Sudden loss of weight pouch

[Sounder]

Hi all

My dive buddy and I just bought our first set of BC's. Beuchat Masterlift Evolution. They are weight integrated. The weight pouches are held in place by a clasp thingy. :06: (I know...... bad discription. sorry) Anyway.... When we were walking into the water my buddy lost both his pouches. 15 lbs in each. I retrieved them for him and we reinstalled them thinking they were in wrong to begin with. We made sure his and mine were installed correctly and continued. We got into the river and begin drifting at 35 feet down. We are pretty new and need practice with navigation as well as wanted to try our new BC's out. We surfaced after about 15 minutes to check our position. When we got back to the bottom I realized I had lost one of my pouches some where. (I guess I was a little over weighted.eyebrow After looking for a bit my partner shot to the surface. He also lost one of his pouches.

So.... Long story....

Has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you fix it? The pouches are not velcro and the "clasp thingy" that holds them in is not a clip. It seems a bad design.

I want a fix real bad 'cause we're going for a AOW course in Jan. and loosing a pouch at 100' could be quite dangerous. I've thought of carrying the weights in the pockets but I think the ability to shed the weight quick is as important as not losing it by accident.

Any advice, ideas or feedback will be greatly appreciated.

- Rod

 

[Humuhumunukunukuapua'a]

Hey Rod,

Sorry about your scenario, and I have no advice specific to your situation. But if it turns out you had your pockets installed correctly and this dropping of weight pockets "just happens", then I'd return the BCs to wherever you bought them and get something that works. Either both of you installed the pockets wrong or there is a very real problem with the integrated weight system on the BC. After all, in your samples, it fails 100% of the time, which is unacceptable.

Good luck.

 

[mmadiver]

It does happen quite often actually. I'm not familiar with your BCD type so I cant shed any light on it specifically.

Is there anyway you can remove the claps you have on there right now and install a clip?

 

[mmadiver]

Hmm, I should of said: Weights falling out happens, but not as often as they happened to you. When BCDs start to get old typically the velcro gives way.

 

[timle]

15lbs in each weight pocket seems alot for integrated weight pockets. Do you know what they are rated for? I believe they are rated for 5 kilos which is about 11 pounds - exceeding that by 4 lbs in each pocket may have something to do with it.

 

[Sounder]

Hey Rod,

Sorry about your scenario, and I have no advice specific to your situation. But if it turns out you had your pockets installed correctly and this dropping of weight pockets "just happens", then I'd return the BCs to wherever you bought them and get something that works. Either both of you installed the pockets wrong or there is a very real problem with the integrated weight system on the BC. After all, in your samples, it fails 100% of the time, which is unacceptable.

Good luck.

I got the BC's from DiveTank and Richard is sending us replacement pouches. He is trying to get a hold of the manufacturer to get a "kit" for reinforcing the pouch attatchments. (They're closed for the holiday's):-(
I was hoping someone else has had experience with this and had a quick fix.

Your right about it being unacceptable. If I can't get it fixed DiveTank will refund/replace or whatever they have to do.
I've had the best customer service from them and highly recommend them.
Thanks for the fast response

 

[Sounder]

15lbs in each weight pocket seems alot for integrated weight pockets. Do you know what they are rated for? I believe they are rated for 5 kilos which is about 11 pounds - exceeding that by 4 lbs in each pocket may have something to do with it.

That was my first thought. I asked Richard at DiveTank and he said that should be fine though. I think he said he uses 20lbs in each.

EDIT
The pockets release by pulling the handle away from your body and then sliding the pouch towards the center of the BC. I suppose we could have bumped the handles, pushing them out, and the pouch slid out on it's own. Still seems like poor design though.

 

[scubatoys]

That does sound like a lot of weight in the pockets. If I'm diving cold with a lot of neoprene or a dry suit, and have to get up to the 24 lb or so, I like to wear a belt with about 10 lbs, then put another 5 on each side in my dumpable weight pockets, and a 2 lb in each of the rear non-dump pockets.

Now I'm using a Zeagle, so there are no pockets to fall out, or clips that don't work right etc.... It's one of the reasons I like their weight system, I don't have to carry spare pockets like we do with the other brands... But whatever system you're using, I might think getting some of that out of the pockets would be a good idea... and maybe even off your body entirely. If you dropped 15 lbs and didn't realize it, there is a small chance you might be slightly over weighted....

 

[DiveMaven]

Remember that even with the "secure" clips that some BC's have that you can still lose a weight pocket. My husband dives with a Seaquest Pro QD+ and on day 3 of our liveaboard, he went horizontal on his descent and out popped a weight pocket with 4# of weight in it. He hadn't touched the pockets since day 1 when we set our gear up, so we have no idea how the "sure lock" clip (not velcro) came out. Fortunately we were only about 5' down and after I chased that danged pocket to 101' and realized that the bottom was MUCH farther down, he just put 4# into his BC pocket and zipped it closed.

I dive a Zeagle and pointed out that losing a weight pouch wasn't an option with my system.

 

[DA Aquamaster]

My wife had a similar issue with the velcro closures on her Genesis Recon (an early version with velcro closures). I retrofitted it with a 1 1/2" nylon strap from the back of the retainer for the pouch to the flap on the pouch where it attaches with a fastex buckle. She has not lost one since. It makes dumping the weight pouch a two stage process (unclip the fastex buckle, then pull the pocket out) but that is in my opinion much more preferable to losing one or both pockets on a deep dive.

I am not a fan of wearing a weight belt with a weight integrated BC. In my opinion it largely defeats the purpose of going with weight integration. And one of the plusses of weight integration is getting the weight off the small of your back during the dive.