Weight distribution

[Jody Freitas]

Looking into a mix of weight belt and integrated. I wanted to know what percentage of weights should I put on belt? I figured once its set Ill leave it alone and then remove/add weight as necessary to the BCD either in Integrated ditchable pockets or trim pockets. I need quite a bit to get down in SW. Used online calculator to get an idea where to start and it was pretty low. Dove in a 7mm full suit with boots gloves and hood, Steel 80 tank. Started with 32 and I was floating with full exhale. Added 6 and was a bit overweighted so I'm probably at 34-36 SW with a steel 80. I was thinking 16 to 20 on the belt and the rest on the BCD? I was diving a rental jacket style (which I hate) and using a standard belt (which I hate). Going to use a harness weight belt. Unfortunately Poseidon did not grant me hips. Definitely going with back inflate and eventually BP and Wing setup. Sorry for the long post but I figured anyone who posts will have a few questions and figured I give as much as I know up front.

Thanks.

 

[MichaelMc]

The amount on weight belt/harness, BC/BPW integrated/hips, BP/W plate, cam-bands/trim pockets, or shoulders that will get you a neutral weight distribution, to make diving easier and not be kicking up the bottom, depends. You just have to see.

Past 12-14 on the weight belt gets annoying. Plus accidentally losing it, if a belt not harness, will turn you into a missile. The integrated are not that much higher up than the belt, so pockets on the tank bands can be more useful for getting a neutral weight distribution. Shoulders are most useful as they are the furthest up the body, but that is hard in a rental or non-BP/W BC. Shoulder is better than tank bands as it does not make you back heavy and prone to rolling over, but 3 lb. per shoulder is likely the limit of what is not intrusive in terms of size.

With that much weight, a BPW will help by putting 5 or so pounds out of the way in the plate, where they will be in a good spot for getting a neutral weight distribution. With a BP/W you can also attach more weight directly to the plate back. Doing that high up on the plate helps with trim and gets more lead attached in a spot that is out of the way with few issues.

 

[lexvil]

You’re on the right track, where you put the weights will effect trim so try it on a dive think about it on the dive and adjust.

 

[Jody Freitas]

Was thinking the pockets would be a little more forward and the belt weights can be slid toward the back. Either way Harness is ditchable and if I drop that much weight I'm going up with whatever is in the pockets.

 

[MichaelMc]

Was thinking the pockets would be a little more forward and the belt weights can be slid toward the back. Either way Harness is ditchable and if I drop that much weight I'm going up with whatever is in the pockets.

You likely can cram all that weight into a weight harness and the integrated in the BC. But you will likely then be mostly vertical in the water which is not a very fun way to dive.

The issue that I was highlighting was that all that weight will then be at essentially the same point on your body in terms of head to toe, and lower than your lungs. Your lungs are buoyant and that lead is not. So your natural position in the water will be vertical, or close to it. So any kicking you do will just stir up the bottom and destroy the vis. To move forward you will need to reorient to more horizontal, and you will still stir up the bottom as the only thing keeping you horizontal is kicking down a bit. And you will have to do that after every time you stop kicking and then decide to move again.

Lead further up your body will allow you to have a balanced weight distribution. Like a playground see-saw that is balanced and can stay easily in any position. It will make diving much easier. That is what I meant by the integrated are not much higher than the weight belt/harness. Sure, you could just fill both, but in terms of trim, they are very close to being the same spot.

Distributing the weight up the body, so you can hang neutral in any orientation you want, not just near vertical, will make your diving much easier. And nicer for those following behind you in the water.

 

[axluba]

Depending on which model you buy some backplate allow for easy weight addition and distribution. So I’d look to invest pretty early.. it made my life and learning easier

 

[Jody Freitas]

A little side topic but what about plates? Seems to me they all are pretty standard some extra slots here and there, however pricing is all over the place. Is there a difference?

 

[axluba]

the extra slots can help when they are well thought out. but besides the freedom plate, and some Deep they are all pretty similar (with different materials)

 

[Brett Hatch]

A little side topic but what about plates? Seems to me they all are pretty standard some extra slots here and there, however pricing is all over the place. Is there a difference?

For single-tank diving, they're pretty much all interchangeable. A stainless plate can be had for $85 at Dive Gear Express. I wouldn't pay much more than $100 for a plate.

34 pounds sounds like a lot for a steel tank. Probably your rented BC is very buoyant, a BP/W will have less extra plastic parts, so much less buoyant (even without the plate). Also, it can be a pain to get all of the air out of a jacket BC, since it tends to hide in different places. It may be the case that if you wiggle around a bit, you can get the bubble to shift to the exhaust ports. Also consider feeling around for air bubbles, or simply removing the BC in the water and looking at it. Back-inflate BCs or BP/Ws are much easier to fully deflate, since the bladder has a simpler shape; it's also easier to feel around for a bubble.

As to what percentage of weight to put where, as lexvil said, that will require some trial and error. I'd say don't think too hard about it at first, try to just dial in the amount of weight. Then if your trim is off, move it a little at a time.

I also have a pancake butt, and find the standard plastic weight belts with pockets to be really, really annoying. I use a MAKO Spearguns rubber weightbelt, with the "pinch" weights. Much more comfortable, and because the belt is stretchy, it doesn't slide around. Also as you go down, your wetsuit will compress, so a plastic belt would loosen, but the rubber one stays in place.

Here's what my belt looks like with 16 lbs of lead, for use with my drysuit. When I dive in my 8mm wetsuit, I just take half the weight off.

MAKO belt with weights

• Brett Hatch
• Jul 23, 2020

 

[Jody Freitas]

I'm a big guy so there is that much to start. I feel like I'll lose some of that lead moving to BP/W as well.