Weight belt on top of or under crotch strap?

[SeaCobra]

why use a weight belt at all? Problem is best solved by using any number of weight pockets available on the market. This allows secure weights for the dive with the ability to ditch weights easily in the event of an emergency. And for the record I dove for years wearing a weightbelt and a military harness that had a crotch strap and common practice then was to dive with the belt over the crotch strap.

As far as not wanting to lose a belt during a dive - I find that reasoning laughable. This is a problem that really does not exist. I dove at Dutch Springs in Bethlehem, PA all weekend; there were hundreds of folks doing their open water dives for their certifications and DUI had a demo day with a couple of hundred more people trying on drysuits for the first time. Guess what? No reports of lost weightbelts did I hear.

SO, add a weight integration to your Transpac appropriate for the amount of weight necessary.

 

[DevonDiver]

As far as not wanting to lose a belt during a dive - I find that reasoning laughable. This is a problem that really does not exist. I dove at Dutch Springs in Bethlehem, PA all weekend; there were hundreds of folks doing their open water dives for their certifications and DUI had a demo day with a couple of hundred more people trying on drysuits for the first time. Guess what? No reports of lost weightbelts did I hear. .

I've seen it happen on at least 8 occasions. Those were recreational dives, so the consequences were negligible. If the same happened on a technical/overhead dive, then it'd be potentially fatal.

Risk is a combination of likelihood plus repercussion.

An issue may have a small chance of occurrence, but if that occurrence would kill you, then you're inclined to take it seriously.

I've got 20 years and ~5000+ dives experience - a fairly large 'sample' size - and never lost a weight belt on a dive. That said, I still don't find the risk of losing a weightbelt, with significant deco obligation, or when inside a wreck, to be "laughable".

 

[lowviz]

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?

Do you plan on being able to (intelligently) ditch the weight belt on the surface, at depth, or either?

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

Yeow! Loaded question.

I had to wear a weight belt over my BP/W crotch strap a couple of times.

I was grudgingly permitted to train with public safety divers in a BP/Wing but ONLY IF I had an easily ditchable weight belt. I won't discuss their thinking, let's just say that I agree with them in that particular training situation where everybody on the team does things the same way. I was not about to rent or buy a true public safety diving vest. I reversed an angled D-ring and put it on my crotch strap at the level of my tailbone. I could put the weight belt above the D-ring and it wouldn't slide off. Found out, however, that if the backplate slid down (even a little) my backplate would cover the weight belt and make it nearly impossible to remove the W/B.
Having been there, if anyone is successfully wearing a weight belt on top of a crotch strap with either a BC or Backplate, I'd love to know how you are getting it to work. If you get the weight belt above your hips, the crotch strap is stupidly loose, if tight, the weight belt can only slide down and fall off. There is no middle ground that I could find.

-I'll be doing it again when my SARR cert expires, and unless somebody comes up with something better, I'll have to go "tail hook" again...

 

[redacted]

When I first went with a BP/W I struggled with the same question. Over was a real problem just putting it on. Under might be a problem when ditching weights. My final solution was to go without the crouch strap. Other than a little binding, it did not seem to do much for me. Now, about 8 years later. that was the right solution.

 

[RTee]

When I wear one, it goes under the crotch strap.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

As far as not wanting to lose a belt during a dive - I find that reasoning laughable. This is a problem that really does not exist. I dove at Dutch Springs in Bethlehem, PA all weekend; there were hundreds of folks doing their open water dives for their certifications and DUI had a demo day with a couple of hundred more people trying on drysuits for the first time. Guess what? No reports of lost weightbelts did I hear.

Having recovered a 28# weightbelt from 95 fsw once ... and knowing what happened to the guy who dropped it there ... I don't find it laughable at all.

I guess some people think it's funny to see a diver emulate Free Willy after an unplanned buoyant ascent ... but I'm not one of those people.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[SeaCobra]

I've seen it happen on at least 8 occasions. Those were recreational dives, so the consequences were negligible. If the same happened on a technical/overhead dive, then it'd be potentially fatal.

A technical diver should be dedicated to the discipline of technical diver to dive with the proper solution. Sloppiness and complacency is what kills, not equipment. In 24 years of teaching I have seen a lost weightbelt or two, but not that many. Take the time to work on your kit in shallow water, practice with your weighting system and use the proper weighting system for your diving needs.

At my local, serene and peaceful training lake there have been a few fatalities over the years. In two of the most recent weighting systems played a role. Both divers and buddies were unfamiliar with the release mechanisms. The stress of an emergency caused narrowing and they were unable to release the ballast, the results were not good.

Weighting is an often overlooked skill and more effort should be put into proper weighting and balancing of the weights. Not to mention practicing in shallow water.

 

[RTee]

Jeff, I concur alas, I find surprising that based on my recollection, it is not fine tuned at the OW level. Instead, some agencies have it either as a separate specialty (mastering buoyancy) or cover it in greater details as part of AOW. I personally think this should be done at the OW level because most of the other skills that you acquire after that seem to use it as a foundation.

Having said that, wrt the fatalities you are referring to, would you agree that the weighting system could have had very little to do with it if the divers had not strayed away from the first basic check of diving...pre-dive check? Not only are you ensuring that your buddy's equipment is all set to go but you are also familiarizing yourself with it in case of malfunctions/emergencies. Some folks wear all their weights on a belt, some will have it split between two weight pockets integrated to their BCD, some will have a combo of belt and pockets, some will also have a combination of ditchable/non ditchable weights.

I think what is important is not necessarily to be able to ditch all the weight but sufficiently to either swim your rig back to the surface (which should be the case most of the time) or to get your buddy back up in a controlled fashion. It behooves you and your diving buddy to then be familiar with each other set-up and agree as to what gets dumped first and how to make that happened.

 

[TSandM]

Prettyfish, you are still a pretty new diver. My guess is that you haven't run into a lot of problems underwater yet. It is not at all a bad idea for new divers to have weight that's easily ditchable -- not because you're going to want to ditch it underwater, but because if you end up on the surface in a stressed state and not thinking well, somebody else can ditch those weights and render you "permanently" buoyant. You CAN ditch a weight belt that's under a harness, but it's a two step procedure, and your rescuer, especially in the tropics, may not be familiar with it.

Light weight belts are not terribly difficult to put on over a harness, but some of that depends on the relationship between the bottom of the plate and the spot on your body where the belt sits. If you have a long plate for your height, and your waist is higher than the bottom of the plate, the crotch strap has to make a loop upward and then back down under the belt. It can be hard to set up and adjust properly.

There are other options -- you can use a weight harness, like the DUI Weight & Trim, where the weights can be pulled without affecting the harness. There are also weight pockets like the Halcyon ACB ones (and ScubaPro makes a similar product) that you can fit on your waist belt.

As you gain experience and greater composure in the water, there may come a day when you decide that you are no longer worried about the risk of having the belt under the harness. I dive that way, even wet, because I dive with people who are familiar with my gear, and I really don't envision a situation where I am conscious on the surface, and cannot control myself well enough to remember to drop my weights. Time may prove that I am misguided, but for now, I'm happy with that decision.

 

[Splitlip]

I wear under for the reasons others have stated. Max I wear is 4 pounds using 4 very low profile weights.

When I was first certified, it was hammerd into us that the weight belt was last on even before we had bcd's. When we had the horse collars with parachute harness, I wore weightbelt over.

Something which might be considered, is to keep the weight belt behind the crotch strap at rear, then buckle the belt over the crotch strap at the front. keeps the buckle more accessible, yet if it were to fail the crotch strap would still capture the belt.