Explanation of ACB & BP weighting?

[gzscuba]

Hi all,

I'm really new to the scubaboards and to scuba diving in general (just got my OW cert last sunday). I've been lurking the boards for a while now trying to figure out what kind of gear I should buy.

Seems to me that there is a large contingent of people who love their backplates so that's piqued my interest. The thing that I haven't quite figured out: how do people weight their BP setups? I've read some mentions of the Halcyon ACB, but halcyon's literature online seems rather unclear. Near as I can figure, the ACB is a little pouch that you can put multiple lead weights in, and remove them one at a time, if necessary. Is this correct?

On a related note: Is it important to have different plates for different diving conditions, say 3 mM wetsuit vs. 7 mM wetsuit? Or does that come more into play when you're diving 1 tank vs two?

The reason that I have these weighting questions is that during our pool dives for our cert, my fiancee & I hated our weight-belts. My fiancee has vowed to get a weight-integrated BC, as a result. So I'm just trying to understand the options.

Hope this didn't run tooo long. Thanks in advance for any help or explanations.

 

[WreckWriter]

The ACB is two pouches which thread onto your waist strap and secure to your BP. You put weights inside inner pouches which are then easily ditchable. They're not really small and removing weights one at a time is only practical on the surface. You COULD do so underwater but that's not what's meant to happen.

Some like them, some don't.

I have only one plate, Stainless steel. It's 6 pounds negative and allows me to use less weight in my ACB. You MUST, of course, be able to swim up after ditching your weights....

Tom

 

[Dee]

Greg..First, Welcome to the Board.

I recently went to a BP myself and there are others here more experienced to answer your questions but if I may....

The Halcyon ACB pockets fit on the waist webbing and are attached by screw assebly to the B/P for stability. There is an inner pouch that your weights fit in that is inserts into the main pocket. To dump your weights, you pull the whole pouch out, not the weights one at a time. You'll hear from some that the ACB pockets aren't necessary and maybe they aren't but they sure are nice to have!

Your B/P will account for some of your weight. Mine is a 6# SS FredT and for freshwater diving, I need no additional weight.

 

[gzscuba]

So the ACB's basically replaces your weight belt? It seemed like the Halcyon literature was trying to make them out to be some mysterious and wonderful thing that would fix all of your balance problems.

Another question: do many BP users find that they must add weight places other than their waist (ie to the tank, ankles, etc) ?

 

[WreckWriter]

Originally posted by gzscuba
So the ACB's basically replaces your weight belt? It seemed like the Halcyon literature was trying to make them out to be some mysterious and wonderful thing that would fix all of your balance problems.

Another question: do many BP users find that they must add weight places other than their waist (ie to the tank, ankles, etc) ?

Yep. Nothing mysterious about it.

as for your second question, I think you find the same percentage of BP users and regular BC users use the additional weight, not many. In some cases it's nice to REPLACE some of your waist weight with other weight (like a v-weight or trim weight). This is often easier with a BP. The ACB system will hold all the weight you need in most cases.

Tom

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by gzscuba
Another question: do many BP users find that they must add weight places other than their waist (ie to the tank, ankles, etc) ?

Shoot... if I had known that ACBs were going to be so popular I wouldn't have sold mine... so cheap...

Anyway... don't go putting weights all over the place... especially on your ankles... most folks are foot heavy anyway and unless you aspire to getting your UW trencher cert. you don't need them.

Your lungs are sacks of changing buoyancy... keep your weight close to them or your trim will be changing as you breath.

 

[gzscuba]

Originally posted by Uncle Pug

Anyway... don't go putting weights all over the place... especially on your ankles... most folks are foot heavy anyway and unless you aspire to getting your UW trencher cert. you don't need them.

Heh heh. No, that's not the kind of path that I want to blaze.

Originally posted by Uncle Pug

Your lungs are sacks of changing buoyancy... keep your weight close to them or your trim will be changing as you breath.

That's a very good point. I hadn't thought of it like that. So has anyone ever experimented with putting weight further up on the chest to move it closer to the lungs?

Oh, and thanks very much to Dee, Wreckwriter, and Uncle Pug for the helpful answers.

 

[Uncle Pug]

Originally posted by gzscuba
So has anyone ever experimented with putting weight further up on the chest to move it closer to the lungs?

The SS backplate does just that... and a weighted STA does too...
The position of your tank makes a big difference as well...

Some like the ACBs... I don't...
Some like weight belts... I'm one...

Diving doubles with a V weight is beyond where you are right now but that is just about the best it gets.

 

[WreckWriter]

Originally posted by Uncle Pug
The SS backplate does just that... and a weighted STA does too...
The position of your tank makes a big difference as well...

Here's an unusual scenario for ya Pug:

My doubles are an odd type tank called "Super 80s". They're made by Luxfer, actual capacity is very close to 80 (as opposed to about 77 for a standard 80), length is about 4 inches shorter than standard 80, weight about 4 pounds more. Bouyancy characteristics are much better than standard 80, only about 2 pounds positive empty as opposed to 4.

Problem is that since they're so much shorter, they ride high on your back and tend to make you feet light. I refuse to wear ankle weights so I just deal with it using body positioning. tanks are as far down in the bands as can be.

They're great tank except for that one glitch, which can be lived with easily enough.

My point? tank type makes a difference too.

Tom

 

[noshow]

I found two 2lb ankle weights helped me alot during my demo of the Halcyon Pioneer 36# wing last Sat/Sun. I was ok during the first half of the dive to 80'. During the slow ascent and during the second half of the dive I couldn't keep my feet down. I was having nightmares with them... kept feeling like they were floating away. Next 3 dives I simply added the ankle weights and i was slim and trim... well trim at least. The suit I was using was a whites rental bilam if that makes a diff. The weights worked well though. Maybe there were other prob's???