hold the belt up (but when assembled properly will still allow for the weight to be ditched in an emergency). I have one I no longer use...I took way too much weight off my belt (started with 42 pounds and am now down to 24 pounds between a belt and integrated) to continue using it that I could probably give to you depending on where you are (and of course how quickly you needed it). PM me to see if this will work out. Obviously you can also max out your integrated weight allowance and put the rest on your belt.

Another option (and this helped me) is diving with steel tanks. I have 2 PST E7 120's which allowed me to take additional weight off my belt.

I will post again if I think of anything else.

you know like constantly pulling them up because he has no tush and no hips and a belly working against anything staying up around his waist? Well that may have been me, and I have my first pool class and am worried about how much of a pain that weight belt will be. I weigh about 300 pounds and if I undestand the equation correctly (10% of your weight plus 14 pounds) then I am looking at a 47 pound belt?!?!?!?!?!? How the heck is that supposed to work? I can't keep a regular belt on well with the added weight of jeans and now I am facing trying to keep a nearly 50 pound belt up over a streamlined and wet rubber suit?


Any one have any thoughts? advice? and bigger divers solve this problem for themselves somehow?

 

[amymm]

My Husband is about the same weight as you and had the exact same issue when he was going thru his cert dives (with rental gear).

He would wear the normal soft weight belt that I think was 12#'s, He had to wear it realllllly tight, and then once he got under water he had to tighten it more, cause you get thinner with the water proessure! He then put the rest of his 18#'s in his BCD, if I remember right his rental BCD wasn't weight intergrated so he just stuffed his pockets, and put tank weights on the tank.

He now has weight intergrated BCD and can get all 30#'s in it.

 

[ScubaSteve]

.......and then once he got under water he had to tighten it more, cause you get thinner with the water proessure......

Do not forget though that while the neoprene you are wearing does in fact compress as you increase your depth, it also expands as you ascend to the surface. While tightening the belt is a good idea as long as you can do so safely and without losing it, you also need to be prepared to loosen it a little as you ascend if you find it to tight.

#1 things to be said here is if you are ever going to touch your belt underwater, make 100% sure it does not come off, and 110% sure that you do not lose it....otherwise you will be in a really fast elevator ride up and you had better breathe out and hope for the best.

 

[scubajcf]

DUI - Weight & Trim Systems
SeaSoft Scuba Products

I own both of these. The SeaWolf is much higher quality.
You can buy it here Scuba diving gear Weights and Belts at Scuba.com
or try your LDS. DUI Weight Harness is about $40 cheaper.

Are you sure you need 47 pounds? Do a buoyancy check with 36 pounds. Bet you sink just fine.

Definitely opt for a steel tank. You may also want to look at a backplate and wing so you can have a stainless steel backplate. Between a steel tank and backplate, you will shed close to 10 lbs.

jcf

 

[spectrum]

Any one have any thoughts? advice? and bigger divers solve this problem for themselves somehow?

A Harness like a DUI Weight & Trim will carry #40 comfortably and securely.

Switching to to a steel cylinder could eliminate 7 pounds of lead give or take, and be little lighter as well.

A steel back plate or trim weights in a BC coulds swallow 4-10 pounds or even more with some reigs.

Do not stuff the pockets of a weight integrated BC, it will be a beast.

If your fins are lightweight. Positive get something like Jets that will work i your favor.

Pete

 

[BigFame]

I have XS Turtles fins, and when I start buying gear I intend to go bp/w and steel tank (for onw thing I live in Seattle and will dive the Sound). I have no idea what my weighting will be like, as today will be my first pool session. I am really asking these questions in preperation for having to put a belt on for the first time today.

For class I have a scubapro bc, and they sent me home with an aluminum tank but whe I go in today I will ask if I can swap to a steel tank for the weight benefit. Thanks again everyone for your help, wish me luck didn't really expect to be nervous at all today, it's not the pool stuff that makes me nervous it's the gear and weighting.

 

[ScubaSteve]

I have XS Turtles fins, and when I start buying gear I intend to go bp/w and steel tank (for onw thing I live in Seattle and will dive the Sound). I have no idea what my weighting will be like, as today will be my first pool session. I am really asking these questions in preperation for having to put a belt on for the first time today.

