No weight belt

[Ste Wart]

Steel tank and ally plate . Im only small! (5ft7 and 66kg).

Hey I'm 5'7 and 66kgs. I think I'm perfectly formed!

The steel tank though makes the difference I was basing it on an Ally tank.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Im diving in warmish waters (never gets below 19celcius) with a single tank bp/w long hose setup. Al plate, 30lb wing and i carry 6lb on a weight belt while diving in a 5mm.
I can comfortably swim with my weight if my bc fails. In regards to being able to ditch my weight i dont really see any situation where this would be beneficial, but more of a very last case holy crap eerything has failed and a shark bit one of my legs of situation, hence why im asking if it is ok to have that 6lb on my tank as non ditchable.
I dont have a problem wearing on if i have to for the dm course although it is a pain to remove and re-don with the crotch strap, but for this particular excercise id just have my weight belt on the outside.

I can think of dozens of situations where you may want to ditch lead. If you can't think of any, then you should try harder.

 

[Mike.D]

I can think of dozens of situations where you may want to ditch lead. If you can't think of any, then you should try harder.

Wouldnt it be better to use alternative methods other than to drop my weight belt? (Manually inflate BCD, use my buddy). Can you please give some examples where dropping my weight belt would be my only option for survival??

 

[alewar]

Wouldnt it be better to use alternative methods other than to drop my weight belt? (Manually inflate BCD, use my buddy). Can you please give some examples where dropping my weight belt would be my only option for survival??

At least in my diving club it's a standard procedure during rescue to drop the belt of the person you are rescuing once on the surface to ease transportation.

 

[Mike.D]

Ahh didn't even occur to me... Yet to undertake rescue course

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Wouldnt it be better to use alternative methods other than to drop my weight belt? (Manually inflate BCD, use my buddy). Can you please give some examples where dropping my weight belt would be my only option for survival??

You are in the water, you can not breath water, you have lead holding you under the water.. That is the start, now think really hard about how something, anything could go wrong with this scenario. Also, being able to remove lead, has many benefits in diving, not all of which are life and death situations..

 

[redacted]

I dive with an AL80 and 6 lb in warm water. I prefer to put 2 x 2lb on my tank straps and 2lb in a belt. I have used 2 x 3lb on my tank straps when the dive op did not have 3 x 2lb and it tends to turtle me a bit.

 

[TSandM]

I don't have a problem with diving, in warm water and with minimal exposure protection, with all one's weight on the rig. You do want to put your weight where you balance properly.

For the DM exercises, having all the weight on the rig can be annoying, because when you have to do the gear remove and replace underwater, as soon as your gear is off you, you are buoyant and your gear is negative. It makes it hard to do the skill smoothly.

I personally use a weight belt because a) it balances it correctly, and b) it makes the rig much easier to move around when swapping tanks on a pitching boat.

 

[scubafied]

As dumpsterDiverpointed out, it doesn't have to be life threatening in order to require removal.

I've seen people lose their belts at depth as well as many divers with new gear or a case of nerveousness who realize they need more weight after trying to descend. As a DM it's always helpful to have some spare lead to give away instead of having to swim back to shore/boat to get it or watching someone embolize on their ride to the surface. Is it your responsibility to make sure the certified diver has the appropriate amount of weight? Not really. Will it instantly piss every other paying diver with you off if they have to bob around while waiting for someone to go get extra weight? Most likely.

 

[TravisD]

Another scenario to consider is if you have reason to remove your gear underwater with no intention of surfacing (at that time). If all of your weight is on your BCD, you may end up positively buoyant while the rig wants to remain under. You might want to get out of it to untangle something, tighten a cam-band, or just practice a skill with a buddy.

Second thing to consider is balance in the water -- get the weight up too high and it may cause you to turn turtle.