Have you ever had to dump your weights?

[cneal]

Yet, I don't see anyone mentioning losing an AL weight pocket. .

I lost a weight pocket. It was the last dive I made with a BC that held weight pockets with velcro. It was a common design at one time but went out of favor, for good reason. I was diving off the coast of North Carolina about 10 years ago when all of a sudden I had a major bouyancy problem. When I got it under control I spotted a weight packet on the bottom. It looked to large to be mine, but when I picked it up I realized what had happened. From this lesson I bought a new BC with a more secure weight system. (Zeagle Ranger) and since I was able to get my bouyancy under control I fealized how over-weighted I was.

 

[Dan]

An empty LP108 is negative 1 lbs. If you can't maintain positive buoyancy from the negative force of 1 pound, you shouldn't be diving. Your head is probably more negative.

Wouldn’t it be the other way around (empty head cavity = + buoyant)? I thought brain is pretty heavy.

 

[Dan]

Just FTR, in some parts of the world (like mine), drysuits are basic. Heck, up here almost everyone takes their OW cert in a drysuit. You'd be hard pressed to find a dive center which offers wetsuits for their OW students.

So, where is the so-called "close to a Hell which occasionally freezes over" exactly?

 

[Snoweman]

So, where is the so-called "close to a Hell which occasionally freezes over" exactly?

North of the Mason-Dixon line? (I've been living in the south too long!)

 

[Snoweman]

I lost a weight pocket. It was the last dive I made with a BC that held weight pockets with velcro. It was a common design at one time but went out of favor, for good reason. I was diving off the coast of North Carolina about 10 years ago when all of a sudden I had a major bouyancy problem. When I got it under control I spotted a weight packet on the bottom. It looked to large to be mine, but when I picked it up I realized what had happened. From this lesson I bought a new BC with a more secure weight system. (Zeagle Ranger) and since I was able to get my bouyancy under control I fealized how over-weighted I was.

Everyone in the other thread that complained about Aqualung's pockets were complaining about the Sure Lock system. My AL BCD has the Sure Lock 2 system, so I don't know if that solved any previous problems.

 

[Greg Doyle]

My instructor said there is basically no good reason to ever dump your weights. Nonetheless, every BC comes with dumpable weight pouches, so clearly the manufacturers feel this is an important feature. I'm curious about all the possible situations in which dumping your weights is actually a sensible thing to do. Here is all I could think of:

1 - A (novice) diver jumps off the boat with so much excess weight that they cannot maintain neutral or positive bouyancy on the surface, even with a fully inflated BC. They start sinking uncontrollably and must dump the weights before ever beginning their dive.

2 - A (novice) diver is significantly over-weighted, but doesn't realize it at the surface because their BC is able to keep them afloat. Later on during their dive, their BC malfunctions or springs a leak, and they are so negatively bouyant that they find it impossible to ascend by regulating their breathing, or without holding their breath for an unsafe period of time, so they need to dump some weights in order to be able to ascend.

3 - The diver loses a large source of bouyancy while on their dive -- for example an extra cylinder that they were planning to ascend with -- and hence need to drop some weight to counteract the unexpected loss of bouyancy.

4 - The diver finds something heavy on the seafloor that they want to bring up with them (e.g., a small treasure chest)

Have you ever encountered a situation where you or someone you know had to dump their weights? If so I'd be curious to hear the story.

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I've ditched them once.
We entered the dive site, (Salt Water State Park near Des Moines, WA) with calm waters and clear skies from the beach and headed out to the south buoy for our descent. We typically dive the site starting from the south buoy and then down along the reefs to the north buoy where we turn the dive and head back at an angle back to the entry point.
At the end of the dive we usually head up through the shallows at a SE angle which at this particular site are very long. The swim out to the descent buoy is about the length of three football fields at high tide, one at low tide but a very long walk.

We usually continue at an angle back to the SE at about 20' to avoid the shallows and/or a very long surface swim. As we came up to near 20' for our safety stop and to continue to the exit, there was suddenly a huge surge pushing us back and forth about 10-12' each direction. My dive buddy corked in the strong surge so I went up with him. A very strong squall had moved in out of nowhere and we surfaced into 8' breaking swells and a VERY strong north bound current. At this site, you really need to return to the entry point at the SE side as the northern beach is completely covered with huge Volkswagen sized boulders stacked about one and a half to two stories high and if you go shallower than 20' there is a major sand bar just a few feet under the water where a creek empties into the Sound. We were being forced into the shallows toward the north side boulders. In the surge, and with the current, there was no way I would make it back to the entry point. I simply ran out of gas and got completely exhausted. I ditched my weights to stay more buoyant as I decided the boulders would be my only way out of the water and I'd have to climb up them in breaking 8' waves. Fortunately, I found a way to climb up on the rocks in between major crashing waves and throw myself up to a point another diver was able to help me out of the water from atop the rocks.

I saw it happen in Florida on a fairly new diver. The crew set up the gear for us, "concierge service", and somehow someone loosened the left shoulder exhaust valve on her BC. She entered the water and immediately began to sink as she was frantically trying to fill her BC with air. She had enough sense to keep her reg in her mouth and to ditch and came back to the surface, excited but OK. Once she realized what had happened, she was pi**ed! I always, always, set up my own gear concierge service or not.

Ditching the weights is an integral part of basic training for circumstances exactly like these. So often I've read in the DAN magazine about how many people drown without ever ditching their weights. You learn this because accidents happen and accidents can't be predicted. It's something that I believe strongly should be practiced beyond basic training and at least a couple of times a year. At least on dry land so you know what it feels like. It's a pain to lace the weights back in on my BC, but I know how hard I'll have to pull if I ever really need to. And remember, it's not just for you. You do this for your dive buddy. I don't know your level of training, but getting Stress and Rescue cert really reinforced for me that I for sure want to know how to ditch my buddies weight too.
I absolutely agree with your instructor. There is no good reason to ditch your weights. They're all very bad.

 

[WetSEAL]

Thanks for sharing your story Greg!

 

[Scared Silly]

I have never dumped weights while diving, but I have had a weighty dump after diving.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled SB discussion ...