Tank Weights?

[love2godeep]

I was browsing at LP, looking for weights, and saw some Tank Weights for sale. They said that tank weights can help you find perfect trim, and that they are a good idea if you have a back-inflate BC, and end up having a long wait at the surface.

They recommended at least 4# of tank weights.

Any input?

 

[Quarrior]

Couple of points. First, keep in mind LP is not a diving knowledgeable dealer, so I would not take any advice from them. They do have great deals on gear and great warranties, but that's it. They are strictly a seller of gear.

Second, if you are diving a back inflate and have trouble tipping forward, have you considered switching to a steel tank?

One last thing, I don't know the cost difference between "tank weights" and ankle weights, but if you really want a weight to put around the valve area of your tank to keep you horizontal, I suggest looking at ankle weights for that purpose, they work great.

Good diving.

I was browsing at LP, looking for weights, and saw some Tank Weights for sale. They said that tank weights can help you find perfect trim, and that they are a good idea if you have a back-inflate BC, and end up having a long wait at the surface.

They recommended at least 4# of tank weights.

Any input?

 

[hantzu701]

tanks weights are IMHO a waste of money. Make sure that you are properly weighted before you apply a solution that you may not need. If you don't know if your trim is good to begin with, see if you can find someone who can videotape or take a short movie w/ a digital camera.

If you really, really think that you need additional weight on the top part of your body, then you have four options.

1) If your BCD has weight pockets in the upper part of the BCD, then simply switch more weight up from the lower pockets.

2) If you don't mind spending another $30, you can add a 3lb ankle weight to the tank neck.

3) You can also buy a cam strap and put a 4lb weight on it. This can get tricky as you need to make sure the weights are properly aligned, but has the flexibility of moving weight up or down on the tank. This too is expensive and unnecessary.

4) The cheapest option is to put two 2lb or 1lb weights on your cam strap itself, threaded such that the weights touch the BCD.

 

[divedeepnj]

I took a BC cam band and added 2-2# weights to it. I wrap this around the bottom of the tank. This way I can switch from tank to tank easily, and it's not expensive.

 

[donacheson]

I took a BC cam band and added 2-2# weights to it. I wrap this around the bottom of the tank. This way I can switch from tank to tank easily, and it's not expensive.

Easy, inexpensive, and convenient - but it doesn't place tank weights very high. If around the bottom of the tank gives you good trim, it's perfect.

I need my weights higher and strap one on each soft cam band of my BC and have had equally good results with a separate strap with weights between cam bands. I've considered strapping weights around my tank above the top cam band, but there's not enough room there with the tank adjusted so the valve doesn't poke me on the back of my head when I look up.

 

[divedeepnj]

I've found that it works well just to get your face out of the water with a back inflation BC.

 

[Kestrell]

It is good to have some weight around your tank to keep yourself from getting tipped face forward w/a back inflate. I usually stash 4lbs in the trim pockets of my Ranger BC. It keeps me purfectly vertical. I'm not saying to add extra weight, just to move some of the weight you do need to your tank. If you don't have trim pockets, a weight on the cam band will work fine.

 

[neil]

For students that need it, I use a cam strap and some commercial slide-on pouches made by XS Scuba so I can use soft weight pouches OR hard weight. This setup makes it easy to get the wt. up high and close to the back where it usually needs to be.wt. pouches

 

[northcoast_diver]

I was browsing at LP, looking for weights, and saw some Tank Weights for sale. They said that tank weights can help you find perfect trim, and that they are a good idea if you have a back-inflate BC, and end up having a long wait at the surface.

They recommended at least 4# of tank weights.

Any input?

Tank weights, like unnecessary backplates, are a bad idea because they tend to make you turn turtle. Trim weights, mounted high on your shoulder straps, of about 1.5 5o 2 lbs on either side, will give you the best trim. Backplates are in second place. Tank weights are in a distant third.

Take a look at Curt Bowen in some of his photographs if you want to see what trims weights should look like. He wears them on his shoulder straps as well. I would give his set up a gold medal.

And I would submit that the silver and bronze medals are just placation for losers that were not good enough for the gold.