Just how bad of an idea is this

[NAM001]

it sounds like there are issues at play that is not mentioned ni your OP. Ever thought of trading in the use of the bc for a backplate and wing

Have wieght belt, can't get heavy enough, thinking that like some of the newer gear putting some weight on bc waist belt, not a lot but moving six to ten pounds off belt to bc, and I will be able to add more to belt. The reason I would have to ditch is if I move too much off of belt to bc and it becomes to heavy or bust the bladder, and I have looked at adding weight to bottle strap and probably will as well.

 

[NAM001]

somethingsounds very (lets say non traditional) here 1/2 mil wet suit and fleece undergarments. I can certainly see the weight need with fleece undergarments. why not use a 5 mil wet suit instead. when i read polar fleece i think of dry suit attire. tell me it is not so. iwill take the hit for ignorance on this part. i am 6 ft and 240 when i ws 225 i needed 21 lbs when i had on my tls350 dry suit so excuse me if i am having difficulties picturing you setup. in regards to the st 80/100/120 the bgouyanncy is not that much different unless you are lookinfg at full tank bouyancy. my st95 and st120 has almost no difference on me the other thing is that you say that when in the gulf you need less weight. 10 lbs vs 20 in fresh. you should need about 8 lbs more n salt water and perhaps +/- 4 or so for al vs st. i my self would not have all that weight on my belt for (god forbid) ditching. it sounds slike you need to start from scratch in a pool with some knolegeable help and get it right to start with. the .5 mil IMO is not much good for other than tropical waters. 60 degree water is not water to fool aroud with in a .5 mil. Get rid of the fleeces and find a suit that is functional in your water temp zone. Then reevaluate your weighting needs and use standard weighting practices. you should be able to find what you neeed at a resonable cost. carrrying 20 lbs has no concequence to it ,,,,, dumping it has. i am interested as to how things work out for you.

220 lbs. 5'10" .5 mil wet suit, with one layer of polar fleece platinum under if water temp is in low sixtys and another layer of polar fleece gold if colder, taking at least 18 lbs to stay negative in lake, and 20 would have been better at end of dive with an al60 was way way light., The next weekend at underwater wedding had fifteen on belt and still had to add six more pounds in pocket so I could stand on bottom of pool and only had the half mil on then with another al60 tank. Figure I will go ahead and put pair of three pound pockets on lower tank strap and another pair of two pounds bags on top tank strap, that will move some up and level me out and will be able to keep ten on each side of belt, and a three in center of back of belt. Should keep me heavy enough with the lighter tanks and when I use st80 or st100 I should be able to get rid of at least the four pounds up at top of tank and at least four off of belt. Will know more soon will have new(used eBay gold mining trip) regs set up and checked out and have a dive shop down the street from work that will let me come in on my lunch hour and try to work it all out in pool. Figure most of my problems were the aluminum cylinders, when I dove the rigs in Gulf I would always have st120 and didn't have to have more then ten pounds on with no protection other then jeans and t shirt. Planning on trying to make a polar bear dive next month and figure I will take st80s on that trip, figure I will not be down too long at all, with gear I have anything colder then fifty and I am in trouble.

 

[wilds42]

