Tail Trim Weight Pouch Attachment to Fix Head-Heavy Trim with Single Tank?

[Locus]

I've been diving a dss ss bp with weight plates (14lbs total), 15lbs on a belt, and 2x2lbs ankle weights. I use faber lp 95's, a bilam drysuit with high-loft undies, and I am 6' tall.

I'm finding that with the ankle weights on I am foot-heavy, but with one or two of the ankle weights moved onto the tank valve I am a bit head-heavy/floaty footed. So it seems as though I need to move weight aft of my center of gravity, but ankle weights don't work for me.

Recently I got a chance to try an xs scuba hp 130. I ditched my ankle weights entirely and found that with the longer cylinder my trim was relatively effortless, since the bottom of the tank kept my butt down and my feet were free to float above my knees without pitching me into a head-down position.

Switching to a longer tank is not in my budget at the moment, so I'm looking into other options to trim out. Would a tail trim weight work for this? I haven't been able to find a picture of one actually attached to a bp. If it fastens to the hole near the bottom cam band, will this put it far enough back to be any more effective than just adding weight to the belt?

 

[Jeff Scott]

What fins are you using? I looked at your profile but you didn't have any equipment listed. The point i'm getting at here is that 4 lbs of ankle weights is a lot of something that does nothing for you...kinda of the same as just adding more weight. If I'm gonna put weight on my feet its gonna be a set of Jet fins or F1s which you kinda need for the dry suit anyway. See if you can borrow a set of these and see what happens.

 

[fbk]

I struggled with my trim when I first got my drysuit, pretty common I'd imagine. First thing I did was get some XXL F1's which help a little to keep the feet down. Still wasn't quite right so I put a velcro weight pouch with 3lb on the back of the crotch strap between the bottom of the plate and rear D ring, sits completely out of the way behind the tank boot. I guess you could also use a cam strap to put a weight on the bottom of the tank. I can't imagine how bad it must feel with weights strapped to your ankles!

 

[Furnari]

If I'm going extra lofty for colder water, I'll put ankle weights around my knees. Not sure if I can explain this right, but I put the lead portion in the small of my knee (kneepit?) and the buckle rides just below my knee cap. The weight is further away from my body but without the leverage it would have around my ankles.

 

[Locus]

What fins are you using? I looked at your profile but you didn't have any equipment listed. The point i'm getting at here is that 4 lbs of ankle weights is a lot of something that does nothing for you...kinda of the same as just adding more weight. If I'm gonna put weight on my feet its gonna be a set of Jet fins or F1s which you kinda need for the dry suit anyway. See if you can borrow a set of these and see what happens.

I've been using Cressi Spacefrog fins (which I have now ditched as they are too hard to get on and off in the water) and Atomic splits, which I have now gone back to. I do happen to have some sp jet fins around that I picked up used some time ago. I'll give them a try on my next dive.

I struggled with my trim when I first got my drysuit, pretty common I'd imagine. First thing I did was get some XXL F1's which help a little to keep the feet down. Still wasn't quite right so I put a velcro weight pouch with 3lb on the back of the crotch strap between the bottom of the plate and rear D ring, sits completely out of the way behind the tank boot. I guess you could also use a cam strap to put a weight on the bottom of the tank. I can't imagine how bad it must feel with weights strapped to your ankles!

Your point is well taken. Ankle weights seem to be initially useful but ultimately counter-productive; like training wheels for diving. My goal here is to get my trim working without them. I think I'm going to try some trim weight on my lower cam band (or add a cam band at the bottom of the tank as fbk suggests). My lp 95's are quite short, so that might be necessary.

I spoke to some employees at an LDS and they confirmed my suspicion that a tail trim weight will tend to flop around, whereas cam band weights will be more stable.

---------- Post added November 26th, 2013 at 08:30 PM ----------

Any fans of the dui or northern diver weight and trim harnesses here? I'm thinking about switching from my simple hard-weight belt. It sounds more comfortable, and I'm noticing that when I don my bpw, the bp sort of rests on my weights, and at the rear the wing can get trapped under the weight belt (I put my weight belt on last so that I can route it under the crotch strap at the front and over it at the back. This keeps the belt free to fall away in case of emergency release).

I've been told that a harness would help me position weight farther down my thighs, which could solve my trim issues. Is it worth it to switch if I'm using 10-15lbs on my belt? I also like that the northern diver harness has addon thigh pockets (I have no pockets on my suit) and a sternum strap (a common complaint about the dui system seems to be the shoulder straps slide off too easily).

Also, didn't the dui harnesses get recalled back in '11? I assume the problem was fixed?

 

[rongoodman]

Have you tried looking for a trade for a couple HP130s or LP108s? It would seem to be a more straight forward solution to your problem.

 

[Locus]

Have you tried looking for a trade for a couple HP130s or LP108s? It would seem to be a more straight forward solution to your problem.

I guess I assumed that nobody would want to trade hp130's away for lp95's. Is that a plausible scenario?

130's are pretty cumbersome on land. I thought my 95's were heavy until I had to move a worthington 130 around. Also, even though I am a new diver and I like to have reserve gas, I think 130's might be overkill. I dove a 130 to 100' a couple of weeks ago and I came up with 2000psi.

For these reasons, I'll try a bit longer to make my 95's work before I pursue a change of tanks. (Also 95's will be good to have if I ever want to try SM down the line).

All that being said though, if I were offered 130's straight across in trade for my 95's I would definitely consider it.