Harness and weightbelt

[cool_hardware52]

I've had very bad experience once with my weight belt, when the buckle failed, the belt dropped rite to the bottom. Problem was, my tank was emptying, and I was hovering at about 20m. I could feel myself starting to ascend and my dive comp was beeping cos the ascent was too fast. Had to duck dive and fin to as to stop myself from popping up. I know I should prob flare my body (as taught in OW), but at that point, I just wanted to slow down my ascent. Anyway, point is, I started wearing my belt underneath after that.

But with the width of the harness, would it be too narrow? Am thinking of getting the pockets mounted on the harness.

I wear my weight belt under my harness. I use an XS Scuba pouch type belt. If I ever need to I can open the pouches and drop a few lbs at time. It does not interfer with my harness and I'm about 5'9"

Tobin

 

[jarhed]

I got the OMS "no sag" quick release pouches. Just like Halcyon's ACD pockets, but have a D ring on top, so you can snap to your shoulder D ring thus distributing the load to your shoulders, much like DUI's weight & trim system.

I like it because it's not messy and allows me to carry some ditchable weight. It's a bit pricy at $100, but so is all scuba gear....

Take care,
John

 

[Doc Harry]

Lets say you are wearing a 7 mm with a 7 mm hooded vest etc, lots 'o' neoprene

It might take 35 lbs to sink all that neo. If you are neutral at the surface with no gas in your wing, and descend to ~100 ft you might have lost 20+ lbs of buoyancy due to suit compression. If your wings fails that's 20 lbs to swim up. Having a few lbs to ditch helps manage the problem, but it will make for an uncontrolled ascent at some point.

Tobin

Don't mean to hijack, but if the DIR method is a "balanced rig" that doesn't require ditching weight in case of a BC failure as mentioned by Perrone, how would you "balance" the rig in Tobin's example? You really don't need any ditchable weight??

Back to the thread, I wear my 4-pound weight belt on the inside. The probability of losing a weight belt accidentally is significantly higher than that of needing to ditch a weight belt. I figure that if I need to ditch a weight belt, taking an extra 3 seconds to pull it out from under my harness shouldn't make that much difference.

 

[xwhitesmokex]

side question to DIR?
would putting the new xsscuba pouches on the harness waist belt itself pose a problem?
i haven't dove with it yet, but i have them set up behind the side D rings.. so i don't have to use a weight belt...

 

[cool_hardware52]

side question to DIR?
would putting the new xsscuba pouches on the harness waist belt itself pose a problem?
i haven't dove with it yet, but i have them set up behind the side D rings.. so i don't have to use a weight belt...

You may potentially loose the space on your waist strap for a canister (light)

Adding all of your ballast to your rig can require a larger wing than would be necessary if some of your ballast is on your person (weight belt)

Even in cold water, with a Steel tank and SS back plate, weight belts are often 4-10 lbs. Not a big deal.

Tobin

 

[rongoodman]

I like the XS Scuba belt too, under the harness. It's nice if you're working out your weight for a different rig(me in a light wetsuit at St. Kitts and Saba last week!).