If weight belt fell off?

[Randy43068]

What would be the best approach to take if your weight belt fell off and was not recoverable during a dive? What would be the best way to control buoyancy in this situation?

if you can keep presence of mind, try swimming downward as much as you can. Keep your airway open but don't exhale as much air as PADI says or you will have to take a breath. Just keep the airway open and let the air come out as it expands.

Use your rear dump valve to get rid of any air you can dump while your butt is up...

Hope for the best...

 

[Gombessa]

Could you please elaborate with more specifics... I am just getting myself set up for drysuit diving, and this concept makes good sense. I just don't quite get the practical application.

Thank you.
WNW

Backplate/wings (and perhaps some jacket style BCs) have a crotch strap which helps keep the tank and rig positioned snugly at all times. The crotch strap attaches to the waist strap. Since the waist strap usually positioned higher on the diver than the weight belt, you have two options - put the weight belt on first, and then don the crotch strap (so the weight belt is under the crotch strap), or put the weight belt on after you you've donned the crotch strap. The former traps the weight belt so that (theoretically), it will be caught by the crotch strap if it accidentally comes loose. A typical harness crotch strap is illustrated here: crotchlength

You often hear advice to keep the weight belt under the crotch strap when diving a drysuit, since you will have two forms of inflation (the drysuit and the wing), both of which should give you enough lift to kick up your rig in case the other fails completely (so ditching weight may not even be necessary). Wetsuit divers are sometimes told to wear the weight belt over the crotch strap so it can be more easily discarded, because the wetsuit compresses at depth, and in the event you are wearing a thick suit and your wing fails, you may have no choice but to ditch your weights in order to kick up the rig from depth.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Could you please elaborate with more specifics... I am just getting myself set up for drysuit diving, and this concept makes good sense. I just don't quite get the practical application.

Thank you.
WNW

When people talk about "under the crotch strap" they are usually referring to a Hogarthian harness, with crotch strap. You can choose to either route the crotch strap over or under the weight belt (the crotch strap is a webbing strap that runs from the bottom of your backplate, down and forward between your legs, and up to attach to the harness waist strap at midline, thus the name crotch strap). A traditional weight belt typically is worn lower than the waist strap on the harness, so the crotch strap must either pass over or under the weight belt to reach the waist strap. Confused yet?

Anyway, if you wear the crotch strap over the weight belt, it will help prevent the weight belt from falling off in the event the weight belt buckle is accidently released.... it gives you a 2nd chance to grab the weight belt before it sinks into the abyss....

Hope that makes sense...

Best wishes.

EDIT: Oooops, Gombessa and I were posting at the same time... I like his post better

 

[Teamcasa]

Could you please elaborate with more specifics... I am just getting myself set up for drysuit diving, and this concept makes good sense. I just don't quite get the practical application.

Thank you.
WNW

Here is what I use...Now.

I put on my weight belt first, then put on the harness and finally attach the crotch strap to the waist belt.
Like LeadTurn_SD and Gombessa said, it will help capture the weight belt should it become loose or unbuckled.

 

[Darnold9999]

Swim down and pick it up.

However the only reason I can do this is I only carry 8lb on my belt. Another 8 lb is strapped to my BP harness in two pouches and I use a SS backplate and a steel tank.

Like to avoid putting all my eggs in one basket so to speak. Just gives me more options - losing any one set of weights is not a serious issue.

If you lose more than you can swim against then your only option is going to be to slow down your ascent.

 

[Cecil]

I need to correct a few misconceptions in this thread. The first are more experenced divers need less weight. I can tell you that here in New England my weight requirements have not changed from my first dives to my 200th dive. I body need 12 #'s to sink, put on my 7mm or drysuit and that goes to 40#'s. Remember most NE shore dives are fairly shallow. Now I did switch to steel tanks and got it down to 35 #'s. Here's what I do.

Notice two belts which eliminates the single point failure causing a Polaris missile launch. Presently I use 20#'s on one and 15#'s on the other.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

I need to correct a few misconceptions in this thread. The first are more experenced divers need less weight. I can tell you that here in New England my weight requirements have not changed from my first dives to my 200th dive. I body need 12 #'s to sink, put on my 7mm or drysuit and that goes to 40#'s. Remember most NE shore dives are fairly shallow. Now I did switch to steel tanks and got it down to 35 #'s. Here's what I do.

Notice two belts which eliminates the single point failure causing a Polaris missile launch. Presently I use 20#'s on one and 15#'s on the other.

First: Cecil, you need a crotch strap... that's a mean case of "Run-away BC" you got there

Just kidding! Nice pic.

Second: The vast majority of new divers are over-weighted. Part of this is because they have trouble "relaxing" enough to sink, and the other major component is that their instructors over-weight them, expecting that they will shed the weight on their own as they become more experienced.

So, it is an accurate statement that most divers are able to remove some weight once they gain experience. Sometimes a lot of weight.

Best wishes.

 

[themagni]

Cecil:

I change my weighting for each dive, depending on what I'm wearing under the drysuit. I take juuuust enough lead to sink, and that's 30#, 32# if I'm wearing a vest, and 35# if I'm wearing fleece pants.

And hey, Henderson gold core gloves! Hi five! :talktothehand:

 

[Diver560]

a great topic... Just another ounce of prevention to consider (puny, I know). I lost my belt 2 weeks ago at the surface swimming back to shore after my beach dive. It was caused by me letting it slip through my hands while trying to tighten it up a bit ....while on my back.

***Best advice here is to remember our basic training which is to do so horizontally and facing bottom so that the belt lies atop your back***

and this applies on the surface or at depth!

Lucky for me, this was lesson learned at the surface and one I'll not soon forget if you have any idea how much 24 lbs of weights frkn costs now a days. :dropmouth:

 

[vladimir]

Simple: You lay on your back, dump all air from bc, spread eagle and use your arms and fins to create as much drag as possible.

Once you realize you're aborting the dive, lie back as far as you can and spread eagle facing the surface. The drag will slow you down so you're not launching towards the surface.

Is there a reason to flare facing up, guys? I guess it would be good to scout for boats, but looking up would also work, I'd think. I think I would rather flare in my normal prone position, from which I can instinctively manage the situation, rather than try seldom-performed scuba-batics in the midst of an emergency.