emttim
Contributor
Oh sorry, I meant the pouches of lead shot and the weights that have no holes in them when I said 'solid' weights! But it was poorly phrased by me so sorry for the confusion.
My instructors were very pro integrated weight too but they said we should know how to work with both so we got to use both and practice with them both - which I think was a great idea. I have a weight belt as a backup, say if one of my buckles to hold my weight pockets in break, I can keep my weight on my belt instead. To me, I found it very different to get a weight belt back on at depth than a weight integrated BC so was worthwhile for me learning how to do both. And for $10 it is nice to have a backup! I use a 10 or 12L steel tank on dives, with 26lb (which is my correct weighting, I am a floater and I wear a lot of neoprene ), and I don't need to ditch much weight to start ascending so I don't think the steel tank is a worry - but I could be really wrong on this as I am just going off my own experience!
Practice taking off your BC in water, make it shallow so you can dive back down to get it if you lose a hold of it. It is really easy to stay down and not lose a hold of it, so maybe you just need a bit more practice? We had to do this in OW a lot.
We did a bunch of DM stuff including swim tests and skill practice today actually, to include doff and don, and I was able to doff and don without too much trouble. I have a much different set of viewpoints on integrated vs. weight belt now.
Ok, so if there's little to no chance of having to remove the BCD, such as no entanglement risk or an otherwise beginner to intermediate dive site, I would say integrated is probably fine. That being said, after being reminded how much of a PITA it is to keep ahold of the BCD while inverted in the water, and then get the damn thing back on, I have no argument.
The only time I'd say integrated weight is fine is in warm water diving where you're using a very small amount of weight anyway so it doesn't make much of a difference whether you ditch your weight or not. As for the cold water diving I do, I'll be looking into a DUI harness tomorrow.
That's the first mistake - placing blind reliance in the hand of a 3rd party. Also assumption that just because you stay within NDLs doesnt mean you cant get hurt or bent.
Thats only one of the many reasons i hate them.
Buddy SHOULD be there. He might not be. What if there's a current and he cant get to you? Off taking a photo? Is also trapped? Has no cutting tool? Panics ?
Entangled generally means your movement is restricted. Such gymnastic feats are hard.
Also try it in cold water while you're desperately trying to stop 30lbs or positive buoyancy from ripping away your grip on the BC. Now try that with 1 hand whilst trying to perform work.
Or it works loose on a dive after being caught or banged.
Its that absolute blind reliance on a third party again. Its got lots of people killed before now. Anyway, reach back and open the valve. Doesnt need to be removed.
Ive yet to see a single BCD on the market that can safely and securely hold 20-30lbs of lead. The number of weight pouches you see at dive sites says it all. In addition the pockets in most are a pain to restow once removed (which you do on 100% of rib dives to get back onboard) and hold the weight out from the centre of gravity making diving with a heavy WI bc akin to driving a car with a shifting load.
In warm water with small amounts of weight then WI maybe viable. I cant think of a single advantage it has over wearing a proper weight harness for all other types of diving though.
In my view most of them are at best sub optimal and at worst dangerous.
I don't see how you're relating NDLs or possibly getting bent regardless of the type of diving to integrated weight vs. weight belts. Could you clarify what you meant please?
As for the rest of your comments, I don't have a good argument against them after today, sorry.
Doff and don is a basic scuba skill like it or not, if you can easily and without effort perform a doff and don in your current configuration and maintain physical control and bouyancy control, then I guess you are good to go.
Most find it difficult without a weight belt. I generally use a weight belt. My newest super light travel rig is being set up weight integrated, wing/BP/DR weigh pockets, BUT, I am most likely going to revert to a belt.
In warm water, rash guard and swim suit and four pounds of lead, I can easily control my bouyancy with or without that four pounds of lead on a belt. In my Rubatex 5MM suit, I need quite a bit more lead depending on my plate and tanks etc. I prefer a belt there because without it I would struggle and go all spastic trying to hang on to the rig while I ballooned up, yeah, I can doff and don without the belt but it is a struggle, with the belt, it is EASY. In my 7MM Rubatex, it really becomes a challenge without the belt.
To compound the problem, some people are sinkers and some are floaters. I am a sinker, my wife floats like a cork, she is a floater. She will have more problem with a doff and don that would I without her belt. If your shaped like a pear and float like a cork, you got a problem IMO if you are weight integrated and wearing 7MM and need to doff. N
This is precisely why I'm going to go get a DUI harness tomorrow, if I can get it to fit me anyway. Seems like I have a short torso so when I tried one on with a jacket BCD over it at the dive shop in Sac, the DUI pockets were under the cummerbund for the jacket BCD so that wouldn't have worked. However, I was looking on DUI's web site and the placement of those pockets are adjustable, so I don't see why the salesman told me that it probably isn't going to be a good setup for me. Obviously, he could have sold the item to me since I wanted to try to make it work, but since he didn't I'm guessing he really did think that the harness wouldn't fit on me due to my uncommon build. I'll get a second opinion from another dive shop tomorrow, but yeah, at this point my enthusiasm for integrated weight is waning fast.