How do you wear your weight?

[tomgrogan]

I have used hard weights and soft weights on a belt & a weight integrated BC. I find the hard weights cumbersome to handle & adjust. They do hurt your hips when leaving the water. I think that it is easier to wear and adjust a soft weight belt under water after wet suit compression. I think that most recreational divers use a weight integrated BC whether it is a vest or wing type. Yes, you are weighting your equipment rather than yourself when you use the integrated BC but I wonder if that is not an advantage over or at least cancels out the advantage of using a soft weight belt when compared to having yet another release underneath your BC. I do think that too much gear can stress a recreational diver. By the way, I do use a weight integrated wing BC.

 

[Thalassamania]

I have used hard weights and soft weights on a belt & a weight integrated BC. I find the hard weights cumbersome to handle & adjust. They do hurt your hips when leaving the water. I think that it is easier to wear and adjust a soft weight belt under water after wet suit compression. I think that most recreational divers use a weight integrated BC whether it is a vest or wing type. Yes, you are weighting your equipment rather than yourself when you use the integrated BC but I wonder if that is not an advantage over or at least cancels out the advantage of using a soft weight belt when compared to having yet another release underneath your BC. I do think that too much gear can stress a recreational diver. By the way, I do use a weight integrated wing BC.

I guess it depends on two things. The first is how much weight you’re putting on your rig, remember that each pound you shift is a potential two pound problem, except for what you can handle by lung shift, which remains only a one pound for one pound problem. When the “problem” starts adding up to much more than ten pounds I start seeing it as a safety issue. The second is the likelihood of having to remove your rig. If you never take it off, and you can not possibly conceive of having to do so, then in your best judgment its a non-issue and so you put all (or most) of your lead on your rig. If you know of hazards in you’re diving such as potentially entangling nets, wires in a wreck, and such, that may require rig removal to solve a problem, then I submit that your lead belongs on a belt and not on your rig.

 

[lorien]

I wear a combo of both, in a wet suit I use an 8-10 lb weight belt and the rest goes in my BC with some in the trim pockets and the rest in the weight pockets. Dry suit I use a heavier belt, rest in the BC. This trims me out better than other options that I have tried.
Wearing just a weight belt is too uncomfortable for me. Using just the BC does not trim me properly and if I have to take my BC off I am too buoyant without a belt at all.

 

[watercooled]

i use a belt. i've used an integrated bc and i didn't reall feel comfortable in it. for trim purposes i'm thinking about an ankle weight on the tank valve. it's an older bc with no trim pockets. (i want to try this in a pool first). anyone else do this and can give advise?

 

[RoyN]

I use an integrated because I don't use as much weight as I used to.

 

[Bob]

Back plate and wing ...

Plate is SS 6 lbs with a 6 lbs STA and I have 6 extra pounds in two separate pockets...which are ditchable.

Ditto, except I don't carry weight in my STA. almtree: Bob

 

[Thalassamania]

Ditto, except I don't carry weight in my STA. almtree: Bob

If I may use you and scarfaceDM as examples (meaning no disrespect what-so-ever). You're both carrying 18 lbs of ballast. Let's assume average lungsize say 7 pints=7 lbs. So that's 11 lbs. difference after you dump your entire lung volume, and if you're not comfortable doing that, and few divers are then its back to an 18 lbs difference.

But it's worse than that. If separated from your rig, it's 18 lbs negative and your 18 lbs positive ... so if your trying to deal with it off your body that's at best swinging a 22 lbs. weight about and at worst a 36 lbs. weight, with all the commensurate problems of maintaining contact and dealing with an ever changing center of buoyancy.

On the other hand, if you were wearing an 18 lb weight belt, your rig might be a few lbs negative due to the gas in it or the inherent buoyancy of the cylinder(s). If you take it off, it's not headed down hard, and you're not headed up hard and your center of buoyancy changes very little.

 

[hvulin]

with doubles I use 4kg (2x2kg) on a belt (but an elastic one so it doesn't turn around...)

I almost don't notice it...

 

[razorseal]

i hate the weight belts... when I was training, they ALWAYS slid off my hips (i guess I have no hips lol) it happened on a beach dive we did and i couldn't grab them and I started going up... I panicked and one of the instructors got a hold of me and pulled me down... since then I've been putting my weight on my BC

 

[Matt S.]

When I had a Ranger BCD, I used its weight pockets. But this was actually difficult: I dive dry and I needed to put a LOT of weight in those pockets. Enough that it made the BCD difficult to don, OR I put it on empty and it became difficult to stuff the pockets.

Now I dive a steel backplate system. I put 10-12 lbs (ditchable) in a DUI harness and 10 lbs on my upper cam band. There is another 6 lbs in the plate, ~2 lbs in the STA, 2.5 lbs in the can light.

(FWIW, you weight belt people, rubber belts are fantastic. Got one for my ex-wife/ex-buddy and the comfort and stability was great.)