Weight Belt

[6474286]

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

Any decision that brings you to the surface safely is the correct one; there is no doubting that!

That said, You can also choose to dive with a double wing(Sorry dir guys), double set, dry suit, Buoy etc and then your dive as a redundant individual. This enables you to act on your own if you really need to.

I am not condoning diving alone, as I think you should always dive with a buddy or part of a team, but I think you should always be self reliant!

 

[Soggy]

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?

LOL. I choose Option #1.
Seriously, I choose go to my buddy and get air, then make a slow controlled ascent to the surface.

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

Once again we see a case of jumping to conclusions.

No, this is the DIR forum. We dive in teams. We don't leave our buddies behind or let them have ballistic ascents. The problem was not his weight belt, the problem was either
1) His buddy abandoned him
2) He didn't have a buddy

Problems like this can be solved on the surface before the dive even begins.

 

[Viscya]

Any decision that brings you to the surface safely is the correct one; there is no doubting that!

That said, You can also choose to dive with a double wing(Sorry dir guys), double set, dry suit, Buoy etc and then your dive as a redundant individual. This enables you to act on your own if you really need to.

I am not condoning diving alone, as I think you should always dive with a buddy or part of a team, but I think you should always be self reliant!

When both regs fail, a double wing and drysuit do no good. All you can do is drop weights, or swim like hell. I'd rather drop weights. That's why we wear them on the belt isn't it?

 

[Soggy]

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?

Incidentally, by the time you've done 2 kicks upwards, your exposure suit and wing have expanded sufficiently to provide you with the positive buoyancy you are referring to.

Ditching weights underwater is *never* a solution, IMO.

 

[Soggy]

When both regs fail, a double wing and drysuit do no good. All you can do is drop weights, or swim like hell. I'd rather drop weights. That's why we wear them on the belt isn't it?

When both regs fail, you go and say, "Hey...buddy...I need air."

Then you swim to an exit point and ascend. On ascent, you do not need any inflation source. That's Boyle's Law in action.

No, it's not why we wear weight on a belt. It's on the belt so, ON THE SURFACE, the weight can be ditched in order to achieve extra positive buoyancy.

 

[O-ring]

Incidentally, by the time you've done 2 kicks upwards, your exposure suit and wing have expanded sufficiently to provide you with the positive buoyancy you are referring to.

Ditching weights underwater is *never* a solution, IMO.

I think the problem lies in what they are thinking "weighting" is. If you are horrendously overweighted then you have no choice BUT to drop weights. I think most people dive horrendously to horrifically overweighted, so maybe that's where the disconnect is?

 

[CALI68]

I’ve been diving for many years but it wasn't until I became a member of this Board that I really considered a BP/W they always looked uncomfortable to me. After my first use I realized how wrong I was so I sold My Ranger and bought the whole Halcyon setup. I initially went for what was obvious to me, The ACB system, but I have found that it's too bulky and takes away from the simplicity of the harness. Now for the first time since before the invention of integrated BC's I am considering using a weight belt again. The steam line of the lead blocks (5lbs per side of the belt) seems much better. I doubt (and hope) that I will ever have to ditch but I just want to cover all bases and this was damn sure the right place to do that.


Thanks!

 

[Viscya]

When both regs fail, you go and say, "Hey...buddy...I need air."

Read my lips... He set the hook. Only guy in the water. Was only supposed to be there a few minutes. Failure happened quickly. From his discription, he was very glad that he had all the buoyancy he did.

Ditching weights underwater is *never* a solution, IMO.

You have obviously never done it.

 

[O-ring]

I’ve been diving for many years but it wasn't until I became a member of this Board that I really considered a BP/W they always looked uncomfortable to me. After my first use I realized how wrong I was so I sold My Ranger and bought the whole Halcyon setup. I initially went for what was obvious to me, The ACB system, but I have found that it's too bulky and takes away from the simplicity of the harness. Now for the first time since before the invention of integrated BC's I am considering using a weight belt again. The steam line of the lead blocks (5lbs per side of the belt) seems much better. I doubt (and hope) that I will ever have to ditch but I just want to cover all bases and this was damn sure the right place to do that.


Thanks!

I'm with you...a simple strap weight belt is soooo easy and foolproof. It never breaks, doesn't dump unintentionally (with a decent buckle - I learned that the hard way), and is really cheap. All you do is replace $2 of webbing if it starts to show wear and viola! - new weightbelt!

 

[Soggy]

Read my lips... He set the hook. Only guy in the water. Was only supposed to be there a few minutes. Failure happened quickly. From his discription, he was very glad that he had all the buoyancy he did.

Right...hence the problem was not his weights, the problem was making a bad diving decision...he got in the water with out a buddy. That ain't DIR, sir.