For class I have a scubapro bc, and they sent me home with an aluminum tank but whe I go in today I will ask if I can swap to a steel tank for the weight benefit. Thanks again everyone for your help, wish me luck didn't really expect to be nervous at all today, it's not the pool stuff that makes me nervous it's the gear and weighting.

You definitely have nothing to be worried about. No matter what your gear configuration out of the gate and no matter what your initial weight requirements, I think it is safe to say that every diver (if not almost every) loses weight "off the belt" as they dive more. It is all about comfort in the water, proper trim, water conditions, exhaling completely to break the surface and much more. Do a search on here about weight and you will get tons of great threads going into great detail on what can help impact your weight (carried).

You will really notice that you are sinking too fast as time goes on and dives are done, and will then take weight off the belt. It will just happen as you focus on perfecting your other skills. Once you are initially comfortable and confident, do not lose sleep over it. It will happen naturally. Just always make sure you are diving safe.

 

[BigFame]

thanks man, appreciate it. I'll be in the water in 3 hours and like I said I am not worried about it once I am in the pool. Thanks again. Off to gym.

 

[aneuby]

First off let me start by saying that I am not an authority on this subject. That being said I did have a very similar situation. I am 6"2', 310 Lbs., no a$$ to speak of.

When I went through my cert course I was told the same thing, "body weight *10%= amount of weight I should dive with". SO I bought my HUGE weight belt and crammed 31 pounds of lead weight into it. We got to the pool for the 1st swim and guess what .. I sank just like they said I would. Granted I had weird bruises on my hips ( love handles actually) since I had to jack the weight belt as tight as I could to keep it from falling to my ankles. The problems I had were 2 fold: 1) regardless of how tight I had the belt the weight wanted to slip. 2) With all that weight around my waist and the lift provided by the BC up by my chest, I was incapable of getting my body horizontal for good swimming trim.

I used this same configuration for the 2nd pool dive and the results were similarly as comical (especially the Doff and Don your weight belt exercise ... if you can imagine coming out of a 31 LB belt and then STRUGGLING to get back into it.. I must have lost 3 pounds of my own weight due to the effort required to perform that task).

I have the great fortune of working with a diver with a wealth of experience and knowledge. He listened to my trials and tabulations (smiling and chuckling at times) and then suggested that we go diving after I got certified. He even said he would rent the U-Haul truck to carry my weight belt. I completed my certification and we finally got a chance to go to a local spring. Things changed dramatically after my first dive with him.

I was equipped with:
low volume mask
3 MM shorty (3XL)
1MM rash guard
AL80
31 Lb weight belt
Jet fins
Regular Scuba boots
Stainless Steel Backplate
wing (27 Lb Lift)

With this configuration my wing could not keep me above water (no surprise there). Before watching me sink to the bottom, my friend took the opportunity to work with me on my buoyancy.

This is significant since in my cert class the focus was on SINKING not buoyancy.

We first determined how much weight I needed (in my exposure suit and nothing else) to sink. That came to a whopping 6 pounds. That’s right not 31, not 21, not 11 ... 6 ... 6 pounds it what it took to get me to stick to the bottom. This was without any gear other than my mask, suit, boots, fins. We dove several times through the rest of the day and even with the shift from positive to negative from the AL 80 I didn’t need any additional weight.

Cut to yesterday .....
I just received my new BP (large size) and singles wing (torus 26 lb lift) from Deep Sea Supply (shameless plug ...since they help me a lot... thanks T.) and dove it for the 1st time yesterday. I had my weight belt all ready to go and loaded with 6 LBs in it. I got into the water without any weight just to see how it would go and guess what. This 310 LB fat guy was able to descend (notice I didn’t say SINK.. it was a controlled and intentional submersion) without ANY additional weight. I dove the entire time ( down to 1000 PSI on my AL80) without any problems or additional weight.

Long story short .. Diving is not about SINKING.
Test your gear ..You might find that with your BP and Wing you don’t need nearly as much weight as they said. You will be wearing different equipment that I do so you may need more … again test your set up.

Best of luck…
If any one thinks I am kidding..I have pictures. They aren’t pretty but I do have them.

Alan