How to wear weight belt in DIR setup ?

[marmagi]

Hello,

can someone DIR or TECREC tell me how to wear a weight belt with an halcyon eclipse setup ?

I mean do I put first the weight belt before the Halcyon Eclipse MC ? if so I cant remove the weight belt without removing the Halcyon Eclipse MC because the Eclipse has a belt as you know between the legs.

Else if the weight belt is wear after wearing the Eclipse MC then it is not easy to wear it because its over the Eclipse

Anyways I have no idea what is the right way to wear them

Thanks in advance for your advice

Mario

 

[RJP]

Put weight belt on first, then BP/W. You can remove the weight belt even though it's under the harness. It's a bit more involved, but that's the point. This way there's little chance of you simply "losing" your weight belt.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Also, weight belts have traditionally been worn with a right hand release, so that a diver assisting you on the surface could reach around you from behind with their right hand and release the weight belt.

However, with a hogarthian/DIR harness configuration where a can light goes on the right waist strap (requiring the harness buckle to be on the left strap with a right hand release), a weight belt with a right hand release is easily confused with the harness release, so you may want to rethink that tradition to avoid any confusion on your part by having a right hand release on the harness and a left hand release on the weight belt.

In practice, there is no need for ditchable weight under water if you are properly weighted (ie: not overly weighted). From significant depth or under any deco obligation you would not want to dump your weight belt or lose your weight belt and consequently be unable to hold a safety or deco stop.

Even in a strictly recreational setting the need to dump weights normally only arises at the surface in an emergency where you need immediate positive bouyancy and in 25 years of diving I have yet to see a need for that develop in anything other an a training situation.

But...not having readily ditchable weights does involve a need to be properly weighted and to develop a mindset of calmly dealing with issues under water without relying on a panic response of bolting to the surface in an emergency. If a diver is not at that point, then he or she needs to restrict themselves to very shallow dives and wear the weight belt on top of the harness and crotch strap.

 

[Mayor]

As DA Aquamaster said "there is no need for ditchable weight under water if you are properly weighted". If you must have removable weight then take a look at the Halcyon pockets that can be placed on the belt.

 

[TSandM]

Yes, if you are terribly worried about ditchable weight, you can use the Halcyon pockets or the DUI weight harness, instead of a belt. It is also possible to put a belt on over the harness, although it is awkward -- this used to be recommended for people diving wet.

If you are diving wet, you need to be able to swim the rig up with no air in the wing and full tanks, or you need ditchable weight, or some kind of redundant buoyancy. This is why large, steel tanks are better with dry suits.

 

[ivobj]

As many said, better to use it under the harness and if you are properly weighted, you should not need to ditch weight, but there is other options, TSand already mentioned that is ok to use over the harness if you are diving wet, but have you consider also not using a weight belt at all?

In my setup for single tank I use SS BP, a weighted SA + one pocket in each rig of the single adapter where I can put 1 or 2 kilos of weight in each pocket, I use those to fine tune the trim and to include some weight when I dive with AL tank that I don't need with steel tanks. With this setup I don't need weight belt, and in an extreme case your buddy can help you ditch the weight in the rig pockets, although it never happened to me and it is very unlikely to happen (as TSand mentioned, you must be able to swim up fully equiped with tanks full, I already did the test with wetsuit to be sure, although I dive dry most of the time).

 

[Web Monkey]

Else if the weight belt is wear after wearing the Eclipse MC then it is not easy to wear it because its over the Eclipse

Anyways I have no idea what is the right way to wear them

Thanks in advance for your advice

You also might want to make sure your buddy and any DM involved are aware of this, since if you're having problems, they're going to expect to be able to flip the buckle and have your weights fall off.

For a small amount of weight, I like the weight pouches as mentioned, since it's immediately obvious that the weight can be ditched by simply opening the pocket and removing the weight.

For larger amounts of weight, the DUI Weight and Trim works, although you and your buddy will need to practice, since it it takes an unexpectedly large amount of force to pull the release when the pockets contain a lot of weight.

Terry

 

[Bismark]

Your in Italy, so diving in the Med right? About 75-80 degrees F? Try a 3mm suit, 6lb stainless steel BP and your eclipse and no additional weight. Unless you have a ton of "bioprene" you probably will not need any extra weight with an Al 80. Trust me and try it. You are only going to be slightly negative at the beginning of the dive so you won't sink fast but the freedom of being pretty much perfectly weighted is "superawesome"......

 

[vjanelle]

I've got the ACB pockets on my halcyon wing, very easy to ditch the weight if necessary, but you can only put 6lbs in each pocket (which is fine for me). Using a weight belt along with the wing was ok too, but I made sure to point out to my (insta-)buddy that I had two buckles until I got the pockets.

I hope I never have to use it though because then I'd have to try to sell the ACB pockets minus the weight holders as things have gone horribly wrong and I shouldn't dive anymore.

 

[caseybird]

If all the weight is attached to the harness, is it more difficult to doff a BP/W to clear an entanglement? Some very experienced divers on this board have very strongly condemned weight-intergrated "poodle jackets" because a diver will become quite positively bouyant when the diver removes a harness/jacket. The harness is going DOWN, the diver is going UP.
Is there an advantage to distributing your weight between the SS plate and a weight belt?