Losing integrated weights

[dumpsterDiver]

I know you are a big fan of rubber weight belts. Unfortunately, most dive shops only carry the nylon variety, so most new divers have never seen one. I only heard about rubber belts on Scubaboard and I was already a diver for over 10 years before hearing about them.

I used to have a depth compensating Scubapro Jet belt which worked well until the bungees broke. However, with a thick suit you still needed to adjust it a bit at depth.

I agree. I dove for 25 yrs probably and never heard of them. I'd seen the depth compensating nylon belts with holes for a bungi, but was not impressed. I also had one of those buckles that was spring loaded, but it did not have the tension and really did very little if there was much weight on the belt.

Not until I started hanging out with some really good freedive spearfisherman, did I realize that ALL freedivers use rubber belts... A huge majority anyway.


I can't explain why scuba divers are so ill informed. A normal nylon belt with a metal buckle is not that bad, but they still sell thousands of those absolutely ridiculous, weight belts with lead shot pockets with a plastic buckle. They are uncomfortable, slide all around and can easily fall off. 90% of them end up with the belt rotated 180 degrees so the buckle is hidden behind the tank. I REALLY can't explain how they continue to sell those belts..

 

[ams511]

Not until I started hanging out with some really good freedive spearfisherman, did I realize that ALL freedivers use rubber belts... A huge majority anyway.

Not only that but freedivers are also connoisseurs of rubber weight belts. I have seen posts were they claim some belts are too stretchy and some don't stretch enough and others are too slick, etc. I thought all rubber belts are the same but I guess not.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Yes they have some variability in their attributes and there are actually a few different types of buckles that are commonly used. The one common feature however, is that they all use elastic rubber belts.

 

[John C. Ratliff]

I have been diving a rubber weight belt for about 35 years now (maybe more). I use a weight belt with a wet suit, and my own design of a BC. I really like rubber weight belts too.

In the 1970s I wrote an article for NAUI News about buoyancy compensation, and one of my techniques was to descend to about 35 feet in fresh water (Clear Lake), tie a butterfly knot in the anchor rope (a very special know that gets you a look which can easily be untied too) and take my weight belt off, put it through the look, and swim around sans weights. Talk about having freedom of motion, it was great! Before ascending, I went over to the anchor rope, undid the weight belt, put it on, untied the butterfly know, and swam to the surface. But I was young, and wearing about 16 pounds of weight with a full wet suit. Now I wear about 21 pounds.

This was before BCs were actually developed. Once BCs came into being, we used them to compensate for the loss of buoyancy of the wet suit. Dry suit divers didn't need a BC at that time, as their BC was the dry suit (then called a Unisuit--ever seen a photo of old-style Unisuit divers with a BC?). Now, I guess BCs are considered so necessary that they are sold to dry suit divers too. And you need two power inflators to operate both systems.

SeaRat