Weights with BP/WINGS

[MikeFerrara]

After talking to a cave instructor, he suggested - that when just starting out with a backplate - that I use a weight belt with my SS backplate. The catch is that I only put on the weight belt what I think I will need at the end of the dive but before ascent.

For the initial descent, attach additional drop-weights to your bcd with clips equivelent to what you would need to ascend safely. When you get to the entrance of the cave or an area you will be returning to, you clip of the weights there. When you return, re-attach the weights before ascent.

Drop weights used to be handy when the only way you could dive was wet and without a BC. I haven't seen a cave diver use drop weights yet.

they may still come in handy for getting down shimneys with extremely high flow or something...maybe.

Once a cave diver graduates to using doubles the odds are that no additional weight would be required anyway.

 

[H2Andy]

ok, sorry everyone, thanks to Wendy for un-confusing me.

i am getting Venture wings, not Trek wings. my mistake.

 

[simbrooks]

Andy,

venture wing is better for your tank size. I saw your can light, it was a brick! Although you were using 3# with your old Oceanic BC and all the rest, you should lose 1-2# from the AL BP, then either a weightbelt or mount a 1-2# weight on your tank strap - its hardly anything and you wont notice it. When i eventually get the tanks i want, i wont wear any weight fresh (due to SS BP), but when i double those tanks (eventually) that will be a whole other issue. When we were diving up at Ginnie i had 4# and an AL80, that weightbelt felt like nothing that weekend - as usual!

 

[mcrae]

thanks everybody for your suggestions.

i'll go with a weightbelt at first, see how that goes. may even try a drop weight
(i have a few lying around, might as well use them) later on.

again, thank you!

First why not go with a SS back plate. A 1/8" one will weigh about 4 lbs more than an aluminium one and that is about what you say you need.

Second you are correctly weighted when you are at neutral bouyancy at the end of your dive with about 500 PSIG in your tank and you are at 10-15 ft.
If you can hold this position with no air in your BC then your weights are correct. Even being slightly negative here is OK.

You do not need extra weight at the beginning of a dive and I have never heard of anyone dropping weight. As your tank goes empty it will become more bouyant. An AL80 will go 6 lbs lighter full to MT.

If you are having trouble getting under water when you are weighted as above, you need to work on your techique not add weight.

Good Luck
Gary

 

[H2Andy]

thanks, Gary... my current system works fine; my question was simply as to where to carry the weight that i do need once i switch over to BP\Wings.

the idea of having an SS backplate is a good one, but i will use that for doubles and
then it's gonna be too heavy, so i really don't want to get into steel.

i'd rather use a little bit of weight now rather than an SS plate.

i disagree that you are correctly weighted at the end of the dive at 10-15 feet. you are correctly weighted if you're neutral at the surface with 500 psi or so.

if you are neutral at 10-15, you are going to be possitive above that, and you're not going to have contrl in the last crucial 1/2 atmosphere.

i do know of people who drop weights (it's done, though not common) in cave diving.
i just don't think it's necessary for me. i might try it for fun to see how it goes.

 

[simbrooks]

I will agree that the SS BP is good for single tanks, but not as adaptable for doubles due to that extra 4# or so of weight. I am currently looking into getting an AL plate for double diving one day, or heavy singles (like HP tanks) where i dont need the extra weight of the SS BP (that i have used so far).

I try to weight so that i can lie just underwater, about 1-2' horizontal and stay there on a low tank (be that 500 or 300psi).

 

[zboss]

ok, sorry everyone, thanks to Wendy for un-confusing me.

i am getting Venture wings, not Trek wings. my mistake.

I'm not sure Venture wings support large doubles...

 

[zboss]

Drop weights used to be handy when the only way you could dive was wet and without a BC. I haven't seen a cave diver use drop weights yet.

they may still come in handy for getting down shimneys with extremely high flow or something...maybe.

Once a cave diver graduates to using doubles the odds are that no additional weight would be required anyway.

Good point!

 

[simbrooks]

I'm not sure Venture wings support large doubles...

He isnt diving doubles, only an LP-95.

Even so, trek wings only support a small set of doubles, maybe AL80's of LP72's or the like as they have a pretty small lift capacity, but that isnt what Andy is getting.

 

[Tavi]

If you were only using 3 lbs with a BC, You may not need any weight at all.
When I switched from a BC to a BP and wings, I needed 2 lbs less weight. I think it was due to the buoyancy of the padding in the BC. Also keep in mind that your Aluminum plate is another 2 lbs.

Try it, weighting might not be an issue at all.