How do you wear your weight?

[Bubble Junky]

Belt.

 

[Thalassamania]

I truly believe that I should be neutral and My rig should be neutral (within the limits of the weight of gas). I'd only put lead on my rig if, for some bizare reason, my rig was positive. Too many hazards for my taste otherwise.

 

[chris408]

Several pounds on trim pockets and remaining in the integrated pockets (Zeagle Ranger). Currently debating spreading some weight to a belt.

 

[nereas]

So do you wear your weight in your BCD or on a weight belt or a combo of both. I just started wearing it all in my BCD and like not having the belt on.

So does anyone think there is a disadvantage to doing this?

It all depends on if you are wearing a thick wetsuit or a drysuit.

The purpose of a belt is to have quickly ditchable weight. The idea is to be able to get yourself neutrally buoyant quickly so that you can perform a controlled emergency swimming ascent.

You can also wear ditchable weight on an integrated B/C. But putting all the ditchable weight onto an integrated B/C makes getting it on and off very heavy and difficult.

Many divers don't use integrated B/Cs. Of if they do, then often they do not use the weight pouches that come with them, for various reasons.

Many other divers prefer backplates, and some with additional weight plates attached to them, which are non-ditchable.

My ideal for a weight belt is to equal the weight of the gas in my tank(s). You can compute this at 0.08 lbs per cubic foot. If your tank contains 80 cu ft filled, then this weighs 6.4 lbs. So with dive skins or a drysuit, 6 lbs would be my ideal weight belt.

For a 3mm wetsuit, I normally like to wear 8 lbs on my weight belt.

You may need a whole lot more ditchable weight than that, if you are wearing a thick wetsuit, such as a farmer john 7mm or 1/4 inch. If your B/C is integrated, then you can put some of the additional ditchable weight onto the B/C. By spreading out the weight, you can make it much more comfortable for yourself that way.

A heavy weight belt is uncomfortable for your lower back. And a heavy integrated B/C is uncomfortable to put on and to take off.

 

[nereas]

Several pounds on trim pockets and remaining in the integrated pockets (Zeagle Ranger). Currently debating spreading some weight to a belt.

Trim pockets are great for adjusting your horizontal trim. These are normally non-ditchable, since you cannot quickly ditch them, like a belt.

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Weightbelts always made my back hurt - so ever since I've had a weight-integrated BC, I don't see any reason for a weightbelt. Tech and DIR are different of course.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

It all depends on if you are wearing a thick wetsuit or a drysuit.

The purpose of a belt is to have quickly ditchable weight. The idea is to be able to get yourself neutrally buoyant quickly so that you can perform a controlled emergency swimming ascent.

Don't you mean to get yourself positively bouyant on the surface?

I agree with of what you said othe than this, this just seems wrong to say ditchable weight and getting neutrally bouyant in the same sentence.

 

[RoadRacer1978]

10lbs

 

[Zeeman]

It's amazing.. since I went to a BP/W (aluminium I would like to add...) I need.. NO weight

You have no idea how much I enjoy this...

Z...

 

[nereas]

I truly believe that I should be neutral and My rig should be neutral (within the limits of the weight of gas). I'd only put lead on my rig if, for some bizare reason, my rig was positive. Too many hazards for my taste otherwise.

That is a fascinating approach, Thal. And I know you are a seasoned instructor, and you know what you are talking about.

[End of introduction and salutation! ]

For me though, the most important criterion is to be able to become neutrally buoyant quickly, at any point in the dive. Therefore I believe that my belt should equal my total negative buoyancy at the beginning of the dive, which should also equal the weight of the gas in my tank(s). For NDL scuba with dive skins or a drysuit, this normally equals 6 lbs.

The rest of my weight I prefer to wear as nonditchable. I accomplish that by adding weight plates to my backplate (not lead plates, but steel ones).

It is just by coincidence that this tends to make me neutral separately, if I take off the rig, and keep on the weight belt, while wearing the dive skins. It was not an intended consequence, however.

With the drysuit, it would be a different story. Most of my 22 lbs backplate goes to neutralize the drysuit and woolies (not really made of wool, of course). So while I can agree with you regarding the dive skins, I cannot agree regarding the drysuit weighting split.

So if you are talking about Florida, 84F water, then yes, I completely agree with you.

However for the Great Lakes, New England, UK, California, or Pugetropolis, it would be a different priority.