Weight integration?

[The Kraken]

Travis, not trying to hijack the thread, so please forgive me for a moment . . .

CD, yours are some of the best responses I've ever seen on this board. Thank you for answering his questions and not meandering off on some other path or getting involved in a "yes you are - no I'm not" childish dialogue.

 

[Mako Mark]

That leads me as always to my first general rule about weighting: That your first 10 lbs should be on a weight belt. Easy to reach, easy to ditch, not bad on your lower back.

This is one of the best pieces of advice I have seen on the scubaboard regarding weighting.

.

My next general rule is that you should wear a drysuit, if you need exposure protection more than a 3mm wetsuit.

Anyone with a thick wetsuit (7mm or more) should not take this advice, and in my opinion should not be scuba diving either.

These rules are two of the most bizzare rules I have seen on the scuba board.

Drysuits are great, but what is wrong with a 5 or 7mm wetsuit and why should someone that wears one not be diving??

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

One other suggestion would be to run the question by a spearfishing specific audience, I think there is a hunting forum here and you will find other hunters at spearfishing.com.

 

[MikeFerrara]

Drysuits are great, but what is wrong with a 5 or 7mm wetsuit and why should someone that wears one not be diving??

They can do what they want of course but I hate wet suits.

They keep me nice and warn at the surface where it's 80 deg F and I don't need it but when I get to depth where the water's cold they don't do much.

Besides losing so much of their insulating ability at depth they also loose their buoyancy so you're always overweighted at depth. Unless you're careful you'll be out of trim too.

I'll use heavy wet suits but only for shallow dives.

 

[goodknight411]

I like weight intergrated. Me and my buddy (aka my brother) have used intergrated BCs since we got certified. neither one of us could keep a weight belt on. a couple of kicks and it'd be around the knees. I prefer the intergrated system for some other reasons too, Weights on a belt get pushed and jabbed into me, and that hurts, also for me personally, ditching intergrated weights is much easier. And it's one less piece of equipment to keep up with on a boat, Just leave the weights in the pockets.

I'm sure there are equally good or better reasons to use the belt, but i just don't like it as well.

 

[IndigoBlue]

They can do what they want of course but I hate wet suits.

They keep me nice and warn at the surface where it's 80 deg F and I don't need it but when I get to depth where the water's cold they don't do much.

Besides losing so much of their insulating ability at depth they also loose their buoyancy so you're always overweighted at depth. Unless you're careful you'll be out of trim too.

I'll use heavy wet suits but only for shallow dives.

I have to completely agree with Mike.

I use heavy wet suits only when I ab-solutely cannot avoid doing otherwise, such as for freediving in cold water, when a drysuit is simply impossible.

 

[Scuba65]

I personally love weight integrated...best next thing to wonder bread! As a female i'm going to give my opinion on this one. I myself am a small female and while using a weight belt it was very irritating as to where the weight belt would sit on my hip bones and hurt. now that i have a weight integrated BC it's great. no pain and it's easier. I dive only warm waters..with a skin suit and i have no problems with it. it's pretty much comes down to each person in my opinion.

 

[String]

Weight integrated maybe OK if diving in warm waters with a thin suit where you dont have to carry much weight.

Cold water diving i hate the things. Pockets arent secure for large amounts of weight, if you need to underwater dekit you suddenly find yourself very buoyant and the jacket very negative so its a nightmare to keep hold/push through a gap/cut free from something etc.

Also if diving on a RIB passing up your BC, tank AND 20lbs lead in one go will make you extremely unpopular.

For all those saying how its nice not to have the weight on your lower back/hips - use a weight harness. Holds more weight, more secured and can be set up to distribute it far more comfortably than a BC.

 

[crpntr133]

[/QUOTE]Anyone with a thick wetsuit (7mm or more) should not take this advice, and in my opinion should not be scuba diving either. [/QUOTE]

I will take this as a joke. If your not then I know somplace else where you can stick your lead. :11:



The first thing that came to mind when you said your instructor said to use a weight belt is that is what is usually taught in class and talked about in the books (PADI). If you use a weight integrated BC then you probably won't be able to do part of the exercises in the pool. We weren't allowed to integrated BC's.

As for later..I dove my first weight integrated BC last weekend and LOVED it. Since I am as skinny as a bean pole and no butt or hips, I have a hard time holding the belt up. Also if you accidentally hit the buckle, I have done somehow, then the weight goes to the bottom and you go to the surface at great speeds.

Even if you buy a weight integrated BC it doesn't mean that you have to use it.

 

[crpntr133]

:06: