If weight belt fell off?

[dumpsterDiver]

It is more natural to lay on your back and watch the surface. It also will significantly increase your drag because you can scoop water with your fins more effectively as you hold your ankles bent. You can also scoop water with your palms when on your back.

This is much more relaxing then trying to actively swim down. Also, you need to realize that if you loose a weight belt when diving with a wetsuit, once you dump the air from your BC at depth, you will NOT be very Bouyant! The beginning part of the ascent will be very easy and relaxed and will speed up as you approach the surface. You would want to try to breath without taking full breaths and to exhale for the last 15 feet or so.

I'm not sure how you would lie face down and flare and also look up? My neck doesn't do that?

Also, grabing rocks or an anchor line to slow your ascent would be more desirable than doing the flare.

 

[vladimir]

Ah, the fins--that makes sense. Thanks.

 

[elemeno123]

There are some good tips in this thread. Is this normally taught during open water training? I don't think it was mentioned when I learned.

My personal experience: A few months ago I was doing a dive in Mexico with rental equipment. The BC had integrated weights but they seemed to go in kind of funny. The DM assured me it was okay. I was wearing a 7 mm suit with 12 or 14 pounds of lead. When we stopped for our safety stop at 20 feet, I rolled over to look up and all of my weight fell out. As soon as I figured out what the hell was going on, I inverted and pulled my dump valve on my BC and then finned down as hard as I could to slow my ascent to a reasonable rate. I made sure to breathe out (actually I was yelling through my reg at my buddy who didn't even realize anything was wrong until I was already on the surface). No harm done in the end, but I stayed on the boat for the second dive. I was not going to risk equipment/buddy issues again. But overall, it would have been nice to know what to do in this scenario beforehand rather than some improvisation.

 

[Diver0001]

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?

Question:

- Why is this a concern to you? Is it a hypothetical question or are you using a weightbelt that you have your doubts about?

R..

 

[The Chairman]

Is that your BC floating over your head? It would appear from this picture that you are currently overweighted!

Dear OP...

I never worry about losing my weight belt anymore. Why? I use DUI's weight harness. My waist and hips are the same size. It was not unusual for my weight belt to start to head for my feet if I wasn't careful! I did my research right here on ScubaBoard and found the best solution for me was DUI's weight harness. I got mine from Scuba Gear Scuba Diving Equipment Discount dive gear Snorkeling Equipment and Wetsuits Cheap online and have never looked back. It's comfortable, and even if it becomes unbuckled, it simply WON'T come off!

In years before my harness, I knew that IF I were to totally lose my weight belt, that my dive was effectively over. I would try to do a slow descent and a safety stop, but in the end, that is merely precautionary. Hopefully the dive boat will have another one that I can use!

 

[ZzzKing]

Some regs don't breathe as well when you are lying on your back also.

I try to limit my weight belt to the weight of air in my full tank and otherwise be neutral. For single tanks that's 5 or 6 pounds. That limits the change in buoyancy should I have a belt malfunction and is just easier to don and deal with in general.

 

[rstofer]

The idea of weight belts getting loose or becoming unbuckled has been discussed. A much bigger problem is with the buckle design. Look at the hinge tips. If one of those tiny pieces of plastic breaks, and all plastic deteriorates in the sun, the buckle falls apart. Just that little tiny piece of plastic is keeping you from a runaway ascent. I think I have seen toothpicks bigger than those hinge tips.

So, at a minimum, use metal buckles. The spring loaded buckles are worthless. They don't provide enough tension to keep a belt in place. Particularly if you don't have well defined hips.

Finally, get rid of the weight belt and use a harness. Losing your weights is not a theoretical problem. You can be seriously injured.

I started working on this problem when a plastic buckle broke while I was playing with it on the patio table. That was an eye-opening event. The next day I had multiple harnesses. All 4 of us use a harness although my grandson has his weight partially in his BC. Given that he will be moving to a BP/W in the near future, this won't remain a problem.

Richard

 

[TSandM]

I try to limit my weight belt to the weight of air in my full tank and otherwise be neutral. For single tanks that's 5 or 6 pounds. That limits the change in buoyancy should I have a belt malfunction and is just easier to don and deal with in general.

For cold water divers, this may not be feasible. I'd have to put 15 more pounds on my rig to get my belt down to 5 or six pounds, and I'd be off balance, and the rig would be very difficult for me to pick up and move around.

 

[Gilldiver]

The old wreck diver trick for when we were crawling under wreck plates after lobsters or other stuff was to use two buckles on the weight belt. That way both buckles have to open or fail before youe weight goes.

For those who have a waist and hips the same size, then something like the DUI system might be a way to go.

I will always have some dropable weight as the bigest problem is not getting to the surface, its staying on the surface.

 

[InTheDrink]

All 4 of us use a harness although my grandson has his weight partially in his BC. Given that he will be moving to a BP/W in the near future, this won't remain a problem.
Richard

Is it a problem now? How so?