Since my weight belt appears to have gone missing I was thinking of going with a rubber weight belt next. Does anyone have any recommendations? thanks!
rubber weight belt
- Thread starter Tug
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Peter_C
Contributor
I use one for warm water diving sometimes, but I don't carry much weight, and now typically just put 3 lbs onto my upper cam strap and leave the belt behind. I have a wire bail buckle on mine. Works great and stays in place. The downfall to them, is one slice and they can fail quickly.
Mako has a nice strong belt and if you drop it to save your life they will replace it free of charge. They use more of a belt buckle type buckle.
Mako has a nice strong belt and if you drop it to save your life they will replace it free of charge. They use more of a belt buckle type buckle.
OP
thanks for the mako recommendation
ams511
Contributor
Rubber weight belts are very popular with free divers. The belt compensates for wetsuit compression at depth, so your belt will not loosen at depth. Before trimming your belt to size make sure you load it with the maximum amount of weight you will use. You don't want to cut it too short.
I used a Rob Allen Marseille style weight belt. Mako makes one in the same style,and is probably easier to find these days.
I would get the Mako, since for no apparent reason, Rob Allen raised their prices on their belts.
I would get the Mako, since for no apparent reason, Rob Allen raised their prices on their belts.
dumpsterDiver
Banned
- Messages
- 9,003
- Reaction score
- 4,652
- # of dives
- 2500 - 4999
The mako belt is very nice. It may LOOK very similar to the Rob Allen belt but it is not.
The RA belt has nearly zero elasticity to it, which in my mind, negates most all of the benefits of this style of belt. The RA belt is made from a material that is hard and and stiff and I would describe it to feel more plastic than rubber (although that might not be technically correct).
I have not used a standard nylon belt for about 15 years now. The rubber belts are much nicer. I even removed the waist strap and cummerbund from my BC and use a rubber (mako) belt there too. The elasticity and automatic compensation for suit compression works well there too.
The RA belt has nearly zero elasticity to it, which in my mind, negates most all of the benefits of this style of belt. The RA belt is made from a material that is hard and and stiff and I would describe it to feel more plastic than rubber (although that might not be technically correct).
I have not used a standard nylon belt for about 15 years now. The rubber belts are much nicer. I even removed the waist strap and cummerbund from my BC and use a rubber (mako) belt there too. The elasticity and automatic compensation for suit compression works well there too.
I use a Trident rubber weight belt with a a wire buckle (Rubber Weight Beltwith Wire Buckle - Trident ).
A couple of caveats. It is great for configurations where I am using a modest amount (10lb or less) of weight. Maybe it is just a needless concern, but I don't like taxing the belt on shore with a lot more weight (e.g. 16 pounds) when I am diving drysuit, single AL80.
Putting standard lace-through hard weights on the belt requires, for me, a bit more time so I often keep my belt set up with weights on (unlike my web belts with which I strip the weights after each dive outing). I really like the freediving weights with notches on the outside of the belt channels - makes slipping weights on and off very easy, but I can't seem to find them anymore. So, I use the (only) two 5 lb notched weights I have been able to find, whenever possible.
I was dubious about rubber belts for a whole bunch of reasons, including the amount of weight I have to wear, and my feeling that they would be hard to release if one needed to. But Dumpster Diver was so convinced about them that he actually mailed me one to try, and told me to pay for it if I liked it.
He got paid.
Mine's a Mako, holds 20 pounds of shaped hard weights, and the only complaint I have about it is that I haven't yet figured out the best way to secure the weights so they don't slide (standard triglides won't go on the rubber).
He got paid.
Mine's a Mako, holds 20 pounds of shaped hard weights, and the only complaint I have about it is that I haven't yet figured out the best way to secure the weights so they don't slide (standard triglides won't go on the rubber).
OP
Similar threads
