Weights first or last

[LeadTurn_SD]

The traditional old school teaching was weight belt last to ensure rapid release. ...

Correct.

We did not have BC's when I started, but used "safety vests" instead, with a crotch strap. The weight belt went on over the safety vest crotch strap so that it would not snag when released. Today it is different, and "weight belt last" not as necessary.

Best wishes.

 

[St Piquet]

Thank you all for the information. As time and equipment have improved all things I believe i shall be putting the weight belt on first. I use a multi-weight rig (dive belt and integrated weight in bc) but my choice to make things easy while suiting up and being sure i have my weight when i get wet leads me to believe: weight belt first! is sound advice.

 

[boulderjohn]

I had not given this issue a lot of thought before the question was asked, but now that I have given it some thought, I am picturing myself in typical dive preparation situations.

Let's start with wiggling into your BCD as it is attached to your tank in a closely spaced row of tanks on the side of a boat. As you then sit shoulder to shoulder with fellow divers, firmly attached to a tank that is wedged into a slot or bungeed to a rail, is that the time you want to be reaching for your belt?

How about shore diving? Would you rather reach for and don the belt while you are walking around freely or after you have hoisted that tank onto your back?

If the outcome is the same either way, I am going belt first, too.

 

[St Piquet]

What is funny for me now, as i think back, is I imagine my instructor, bless her, did she not want any newbies falling in with a weight belt on and no bc?

 

[boulderjohn]

What is funny for me now, as i think back, is I imagine my instructor, bless her, did she not want any newbies falling in with a weight belt on and no bc?

I don't know.

Now that I think about it, I have seen many different instructors leading classes, and I can't think of one that had the students put the belts on after the BCDs. As others have pointed out, belts last was a logical process in the old days, so maybe she is influenced by that.

 

[Garrobo]

I put my weights on first since I use a DUI halter rig instead of a weight belt.