So my wife wants to know what dive gear I'd like for Xmas, and the biggest gripe I have with my current setup is my weight belt. I wear 20#s on a simple webbing belt over my harness crotch strap. I loosens and slides down my hips, and is hard to properly position when putting it on in the water. Long story short its unwieldy and uncomfortable. Also god forbid I ever had to ditch it below the surface, its all or nothing and I would rocket up. I was thinking of slapping two ditchable weight pockets on my webbing harness, but while shopping around I've decided that may not really be ideal.
I dive recreationally(~120ft max depth) in SoCal(saltwater only) with a 7mm FJ wetsuit, 6# SS BP/W, 35# wing, single AL-80 and 20#'s of lead on a weight belt.
In addition to what I stated above, I assumed:
-Rental AL-80's are +4# empty, -1# full.
-Buoyancy of reg(-?#) and empty wing/harness(+?#) assumed close to 0#s.
-I'm probably around +4#s buoyant(based on snorkeling)
-That would mean my wetsuit is about 18#s buoyant on the surface.
-At depth my wetsuit would lose about 80% of its buoyancy(-14.5#s)
In my mind, a good balanced rig would have the following:
-Neutral at end of dive(duh)
-Rig comfortably floats itself
-W/o rig, I float with minimum 10#s of buoyancy to keep my head up
-Weight is worn comfortably.
-I don't need to remove weight belt to take off rig.
-At depth, with weights ditched buoyancy is around -8#s(not impossible to swim up with a total wing failure, but won't rocket up the entire way)
Given the 19.5# buoyancy swing(air consumption+wetsuit compression) over the course of the dive, that would indicate I should keep a minimum of 11#s of weight easily ditch-able.
Adding all 20#s of lead to the BP/W harness would make it very heavy/unwieldy, and it wouldn't have a very large floatation margin at surface.
So I'm considering the following options:
A weight belt with 12#s in ditchable weight pouches, worn under the crotch strap(possibly with suspenders), and 6#s on my rig(likely trim pockets on cam bands).
Pros:
+Trim weights can be moved around easily
+More comfortable (suspenders on weight belt could be used, rig is not super heavy)
Cons:
- Only #10 buoyancy without rig at surface(seems a little sketchy)
OR: A weight belt under the crotch strap with 6-8#s(not easily ditchable) and 12-14#s in ditchable pouches on my rig.
Pros:
+14-16#s buoyancy without rig at surface
Cons:
-Doesn't sound more comfortable(all weight still worn around hips, heavy rig).
-No movable trim weights.
I already have 2x 7# and 3# weights, so leaning towards something that utilizes them, but also not looking to spend a ton of money. Will likely always be diving wet and with rental AL80's.
The question buried in here is am I on the right track here of just nuts? Do my assumptions/goals seem appropriate? How should I try to make my weighting system more balanced without making it complicated? How have you weighted yourself when using a really buoyant wetsuit?
I dive recreationally(~120ft max depth) in SoCal(saltwater only) with a 7mm FJ wetsuit, 6# SS BP/W, 35# wing, single AL-80 and 20#'s of lead on a weight belt.
In addition to what I stated above, I assumed:
-Rental AL-80's are +4# empty, -1# full.
-Buoyancy of reg(-?#) and empty wing/harness(+?#) assumed close to 0#s.
-I'm probably around +4#s buoyant(based on snorkeling)
-That would mean my wetsuit is about 18#s buoyant on the surface.
-At depth my wetsuit would lose about 80% of its buoyancy(-14.5#s)
In my mind, a good balanced rig would have the following:
-Neutral at end of dive(duh)
-Rig comfortably floats itself
-W/o rig, I float with minimum 10#s of buoyancy to keep my head up
-Weight is worn comfortably.
-I don't need to remove weight belt to take off rig.
-At depth, with weights ditched buoyancy is around -8#s(not impossible to swim up with a total wing failure, but won't rocket up the entire way)
Given the 19.5# buoyancy swing(air consumption+wetsuit compression) over the course of the dive, that would indicate I should keep a minimum of 11#s of weight easily ditch-able.
Adding all 20#s of lead to the BP/W harness would make it very heavy/unwieldy, and it wouldn't have a very large floatation margin at surface.
So I'm considering the following options:
A weight belt with 12#s in ditchable weight pouches, worn under the crotch strap(possibly with suspenders), and 6#s on my rig(likely trim pockets on cam bands).
Pros:
+Trim weights can be moved around easily
+More comfortable (suspenders on weight belt could be used, rig is not super heavy)
Cons:
- Only #10 buoyancy without rig at surface(seems a little sketchy)
OR: A weight belt under the crotch strap with 6-8#s(not easily ditchable) and 12-14#s in ditchable pouches on my rig.
Pros:
+14-16#s buoyancy without rig at surface
Cons:
-Doesn't sound more comfortable(all weight still worn around hips, heavy rig).
-No movable trim weights.
I already have 2x 7# and 3# weights, so leaning towards something that utilizes them, but also not looking to spend a ton of money. Will likely always be diving wet and with rental AL80's.
The question buried in here is am I on the right track here of just nuts? Do my assumptions/goals seem appropriate? How should I try to make my weighting system more balanced without making it complicated? How have you weighted yourself when using a really buoyant wetsuit?