Weight belt on top of or under crotch strap?

[prettyfish]

I am diving wet with a DiveRite Transpac BCD. I believe I should put the weight belt on after the crotch strap to make ditching the weights easier. Is this true?

 

[Pedro Burrito]

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[RJP]

Is this true?

Think about it: Once you have your BCD and crotch strap on... where would your weight belt sit?

 

[DennisW]

Safety would indicate that the weight belt would be on top (over) the crotch strap. You've got it right.

 

[gertf]

I keep mine underneath because I don't want to fly to the surface should the buckle open by accident. I can still remove it fairly quickly should it be required

 

[RJP]

Safety would indicate that the weight belt would be on top (over) the crotch strap. You've got it right.

Have you ever worn a weight belt over the waist and crotch strap of a BP/W?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Weight belt goes under the crotch strap. It is easy enough to ditch on the surface and you do not want it coming off accidentally at depth.

Sent from my DROID X2 using Tapatalk 2

 

[g1138]

I am diving wet with a DiveRite Transpac BCD. I believe I should put the weight belt on after the crotch strap to make ditching the weights easier. Is this true?

The general answer that comes up here is that it depends. Are you more worried about losing your weightbelt and rocketing to the surface OR not being able to quickly ditch your belt.
Tech divers for example would much prefer the former from not occuring since they encounter virtual overheads, like deco stops.
On a quick note, you should be able to unstrap your waist strap and crotch strap then ditch your belt with relative ease.

Your reasoning of putting the weightbelt over the crotch strap to allow easy ditching is right. It does make it easy.
There are divers who put their weightbelt under the crotch strap allowing for "uneasy" ditching, but only by comparison. It's really not that much harder.
It's a different diving mindset behind this config.

The main idea is you take preventative measures whether dive planning, dive practice, and/or redundant buoyancy, that will prevent you from getting into a situation where you would need to ditch your weight to reach the surface.

This can mean:
- carrying a lift bag should your BC bladder rupture
- gear maintenance/rinsing to prevent gear malfunctions or breakdowns
- not running into sharp objects
- gas awareness so you never run OOA
- always being neutral so you never find yourself OOA and negative
- dive planning and diving the plan so you avoid sticky situations
- being properly weighted
- keeping up on dive fitness
etc etc.

Bottom line, do what you're comfortable with. There are risks with both ways.

 

[DevonDiver]

As RJP states, it can be difficult to securely/comfortably fit a weightbelt over the waist/crotch strap.

If fitted underneath, then the user (and their buddy) need to ensure familiarity and competence with an effective method of releasing it, such as;

1. Release, pull out to the side, then drop.

2. Use of a weight harness/dump weight pockets.

Add to this that (typically) use of a BP&W enables a finer balance to be made between ditchable and non-ditchable weight. Provided the diver retains 'some' ditchable weight that permits instantaneous positive buoyancy, there isn't a problem. That needn't be a large amount of weight though.

Many experienced divers tend to prefer locating the weight belt under the crotch strap, as they recognize that the risk of accidentally dropped weights exceeds the risk of diminished capability to dump weights - especially from deep/deco dives, or within overhead environments. Those same considerations are unlikely to be pertinent for a novice diver.

 

[lsorenson]

I prefer it under the crotch strap... I only use 4 lbs diving salt in a 3mm with a bp/w and steel tank, no weight in fresh, and 18 lbs diving dry in fresh... Real bad time to loose your weights when your diving dry or at least in my case!

Just make sure your buddy knows about your configuration if the need arises!!! lee