I was figureing same with weight change between salt and fresh water density and actually took weight off belt before first trip, as well as being in much better shape now then when I dived in gulf I was 270 lbs. at that time. Totally threw me for a wtf moment. As for unconventional gear your right 3 or 5 mil. would be more traditional but while in gulf several of the old divers wore thermals under skins for deeper dives and the thermal cline changes, gave it a try on this dive and was amazed. With just the one layer of platinum polar fleece under the .5 mil I felt like I was in pool, first dive water temp was 68 degrees, and on second dive buddy called it when he was uncomfortable in his 3 mil. and I would compare my own feeling was like a well air conditioned room not chilled but cool, water temp that dive was 62 being later in day and clouds had covered the sun; being thats what I have that's what I use. Biggest difference and only real difference is in the tank choice and I have always used steel tanks untill this dive trip and never used anything as small as a al60 from what I gather that tank has really bad boyance characteristics. As far as getting in pool, that will be happening soon as in next two weeks just waiting on some other new used gear to get here so I will be in pool just like I will be in real life dive. And I don't think anything I have would be considered dangerous equipment, and your right haveing to ditch that much weight would be bad that is why I will be moving some to the tank strap better idea all around for trim and safety then original really bad idea of putting it on BC waist belt. And like I said earlier would love to be able to spend the green on new steel back plate just don't have it at this time and I have dove with the bc for years and never had a problem till I started using the smaller aluminum tanks al60's and al80's. So I will be going back to Steel tanks for sure, moving them around not a problem for me at this time so why go newer and better when old and is proven and still works.


p.s. The Pool is a pool at LDS right down street from my work place, they will let me work it all out there during lunch hours, and there will be at least one master diver if not both on hand and around. As I say on my profile I am cheap, have a really large Risk Acceptance tolerance, and since triple bypass two years ago a really good grip on how great it is to be around and breathing anywhere. I was cirtified in the mid eightys by a man who started the class with telling us all he was teaching us a way to kill ourselves and the people stupid enough enough to try and do the same thing that may come with us(it was old school four weeks of two hour class room on how this is going to mess up and kill you, a closed book written test with dive table and pencil no calculators allowed and a three day certification dive where I was partnered with instructor seeing I was only sixteen, and got to experience his version of emergency situation awareness consisting of a stiff punch to the belly/rip off face mask and regulator/and glide back and watched if you panicked or worked it all out, before he moved in for the shared breathing assent; we did not have octopus req set ups, one reg, spg and depth gauge, and a watch; where if you took your hand off your reg when you swapped he slapped your face mask off again did that to my partner on his part of that test, and if you held your breath more punches to the belly again to my partner on his test dive, he failed four of the ten people in my class), I will never trust a computer other then as a fun toy and back up, still have original dive table that I use to work out all dive plans before ever hitting the water. I do take this seriously and do understand that at best all we can do is try and eliminate as much and as many of the problems before we submerge there is no way to breath water and still chat on here.

 

[NAM001]

it sounds like you have a process. that is good. dont let your cheap side dictate the level of risk you will be taking. otherwise the risk controls you and not the other way around. i am not an expert but i would think you may wan to make your self neutral with no gear on. note the weight. then weight the gear to a neutral condition at say 5oo#. then shift a couple of lbs to the gear. that will leave you less wweighton the belt. maybe only a very few lbs. that would be ditchable at that point. the neg gear can be comped by the bcd. if you are really light with no gear on you will have to use both integrated weithgt and perhps some minimal amount of weight that when neut at 500# can be ditched adn have a controled accent plus the weight of the additional gas of the full tank. cant put 30 lbs on the tank and swim belly down. you can make some weights that are tank mounted but hug your back tokeep the center of gravity more central to you body center of mass.

 

[wilds42]

That is what will be done, I am putting two three pounds of soft weights in bags on lower tank strap next to bc and another two two pounds of soft weights in bags on top tank strap which when I am in bc crosses back just below shoulder blades, while the lower strap is about four inches lower so almost in small of back. That will move ten pounds off belt, and if keep diving with the little Al60s only need ten on belt. Buddy is diving with the same amount on back of his bc and is still able to stay trimmed. I will let you know how it works in pool next week. And all will be easily pulled off or changed if I go with a steel tank.

 

[highflier]

I would say you want enough weight on your belt that you can/will assend with just droping the belt even if BCD fails. If you need a EA and you have to stop to get the rig off that just sounds bad.

That said if you get the gear at near neutral then you should not need a ton of weight on your belt.

Please take this advice for what it is worth as I do not have a lot of dive experence, However I do think I am a smart guy

Highflier