CWK
Contributor
I also note that none if the tech rescue scenarios that I have been taught involve ditching weights. Presumably because you would might not expect to find ditchable weights on a tech diver.
Question about “balanced rigs” and having all ballast unditchable
- Thread starter Eric Sedletzky
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PfcAJ
Contributor
If you don’t need ditchable weight why have ditchable weight?
That’s where it came from.
CT-Rich
Contributor
I was in a thread about a new diver with no ditchable weight earlier and a solution that was offered was if need be, cut yourself out of the rig. A feet I think I would almost be willing to to see. I have cutting tools on my gear are capable of cutting through my BCD straps but would really notexpect to do it compitently under duress.
I believe the tech motto is “two is one and one is none” (or is that a caver thing?). Buoyancy should, by this, have redundancy. Your BCD is your primary. Your wetsuit will keep you at the surface if you have ditchable weight. If you have a dry suit, that MIGHT might qualify, except you can only powere inflate. There is no practical way to add air other than your LP hose.
I am also of the ditchable weight vintage. I think it is something where you have a small number of dive putting out the old “if you do it right, you should never need to ditch your weights” mantra. And in fairness that is true. Except for the “except”. The situation that you never expect or should never happen except when it happens.
I have always used ditchable and despite never had to dump weights. Except for last year. Not once, but twice made the decision that staying on the surface was more important than the lead I was wearing. Never happened before and the causes were completely unrelated and may never happen again.
If you want to decide if ditchable weight is important, dump all of the air out of your BCD with a full tank, and simulate a ten minute surface swim, add a bit of chop. I look forward to all the explanations of why that situation coulda-shoulda-woulda never happened if I had only done such and such.
I believe the tech motto is “two is one and one is none” (or is that a caver thing?). Buoyancy should, by this, have redundancy. Your BCD is your primary. Your wetsuit will keep you at the surface if you have ditchable weight. If you have a dry suit, that MIGHT might qualify, except you can only powere inflate. There is no practical way to add air other than your LP hose.
I am also of the ditchable weight vintage. I think it is something where you have a small number of dive putting out the old “if you do it right, you should never need to ditch your weights” mantra. And in fairness that is true. Except for the “except”. The situation that you never expect or should never happen except when it happens.
I have always used ditchable and despite never had to dump weights. Except for last year. Not once, but twice made the decision that staying on the surface was more important than the lead I was wearing. Never happened before and the causes were completely unrelated and may never happen again.
If you want to decide if ditchable weight is important, dump all of the air out of your BCD with a full tank, and simulate a ten minute surface swim, add a bit of chop. I look forward to all the explanations of why that situation coulda-shoulda-woulda never happened if I had only done such and such.
MichaelMc
Working toward Cenotes
I would note that that new diver listed 50-99 dives under their avatar, and cutting out was given as a backup to ditching normally. I would note some open water dive forms sacrifice ditchable weight. At what point do we allow divers to make that choice?
Edit: and that they were encouraged to get some ditchable through kick technique changes that would shift their leg weight higher.
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CWK
Contributor
I would never dump gas from a tank while still in the water. Yes, gas weighs something. But the kind of scenario that would make dumping gas weight a consideration would be just the sort of scenario where you would want all the gas you had. Are you thinking exhausted diver on the surface with a blown wing, nothing else to ditch, and an overweighted rig? The minute your head goes underwater, you don't want an empty tank...
All right, this is the basic scuba forum, so let's try to deal with single tank, NDL diving for a little while. When PADI revised its standards a few years ago, part of the impetus was a study of dive fatalities. One of the things they found was that some single tank divers had successfully reached the surface in an OOA situation, been unable to fill their BCDs because of the OOA situation, been unable to stay on the surface, sank, and drowned. As a result, they put a greater emphasis on manual inflation of the BCD, and they added dropping weights on the surface.
But let's look at the situation a little further.
A weight check is typically done by dumping all air from the BCD while holding a normal breath. If you are properly weighted, you should float at eye level when you are not kicking. This is usually done with a full tank. Some people say to add enough weight to compensate for the loss of the weight of the air during the dive, but others say it is not necessary because of trapped air at the beginning of the dive. At any rate, the key idea is this: a properly weighted diver with an empty tank should float at least at eye level while making no effort whatsoever to stay afloat. A properly weighted diver with an empty tank should have a very hard time submerging. That diver should have no trouble staying afloat with an empty BCD and minimal kicking. A single tank diver who cannot stay at the surface with an empty tank is significantly overweighted.
But let's look at the situation a little further.
A weight check is typically done by dumping all air from the BCD while holding a normal breath. If you are properly weighted, you should float at eye level when you are not kicking. This is usually done with a full tank. Some people say to add enough weight to compensate for the loss of the weight of the air during the dive, but others say it is not necessary because of trapped air at the beginning of the dive. At any rate, the key idea is this: a properly weighted diver with an empty tank should float at least at eye level while making no effort whatsoever to stay afloat. A properly weighted diver with an empty tank should have a very hard time submerging. That diver should have no trouble staying afloat with an empty BCD and minimal kicking. A single tank diver who cannot stay at the surface with an empty tank is significantly overweighted.
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