Weight Belt

[6474286]

If the weight belt is to be put on first then how do you ditch it if it's under the crotch strap?

Thank You.

If you're wearing a crotch strap; then I presume you are wearing a wing and thus a technical diving piece of equipment.

If that is the case, the question is why would you ever want to ditch your weight? I can't think of any incident on such a dive, where I would honestly wish to ditch my weight.

You should always have redundant equipment, so no matter what fails you should be able to surface without any isssue.

Basically; I would ditch the weiht belt in favour of V weights and attach them to your tanks - unless the wing is for rec use only - Do not ditch you weights!

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

Think of it this way...

A diver with a single Al80 only needs enough weight to offset the 6 lbs of gas in the tank. That's all. So, at any given time, a diver never needs to be able to swim up more than the weight of their own gas. How is dropping a weight belt underwater solving a problem? All it does is increase the odds someone will need a chamber ride or worse, embolize.

Plus, unless you have weight that is ditchable in pieces, dropping a 15 lb belt from 100 ft ensures a rocket ship ride to the surface. Better hope the boat is close and has plenty of O2.

This, of course, assumes a properly weighted diver.[/QUOTE

Ha! ha! You wouldn't believe the round and round I go through with other divers about this weight issue.....Yes sir and I agree to some extent to what you're saying. We do a specific kind of diving where you tend to overweight because of working the bottom in fairly strong currents and I wear a 6 mil farmer john, - it's not for everyone but most of us like to be heavy...it's a preference. I don't guess I need to get started talking about not being able to see (bad viz) the press gauge and "guessing" at the air I still have left in the jug, and sometimes misjudging.......anyway all I'm saying is that different types of diving require adaptations. At 30-40 ft I can and have dump my belt with no ill-effects. At 100 - forget it - I wouldn't even consider it, unless I'm losing consciousness and it was my last, last chance.

 

[Soggy]

We do a specific kind of diving where you tend to overweight because of working the bottom in fairly strong currents and I wear a 6 mil farmer john, - it's not for everyone but most of us like to be heavy...it's a preference. I don't guess I need to get started talking about not being able to see (bad viz) the press gauge and "guessing" at the air I still have left in the jug, and sometimes misjudging.......anyway all I'm saying is that different types of diving require adaptations.

Ok, I was talking about diving not tunneling through mud.

 

[Viscya]

The only time you would ever need to ditch your weights is on the surface and even if you have to undo the crotch strap, it only takes a second.

What are you smoking? This ain't TDS!!

Assuming recreational no overhead, no deco dives.. Weight belt goes on the outside.

Case in point.

At the start of this season, my one buddy had a dual failure at 80 ft. One reg locked up. He switched to his backup and headed for the anchor. Before he made it to the line, his lp hose on the pony reg blew. With out a second thought, he dropped his weights and did a free ascent from 80'. You do not want to take a few extra seconds to get the belt out from under the crotch strap!

 

[Soggy]

At the start of this season, my one buddy had a dual failure at 80 ft. One reg locked up. He switched to his backup and headed for the anchor. Before he made it to the line, his lp hose on the pony reg blew. With out a second thought, he dropped his weights and did a free ascent from 80'. You do not want to take a few extra seconds to get the belt out from under the crotch strap!

Worst case scenario, he couldn't swim 6 lbs up? Is he a handicapped in some way?

I see you called him a "buddy", yet he left you there alone and you didn't give him air when he ran out. What were *you* doing during this Cluster-F? Being out of gas is no reason to run to the surface like a polaris missile! Dumping weights was the wrong solution to this problem and your "buddy" is lucky he didn't embolize.

Once again, we see an example of solving a problem with more problems.

 

[6474286]

What are you smoking? This ain't TDS!!

Assuming recreational no overhead, no deco dives.. Weight belt goes on the outside.

Case in point.

At the start of this season, my one buddy had a dual failure at 80 ft. One reg locked up. He switched to his backup and headed for the anchor. Before he made it to the line, his lp hose on the pony reg blew. With out a second thought, he dropped his weights and did a free ascent from 80'. You do not want to take a few extra seconds to get the belt out from under the crotch strap!

Point seen! However if you have been at 40 (110 feet or so) Metres for 15 minutes, the last thing you want is the weight belt falling off. At this depth/Deco situation; the last thing you want to do is surface too quickly!

 

[The Fresh Prince]

What are you smoking? This ain't TDS!!

Assuming recreational no overhead, no deco dives.. Weight belt goes on the outside.

Case in point.

At the start of this season, my one buddy had a dual failure at 80 ft. One reg locked up. He switched to his backup and headed for the anchor. Before he made it to the line, his lp hose on the pony reg blew. With out a second thought, he dropped his weights and did a free ascent from 80'. You do not want to take a few extra seconds to get the belt out from under the crotch strap!

in the DIR forum, the weight belt goes under the crotch strap. We don't drop weights due to the failures you referenced. That is what your buddy is for. I imagine your buddy was not to happy diving with you if he had to dump weights and rocket to the surface from 80 feet.

 

[6474286]

in the DIR forum, the weight belt goes under the crotch strap. We don't drop weights due to the failures you referenced. That is what your buddy is for. I imagine your buddy was not to happy diving with you if he had to dump weights and rocket to the surface from 80 feet.

In complete agreement!!! (A non Dir diver!)

 

[Viscya]

Worst case scenario, he couldn't swim 6 lbs up? Is he a handicapped in some way?

I see you called him a buddy, yet he left you there alone and you didn't give him air. There is no need for a ballistic ascent when air is only a short swim away. Dumping weights was the wrong solution to this problem.

Once again, we see an example of solving a problem with more problems.

6 lbs no problem. Would you rather have to swim with no air in your lungs, depleting your O2, or drift up with positive buoyancy?

I was not diving with him on that day. He was setting the hook.

Once again we see a case of jumping to conclusions.

Dumping weights was the correct decision. Believe me he has more experiance than you or I will ever have combined.

He made the right decisions

 

[O-ring]

I wear mine under.. We were doing some deepish rec dives in Bonaire (120 ish) and when climbing out of the surf I felt something hitting me in the back of the legs. At first, it scared the heck outta me because I thought it was some weird kind of sea life attacking me. Then I realized it was my weight belt, which had come undone during the dive, hanging over my crotch strap and hitting me on each side of the leg.

Boy, I sure am glad it didn't come all the way off at depth!