Suggestions needed for weights when doffing still in the water.

[Tina5269]

I'm searching for weight systems with some kind of carry strap or handle.

I have to don/doff my gear while in the water. At the end of my dive I want to take some weight off my BPW & pass my weights up to the boat. That way my gear will be much lighter for the boat guys to lift or for my dive buddy to carry up the ladder.

I'm trying to find a way to make it easier for the people helping me dive.

Due to a back injury I've had to have 3 back surgeries, and now I have the S1-L3 bones fused with metal rods and junk... So I can't flex at the waist anymore and I'm weaker than I used to be. My surgeon is also a diver and I brought my stuff to the office after my last surgery. He ok'd me to drive but said I must never wear my gear out of the water for any reason or I'll risk breaking a bone. It's just too much to carry.

So I now, my dive buddy (my BF) enters the water 1st, the boat crew throws my gear with with on it into the water. My BF cares it and then I jump in, swim to my stuff, soon the gear and remove the tether line, then I go diving. When done, i catch a tether line, doff the gear, get back on the boat. Then the crew either lifts the gear up or my boyfriend has to climb up himself, did his gear and then jump in and carry mine up.

If I could take 14 lbs off my rig and pass that up to the boat, it would make life easier and safer for everyone...right? So how can I do that without losing the weights?

 

[Shabaday]

These might work?

XDeep Weight Pockets - DirDirect

XDeep Weight Pockets with bolts. Attach to the waistband on either of the harnesses to provide safe releasable weight. Available in 3 sizes.

www.dirdirect.com

THEY SUCK. I have all of them They are extremely difficult to get the inner weight pockets to go inside the outer holding pockets. I even bought size XL and use the medium pockets. awful

 

[Shabaday]

Here is the Zeagle attached to the side of the HOG plate. Also get a "deluxe" harness with quick release shoulders. I normally never recommend that but with my back I can't rotate or twist so I need to release one shoulder to get out of the harness. A properly fitting regular stiff harness can be used since you don't tighten the shoulders (leave one fist width in-between chest and strap) down you use the waist and crotch strap to secure it.
First pic is the zeagle which works the best for me with the yellow weight pockets
Second pic is the HOG set up
Third is how many xDeep pockets I have and tried
Fourth is how many DiveRite I have tried
Fifth is the OMS with pocket that could work

 

[inquis]

Do NOT trap your weight belt under your harness when thin/medium wetsuit diving in warm/temperate water!

This is not at all an issue when properly weighted. If there's an issue, just take a larger breath. If that's not enough, gently kick up. How negatively buoyant do you think someone could possibly be in a thin/medium wetsuit (again, when properly weighted)? TBH, a bigger danger is accidentally losing weight, so I see it being a GOOD thing if the harness catches a wayward weightbelt.

 

[rx7diver]

This is not at all an issue when properly weighted. If there's an issue, just take a larger breath. If that's not enough, gently kick up. How negatively buoyant do you think someone could possibly be in a thin/medium wetsuit (again, when properly weighted)? TBH, a bigger danger is accidentally losing weight, so I see it being a GOOD thing if the harness catches a wayward weightbelt.

Scuba 101. If in trouble at the surface remaining on the surface, then you (or your rescuer) drop your weight belt! This applies even when you are properly weighted. Especially if you are incapacitated. (Taking a larger breath or gently kicking up won't work if you are panicking or are passed out.)

Don't forget the fundamentals.

rx7diver

 

[Beau Holden]

Don't know your weight and not going to ask. The last time a dove single in 3mil at 150 pounds with SS backplate and 30 pound wing in salt water, I maybe needed 2 pounds at the most. However I do dive the hard rubber fins. Seems like you might be over weighted. Just a thought.

 

[inquis]

Scuba 101. If in trouble at the surface remaining on the surface, then you (or your rescuer) drop your weight belt!

Scuba 201: become a thinking diver. I ask you again, how negative do you think you will be? Additionally, taking 5 seconds instead of 1 second to drop a weightbelt (should it even be desired) is plenty quick enough in my view.

To try to get back on-topic, clipping the BC to a line for later retrieval works well. I've often done that when re-entering a zodiac. Edit: Re-reading the OP, you're already doing that.

 

[Searcaigh]

I don't know what your harness looks like, but perhaps there's a way to add a "handle" to the top of your BCD, to make it easier for someone else to lift it out of the water.

Like this

 

[SlugLife]

Like this

That's a great example. It's not too complex or expensive to build something like that; most everything would be available at a store which sells marine equipment an boating hardware. A less complex and expensive solution would be to just tie some 550 or 750 Paracord (or thicker)

I'd definitely recommend braiding it, as shown to provide a thicker handle, so the paracord is not cutting into their hand. Or adding some other material there, to make a thicker handle.

Another advantage of a loop like that, is it makes hanging your BCD on a hook easy.

 

[rx7diver]

... I ask you again, how negative do you think you will be? ...

As an hypothetical, suppose your gear (with weight belt) is set up so that you in your gear are neutrally buoyant at (say) three fsw when your cylinder is "empty." Then, if your cylinder is full, you will be ~6 lbs negatively buoyant near the surface if your cylinder holds ~80 cu ft of air/nitrox.

Six lbs is a lot of weight during an emergency, depending. Drop that weight belt! (Ideally, for this hypothetical, your gear will be set up so that you have at least six lbs of weight on your weight belt.)

Does this help?

@inquisit, people worked out this kind of thing a very long time ago. I, myself, learned about proper weighting when I did my open water cert training in 1987. The fundamentals of proper weighting when recreational diving in a thin/medium wetsuit and single cylinder don't change just because someone wears a BP/W and/or a long hose.

rx7diver

 

[inquis]

people worked out this kind of thing a very long time ago

You mean back when most people were overweighted learning skills on the bottom? I will agree that it's a great idea to drop weight when overweighted. I wouldn't choose to weight myself as heavy as you describe, and most people shoot for neutral at 15 ft at 500 psi with an AL80. Regardless of that, IF I'm 6 lbs negative near the surface, I can take care of all that with a large breath. Others cannot and would have to gently kick to make up the 2-3 lb difference.

Your initial statement, however, was about the speed at which one needed to drop that weight. Your position (as I understood it) was that it needed to be done so rapidly that no one has the time to loosen the crotch-strap, and therefore, it MUST be on the outside. The 2-3 lb deficit simply doesn't support that.