"Safe" weight distribution? Weight ditching question.

[Frackingawesome]

if you are properly waited you dont need to drop weight... until you do... the harm of having even just a few lbs/kgs of detachable weight is none or near enough non that it does not matter. the hard of not having that option could matter and the fact is no one can say they will never be in a situation where dropping weight could or would be the right thing to day.

when you are flying through the air after a motorcycle crash is the wrong time to decide a helmet would have been a good idea... even though a lot of dead motorcyclists are found with helmets on... and some living with out a helmet. the point is floating in the air is the wrong time to wish you had one...

Having some kind of unforeseeable issue, even an issue caused by a panicked unsafe buddy, is THE WRONG time to realize that "huh, if i would ditch a bit this would not be an issue anymore..."

Also this should not even be something to think about until you know enough to express you opinion quite strongly on an forum online... or at lease have a few hundred dives under your belt...

btw in salt and dry i have 10lbs on me(belt or something), 4lbs in trim pockets and 4lbs in quick lease pockets... but i am a suspenders and belt kinda guy...

 

[Storker]

Ditchable weights isn't only about being able to swim up the gear - which probably is quite doable in a thin WS while carrying only a moderate amount of gas. It's also about riding higher in the water if a little piece of S suddenly HTF and you have to wait a bit for pickup or swim to the shore in some chop.

 

[EFX]

Storker, you bring up a good point....that it's not about just swimming up with the gear (with a balanced rig), but also to float at the surface. What's everyone's experience with this? Can you remain motionless at the surface and float a little lower or do you need to fin constantly to stay up?

 

[AJ]

Storker, you bring up a good point....that it's not about just swimming up with the gear (with a balanced rig), but also to float at the surface.

If you need to ditch weight to swim up you're in bigger trouble then you ever should be. Ditching weight at the surface can be a good option. Ditching weight down below is a big no go for me.I want to be in control over my ascent.

 

[dmaziuk]

Which of these have a direct impact on the diver's buoyancy?

It's a trick question, right? Or can we pick two, like BCD and tank?

 

[drbill]

I may be an outlier, but I need a minimum of 32# of lead diving here and prefer to carry 38# so that I can remain reasonably stable on the bottom while filming. I don't like carrying that much weight on a belt and have considered carrying at least 10# in weight pockets and the rest on the belt. In 55 years of diving I've never had to ditch weights (although one time I did consider it).

 

[Storker]

If you need to ditch weight to swim up you're in bigger trouble then you ever should be. Ditching weight at the surface can be a good option. Ditching weight down below is a big no go for me.I want to be in control over my ascent.

Totally agree. Ditching underwater should be a last resort and is often an indication that the diver is overweighted. OTOH, it seems from the accident reports that too few are willing to ditch on the surface.

Personally, I value the ability to ditch on the surface pretty highly, so I prefer to have some ditchable weight.

 

[Patoux01]

The principle of ditchable weight goes all the way back to the beginning of scuba.

I'm not a scuba historian, but I have a suggestion as the reasoning behind ditchable weight "all the way back to the beginning of scuba". It's called "BCD", or lack thereof. Waddayathink? Makes sense, right? No bcd, no floaty stuff, well, you'll have to drop some weight if you want to stay on the surface.

Nowadays? By all means, drop weight if a shark went off with your BCD, but maybe start by inflating the BCD instead of dropping weight if it didn't happen.

Personally, I value the ability to ditch on the surface pretty highly, so I prefer to have some ditchable weight.

I have a BCD and a drysuit, when I don't have the drysuit I'd use an SMB when on the surface as it actually gives some support and is nicer than just floating imo. Assuming most people carry a BCD, and it about never is found unable to hold air, does it not seem like the most reasonable solution to just inflate the BCD?

 

[boulderjohn]

I'm not a scuba historian, but I have a suggestion as the reasoning behind ditchable weight "all the way back to the beginning of scuba". It's called "BCD", or lack thereof. Waddayathink? Makes sense, right? No bcd, no floaty stuff, well, you'll have to drop some weight if you want to stay on the surface.

Nowadays? By all means, drop weight if a shark went off with your BCD, but maybe start by inflating the BCD instead of dropping weight if it didn't happen.

I believe some people are arguing for not having ditchable weight for a different but related reason in terms of diving history. As scuba evolved, technical diving got people wearing lots of weight in their cylinders alone, and we reached the point where the diver would be overweighted without wearing a single pound of ditchable weight. That is how I do most of my dives today--I don't even think about where to add weights because I won't be wearing weights anywhere. Once that happens, you have to give thought to how you will get to the surface in the case of an emergency once dropping weights is no longer an option.

The first thought is that you should be able to swim your gear to the surface, but with some setups that is not possible. In that case, you think about redundant buoyancy. If you won't be able to swim your gear to the surface in the event that your BCD is no longer functioning, you need to have redundant buoyancy. For some, that comes in the form of a drysuit. I know two divers who in the last few weeks had to inflate their dry suits like the Michelin Man in order to get to the surface when the shoulder dumps of their BCDs stuck open. For others, that comes in the form of a dual bladder wing, meaning that if the regular bladder of your wing fails, you have a backup bladder ready to go. I was also trained to use a lift bag for emergencies, but that is generally not recommended.

My point is that historically dropping weights was the only answer, but today for many divers it isn't an answer at all, so they have learned to think in different terms.