Best Weight Harness

[The Fresh Prince]

JJSTEFFEN,

I am really amused by your comments about cement shoes, Chlorox bottles, etc. I am also amused by the fact that you can't seem to read, or refuse to, at least when it comes to what I posted. What I said was that it is easy to ditch one-half of the weight. The other half is securely retained.

I am also amused by the fact that generally, people who put "IMHO" in their posts seem to have an over-sized ego.

I got the idea of wearing a weight harness from (Quelle surprise!) actually wearing one underwater (in my particular case, it was a Miller), not from the "Internet".

So your team does not use them. That's fine. You have the right to use equipment that you prefer. Other people and other teams do use them. I personally use one for the reasons stated, and the fact that wearing a lot of weight on my hips that is otherwise un-supported makes my back hurt.

As you say, "Oh Yeah", I am a tech diver and a police officer. I am tri-mix certified. I dive the Inspiration, and am an instructor on the unit. I am a police diver with over 6 1/2 years of blackwater work to my credit. (Shall we now compare notches on our weightbelts as to bodies, vehicles, and weapons recovered?) I am also a Public Safety Diving Instructor Trainer and a Diver Medic Technician, but what the heck does that have to do with this discussion?

After all, the poor guy asked for a recommendation for a weight harness, not for a discussion about who likes what system. I gave him one and Bob (who is a commercial diver), gave him another. That's all. Lighten up, brother.

I personally am proud of you for having the fortitude to be on a police team, whether paid or not. It is not an easy job. Most of the time it is certainly not a fun job! As they say though, somebody's got to do it. You deserve praise for what you do, and too often, there is not even that.

Dive safe, stay safe, and keep the faith!

BJD

Hey BJD, I give you major props for the creds. I am the 5-0 on the teams, not a civilian. Doesn't matter though for this thread. Let's assume the thread starter is looking to get into tech diving and is looking for a weight harness to dive his BP/W or whatever. Let's presume that this diver ascribes to the theory that a tech diver should be weighted correctly. Now, they have these nifty DUI quick release weight pockets and their spiffy new weight harness. For whatever reason, they decide to dump, as you say, one half of their ditchable weight. Now, following the assumption that they are weighted correctly, how do they hold their scheduled deco stops? Or, are you thinking that they should be overweighted and have enough extra weight that they can dump and still hold stops? Correctly weighted, a diver can swim up their rig and still have enough weight to hold stops. And, diving in black water, current, touch contact, I realize that there is a lot of **** underwater that can grab you and your gear anywhere. Hence, the recommendation "not" to use a weight harness, even in a regular "tech" dive. :06:

 

[BigJetDriver]

(1) Let's presume that this diver ascribes to the theory that a tech diver should be weighted correctly.

(2)---diving in black water, current, touch contact, I realize that there is a lot of **** underwater that can grab you and your gear anywhere. Hence, the recommendation "not" to use a weight harness, even in a regular "tech" dive.

JJ,

Thanks for the kind words. As I said before, it's an interesting job, and somebody's gotta do it, but we'd be hard pressed to call it "fun"!

As for the harness versus weightbelt versus v-weight discussion, our problem really hinges around the ideal versus real-world conditions.

For instance, given the weight of a backplate and the regulator to offset the positive bouyancy of an aluminum 80 near the dive's end, "ideally" we shouldn't need any weight.

Unfortunately, as soon as we start adding things like environmental protection in the form of wet-suits, dry-suits, full-face masks, and so on, we usually need a little extra weight to balance things out.

If all goes well, everything remains balanced, we keep the weight, and don't think too much about it, until we are climbing up the ladder, or trying to get over the hull of the RHIB in heavy chop that is.

If something goes badly wrong, however, such as a punctured and completely flooded dry-suit, or, in my case, a flooded CCR loop, you may find yourself in a situation where it would be good to dump off a little weight. If your choice is whether to pitch the $600 canister light, or a few dollars worth of lead, I bet I know which one most of us would choose!

As for the black-water work, I have never found my harness to be anywhere near the entanglement problem that my search/safety line can be at times. You know how it is. If there is anything out there in the black to hook onto, that damn line has a mind of its own and will try to find it. Of course, add in things like metal detectors and other bits of necessary gear, and its a testimony to the skill and cunning of Public Safety Divers that we don't all end up decorating the bottoms of various lakes, canals, bayous, and reservoirs!

Cheers! Keep up the good work, and stay safe out there!