MASS-Diver
Contributor
Hi Guys,
When I started diving I purchased a weight integrated BCD (jacket style) so I never wore a belt. BTW, I dive year round here in NE so we wear lots of cloths under our dry suits and lots of weight (I often dive with around 30lbs).
Now that I'm getting "more serious" with diving, I've switched to a TPII, and I've begun practicing getting out of my BCD underwater so that if I get hung in a wreck or something it won't be the first time I have taken off my gear underwater. The thing is, with all my weigh in my BCD, as soon as I slip out of it I'm REALLY positive. Now I can hold on for dear life and while I can still get my BCD back on with some fancy moves, but, it is pretty hard work.
Should I pick up a weight belt and throw 10-15lbs on it (I have had some back problems, which scares me a little bit with putting lead right aroudn my waist), for the purpose of being negative or neutral when removing my gear? What do most divers do? I'd hate to have pull off my gear in a wreck and get plastered to the ceiling.
When I started diving I purchased a weight integrated BCD (jacket style) so I never wore a belt. BTW, I dive year round here in NE so we wear lots of cloths under our dry suits and lots of weight (I often dive with around 30lbs).
Now that I'm getting "more serious" with diving, I've switched to a TPII, and I've begun practicing getting out of my BCD underwater so that if I get hung in a wreck or something it won't be the first time I have taken off my gear underwater. The thing is, with all my weigh in my BCD, as soon as I slip out of it I'm REALLY positive. Now I can hold on for dear life and while I can still get my BCD back on with some fancy moves, but, it is pretty hard work.
Should I pick up a weight belt and throw 10-15lbs on it (I have had some back problems, which scares me a little bit with putting lead right aroudn my waist), for the purpose of being negative or neutral when removing my gear? What do most divers do? I'd hate to have pull off my gear in a wreck and get plastered to the ceiling.