Travelling diver who hires equipment and hate weight belts...solution?

[laikabear]

That’s what I use with rental gear. Absolutely comfortable, high quality, and can be trimmed to a custom length.

I have one of these made by Mako and it is superior if one needs a weight belt, BUT. Not all block weights fit the belt (the rubber belts are thicker than webbing and some weights won't thread on). And soft weights won't work at all unless you put pouches on it. It would suck to turn up at a location with that rubber belt and their block weights have slots that are too thin to fit on the belt.

I bought some black block weights for my belt to use at home, and they don't have very tight manufacturing specs. Some of the block weights would thread onto the belt and a couple of them would not. I think the shiny silver colored weights tend to have wider slots.

Ultimately I've gotten away from using a weight belt as I hate them too (even the rubber ones annoy me). I use either soft weights in a V weight pouch on doubles (this one is really good), or I put weights in weight pockets that thread on my harness for single tank. When I travel for single tank diving, I use whatever weights they have in the pockets on my harness. I take the V weight pouch for travel when I'll be diving doubles.

I think you'd be best served by getting your own travel BCD or backplate and wing setup. It's so much more pleasant to dive your own gear.

 

[Nomad-Diver]

Consider these.
Dripstone Diving
They allow you to firmly attach a belt weight to any 2 inch harness without sliding the harness through the weight
Non ditchable.
They were robust and strong and worked for me when i had to borrow some. No sliding whatsoever

 

[DreadnoughtNH]

I think I’m the same kind of diver as the OP, and I purchased the AL Rogue. Problem solved.
The Outlaw would be another good choice (I’m more ‘generously proportioned’ and preferred the expandability/modularity of the Rogue).

 

[sjl21]

I recently decided to get my own gear. I to would always rent my gear, except for mask and snorkel, because i did not think hauling my own gear was worth it when only diving once a year or so. Kinda sucked having to wear bcd that didn't fit properly a lot of times but i dealt with it.

Now that im traveling more and diving more i decided to get my own gear. I wanted travel friendly gear so after researching and consulting with my local dive shop, i went with the Aqualung Rogue bcd. I've been on 2 trips with it so far and absolutely love it! All the straps and weight pockets clip off so it lays nice and flat in suit case and it is very easy to pot back together. I thought the back inflation style would be hard to get used to but it was not and is much better! It has 2 non dump trim pockets in the upper back that each hold up to 3 lbs, and 2 side dumpable weight pockets. I highly recommend the Rogue!