Integrated weights or weight belt

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BlueKnight

BlueKnight

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Location
United Kingdom
# of dives
25 - 49
Greetings Gentilbeings. I have a question if I may. I have some problems with wearing weight belts. It seems no matter how tight I get the belt 2-3 minuets later it is hugging my bottom. This even happens if I tighten the belt on the bottom. I much prefer diving with my intergrated weight system and I am wondering if this is safe enough. I am thinking about getting a weight harness but would like to get a dry suit first. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.
BK
 
integrated weights are ok if they are jetisonable, but not too easily jetisonable - i.e. dropped accidentally either through accidental activation of the pull cord/whatever, or through not being properly secured. One of the down sides is that it adds to the weight of the overall rig out of the water. In cold water divng with heavy insulation requiring extra weight this can be an issue. One way to offset that is steel tanks vs AL.

My $.02 and woth every penny you paid for it! Safe diving.
 
Thanks Ted. I have been on a few dives now and have had no problems. I only dive with 6Kg's (Around 14lb) so weight is not an issue. At ths stage I dont intend taking of my BCD under water so I will hold fire on the weight harness.
 
If you are only using 14lb, then you shouldn't have a problem even if you do need to take off your BCD underwater. (Just don't let go of it.) I wouldn't hesitate to keep all of the weight on the BCD.
 
Thanks gentilbeings I appreciate the thoughts. I will save the pennies for a dry suit. I did my open water in 13 degrees c in a 5mm wetsuit. England is such fun lol
 
Hi there,

I'm going to chime in that if you're wearing 14 pounds of weight with heavy neoprene (5-6mm full body suit, hood, and gloves or similar) then you *might* be fine if you graduate to a dry suit. However, if you're using that amount with lighter neoprene (or none) (say, below 3mm and/or a shorty/farmer john), your graduation to a drysuit may make it so that you're back to a weight belt again.

What you may want to do is consult the dive shop with which you are going to figure out what dry suit you want, and see if they have an integrated system that offers larger weight pockets as an option which you might have to buy for the drysuit.

Just for reference, on a 3mm shorty, I can dive no weight with an aluminum tank (until it's empty)...I usually put in 4 for practice, and 6 for training (so I sink to the bottom nicely). With my drysuit, which includes the suit itself, a full set of Thinsulate Class-3 Extreme dive underwear, a dry hood, and dry gloves, it takes me 36 pounds of lead to be "just right". I am considering adding some heated clothing underneath, so in fact I too am faced with the same dilemma of looking for larger weight pockets for my ScubaPro Nighthawk BC with integrated weight (and have already ordered said pockets).

No matter what you do though, figure out the answer to your BC first and purchase it. Then get used to it completely before adding the dry suit. Managing the air bubble and your buoyancy with the BC is something you should be expert and consistent with before adding the dry suit, which is a completely different animal. When you're in *really* cold water, you have to wear a *lot* of gear. Case in point, below is a photo of me last weekend in the mountains of Colorado, in a low 40's (Farenheit) lake at altitude. I have fully inflated my BC and Dry Suit, partially for fun, and partially to keep warm between dives on an "in-water SI".:cold:

20090419SY_SMALL.jpg


Hope this helps.

Regards,


-S
 
Hi Syonker. Thanks for the advice. I currently use a Tigulio T52 BC which I cant praise enough. However I like the idea of having some weight in the pockets of a dry suit but then wouldent it be hard to dump in an emergency? I will need to have the suit made to measure anyways being an odd size so perhaps I could get them to make me a pocket for shot weight pouches which I can dump quickly if the need arises. Definatly food for thought.

If I wear my shorty for example in a pool session I tend not to have any weight at all.
 
You would never put weight pockets on a dry suit. The best option is to distribute the weight between a belt and the bc. You only need enough ditchable weight to start the ascent ( and that's only if your bc and suit fail) and that could be as little as 2-4 lbs. Once you hit the surface in a dry suit you could ditch the whole bc and still float. And unless you have a catastrophic failure of the suit you should not be carrying so much weight that you'd need to dump to start the ascent anyway. Never dump weights at depth unless you have absolutley no way to establish any positive buoyancy at all or you are dead and it wouldn't matter anyway how fast you came up. Ditchable weight is highly over rated and thoroughly misunderstood by many new divers.
 
I like ditchable weight. Not so much for beginning an ascent but rather for establishing positive buoyancy at the surface for rescue. If I need 20# of lead to submerge, think about how positive I am with the weights ditched!

I like weight harnesses. All of our small herd of 4 divers have harnesses although we have split my grandson's weight between his weight integrated BCD and the harness. The rest of us use BP/Ws

I don't want to put the weight on my BP/W webbing for two reasons: First, the rig gets too heavy with a 43# tank, 20# of ballast, 2# regulator and 6# backplate = 71#. I just can't lift it.

Second, I have a 30# wing. With the tank at -10.5#, a 6# backplate, a 2# regulator and 20# of weight, I would need a 40# wing. By wearing the 20# of lead in a harness, I can still float without the BP/W and the 30# wing can easily float the rig.

The weight distribution ideas are the same for BCs as they are for BP/Ws. You should be able to float while wearing your weights without the BC and the BC should float without being worn.

Richard
 
I also had trouble with my weight belt slipping until I found one that has a strip sewn to the back of the pockets that grip my wetsuit. It works quite well.

Then I purchased a steel cylinder and now I can carry all of my weight integrated. But I still have that weight belt... just in case...



Ken
 
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