Weight belt 'ditching' incident

[Chebby]

I have 2 words for all of you ZEAGLE RANGER. Now I must admit its the only BC i have ever had. You would really have to mess up to accidently drop your weights out of these pockets... Yet if you wanted to its beyond simple.

You know, one thing that bothers me about my Zeagle Ranger is that I can never find the back air dump valve with my hand. Just as you this is the only BC I have owned, but sometimes I spend more than a minute trying to locate it back there. There must be a better way of placing that thing, I would never be able to find it in an emergency situation.

 

[Sngldyvr]

New to diving.........25 dives....... Trip to the Bahamas a few months agn the first dive I was unable to desend because
of not enough weight in my intregated BC.....whilst on the surface I was handed an additional 4lb from the boat which I put into the pouch on my BC.Now I was fine.During the dive interval I changed the weights and got ready for the next dive.
On entering the water I was once again unable to desend.I was handed another 5lb weight.......still unable to desend....was handed a further 5lb weight......still no good.
The dive master managed to push and pull me under.At about 40' the pouch with the two 5lb weights broke off and I pretty much shot to the surface.
Turns out that I had not put the intregated weights back into the BC........they were still on the boat.This could just as easily happened on the first dive which was to 120'.

 

[JMD123]

You know, one thing that bothers me about my Zeagle Ranger is that I can never find the back air dump valve with my hand. Just as you this is the only BC I have owned, but sometimes I spend more than a minute trying to locate it back there. There must be a better way of placing that thing, I would never be able to find it in an emergency situation.

I AM GLAD YOU BROUGHT THAT UP... That is my only complaint I saw the newere ones have a bigger ball at the end of the rope.


But I do not know it that would help

 

[Woden]

New to diving.........25 dives....... Trip to the Bahamas a few months agn the first dive I was unable to desend because
of not enough weight in my intregated BC.....whilst on the surface I was handed an additional 4lb from the boat which I put into the pouch on my BC.Now I was fine.During the dive interval I changed the weights and got ready for the next dive.
On entering the water I was once again unable to desend.I was handed another 5lb weight.......still unable to desend....was handed a further 5lb weight......still no good.
The dive master managed to push and pull me under.At about 40' the pouch with the two 5lb weights broke off and I pretty much shot to the surface.
Turns out that I had not put the intregated weights back into the BC........they were still on the boat.This could just as easily happened on the first dive which was to 120'.

There is so much wrong with this I don't know where to begin.
Divemaster pushing and pulling you under...they should know better :11:
Not noticing you didn't have your weights...no one did a buddy check and divemaster again didn't have a clue :11:
120' as a newbie diver...no comment :11:

Everyone makes mistakes when they are new and we all hopefully learn from them before they hurt us. So don't take this personally cause I've done similar things and I'm not pointing fingers at you. What really ticks me off is that the divemaster didn't do 1 thing right and they should have known better.

 

[Mike Newman]

This is a worrying tale. The response to your buddy's predicament is understandable. You should certainly try to halt an uncontrolled ascent, if it is safe for YOU to do so. Once it became clear that you were BOTH ascending out of control your responsibility to your own safety should have compelled you to let go.

Why? - well one casualty is always better than two - and ascending under control to assist your buddy at the surface you could be sure of getting there in a fit state to do so.

Just my two cents worth

The good news - you both seem to be OK. Your suggestion about your buddy spreadeagling during ascent is entirely valid - the presence of mind to dump any expanding air would help too.

Suggest to your buddy that they invest in an expanding weight belt buckle (it stretches out on a spring at the surface, taking up suit slack as compression occurs).

 

[sprange]

Mike, you're certainly right (and many previous posts agree) that having one casaulty at the surface is significantly better than two. In our situation we were close to the dive boat (about 20 yards--probably far enough for us to both drown before help arrived). Strange thing is that I was ready to let go if my ears/sinuses forced me (I normally take a while ascending/descending, and even managed to rupture my right eardrum in July)--but I felt NO discomfort. Perhaps the rapidly expanding air allowed for constant equilization, or I overestimated my ascent rate. Either way...he's wearing a depth-compensating buckle (and looking into 'suspenders'), and I've learned how to properly address this situation thanks to feedback from SB.

Sean

 

[BigJetDriver]

...he's wearing a depth-compensating buckle (and looking into 'suspenders'---
Sean

If I may suggest something, others have done so, and I'll just add my PPO2's worth. The weight harness, as done by DUI and Northern Diver are great bits of kit. Very comfortable, very secure, and one-half ot the weight is ditchable.

Cheers!

 

[DEEPLOU]

If I may suggest something, others have done so, and I'll just add my PPO2's worth. The weight harness, as done by DUI and Northern Diver are great bits of kit. Very comfortable, very secure, and one-half ot the weight is ditchable.

Cheers!

Not only that , but they don't accidently come off easily either.

 

[billtodive]

Don't hold your breath, as I can be long winded...I dive a back-inflate tech style bc, with 6 lbs in the back trim pockets and 6 pounds in each of the weight pouches ( 7 mil fj with hood.) The integrated weights were velcro-ed in.
About 10 hours of research and 30 minutes of work, my weight pouches now have velcro and snap buckles. ( I decreased interior velcro to make installing pouches easier) .

It takes quite a tug to get the weight pouches out without unlatching the buckles first. They will not fall out or get accidently knocked out. They are ditchable if needed and I generally set them on the dock or boat before I climb out of the water.

My daughter had a sizeable lump on her right foot for a couple months after a bump of the weight belt release on land promply sent a 10lb chunk of lead( corner down) onto the aforementioned foot. As far as weight belts go, she said they are evil and definately should go. smart girl.
Painfull as that may have been, I sure wouldn't like to have seen it UW.
Thanks for bringing up the subject.

 

[fookisan]

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I always put 25% to 30% of my lead in the BC and the rest around my waist to divide it up just in case I have to ditch the belt.