Weight belts with weight integrated BC's?

[aikigal]

Hello fellow divers,
I have a puzzle. I am a previous warm water diver now taking up cold water diving in N. Cal. I also decided it was time to go with a weight integrated BC instead of a belt, so I bought a Zeagle Lazr. I took it diving, and with some more practice I am sure I will be very happy. (I'm used to a jacket, but it squeezed too much in the cold water.) I have 2/3 of my weight in the pockets and 1/3 in the tank pockets, per manufacturer's specs. I believe I am weighted properly (less may be in order when I relax a little more.) The people I am diving with keep telling me I should take some of the weight off my BC and put it in a belt. I do not understand this. They say the BC can't handle it, but it is within the designer's specs, so that does not make sense. Then they say the belt would put my weight lower, but I believe it is actually lower in my BC than when it is on a belt on my hips (I'm a high waisted female.) Doing both seems like the worst of all worlds. I do currently have some trim issues. It feels like my weights only want to keep me vertical in the water, and it is hard to sink. If I stop swimming I turn vertical, and staying horizontal feels hard. My back hurts at the end of every dive. I fail to see how adding a weight belt to this mix is going to help. Does anyone have any idea why they would suggest this? Thanks.

[Garrobo]

It seems to me that if you add weight to the lower part of your body it will tend to have the effect of causing that part of your body to sink rather than the upper part. Iwould think that if you wanted your lower body to not sink that you would add weight to the upper part of your body. Make sense?

[paddler3d]

Sounds like you are a bit bottom heavy, no offense.

Have you tried playing with your tank location? I've seen a lot of divers that wear their tank very low, which lowers your center of gravity causing you to go vertical. Raising the tank higher on your BC obviously puts the center of gravity closer to your shoulders.

I've also seen people take ankle weights and clip them around their tank valves. I'm not sure about this.

Also, what kind of fins to you have? If you have a heavy fin like the SP Jets, they could be pulling your feet down. I switched to the OMS Slipstreams and they made the difference I personally needed to get absolutely horizontal.

[fisheater]

Alas, I think that you're going through the almost inevitable transition from Zeagle BC to BP/W. I did. Try not to resist too hard. Assimilation isn't that painful.

[offthewall1]

Hello fellow divers,
I have a puzzle. I am a previous warm water diver now taking up cold water diving in N. Cal. I also decided it was time to go with a weight integrated BC instead of a belt, so I bought a Zeagle Lazr. I took it diving, and with some more practice I am sure I will be very happy. (I'm used to a jacket, but it squeezed too much in the cold water.) I have 2/3 of my weight in the pockets and 1/3 in the tank pockets, per manufacturer's specs. I believe I am weighted properly (less may be in order when I relax a little more.) The people I am diving with keep telling me I should take some of the weight off my BC and put it in a belt. I do not understand this. They say the BC can't handle it, but it is within the designer's specs, so that does not make sense. Then they say the belt would put my weight lower, but I believe it is actually lower in my BC than when it is on a belt on my hips (I'm a high waisted female.) Doing both seems like the worst of all worlds. I do currently have some trim issues. It feels like my weights only want to keep me vertical in the water, and it is hard to sink. If I stop swimming I turn vertical, and staying horizontal feels hard. My back hurts at the end of every dive. I fail to see how adding a weight belt to this mix is going to help. Does anyone have any idea why they would suggest this? Thanks.

Based on what you've written - it sounds like you're confused because you're surrounded by a bunch or know-nothing know-it-alls. I won't pretend to know nearly as little as them... because I know little about the Zeagle Lazr. My first impression however is that the BCD is a piece of crap... mostly because it says Zeagle on it... but more importantly because it is not the right BCD for you. You say in your post 1. that it squeezed you too much 2. your weights want to keep you vertical and 3. Your back hurts at the end of every dive. Lets address each issue.

1. If it's squeezing you to much it is either too small or poorly designed. Either way it isn't a good thing for you.
2. It sounds as though the weights are sitting below your high hips... which means the design is not right for you.
3. Your back hurts on every dive because your weights are too low. Yes a weight belt worn above the hips is likely a better scenario than using the weight integration below your hips... however this too may cause you back pain if you place all of your weight into a weight belt.

I would suggest a new BCD where the weight integration rests properly on the hip and not below the hip or forward of the hip if you like the idea of a weight integrated BCD.

If a new BCD is not an option, then go to a weight belt and place the bulk of the weight in the belt as close to the hip as possible.

I'm sure the BCD can "handle" the weight you're using... the question is can you handle the BCD you're using... and it sounds like the answer is no.

Without having you in front of me - it is very hard to assist you... but you might also try taking a Buoyancy Class from someone who knows what they're doing. This class is designed to help you properly weight yourself for optimal trim positioning.

Best of luck... and happy diving!

[TMHeimer]

I have 10 lb. weights in each BC pocket. A 2 pounder in each of the "shoulder" pockets and on (in pockets) the belt 6 lbs. if diving steel, 12 if aluminum. This is with the 7 mil farmer john, hood. It keeps me as horizontal as one could ever want.

[aikigal]

I may need to clarify what I meant.

I recently switched FROM an old jacket style bc, which squeezed me, to the Zeagle which does not squeeze me.

I dove the jacket bc in the south pacific for over 40 dives with a weight belt. It worked well in warm water diving however with the jacket bc on, along with 6.5 mm two piece I felt suffocated by all the gear, and so I bought the Lazer.

The Lazer does fit properly, the weights sit at my hips not below or forward.

The adjustment in diving from the shore in cold water instead of dropping out of my dingy into warm water is probably most of my issues.

I never had a problem with buoyancy control in warm water.

On the first dive with the new setup the tank was higher and it did seem a bit better, I may need to make more adjustment in that direction.

The idea of a weight belt and integrated weights on a bc does not seem to make any sense to me...

I had the problem with the sore back and hips with the Jacket bc and a weight belt. With the Lazer my back is sore, probably from schlepping all of the gear down to the beach and back...

The idea of adding some pockets to the shoulders or adding an ankle weight to the tank valve seem worth exploring, thanks to paddler3d and tmheimer for some good ideas!.

Thanks
Aikigal

[mstrdvr]

I too had issues with trim in a dry suit . I took the weight I used for wetsuit diving , put that in the B C , put the "extra" on a belt , seemed to work out and I was still within the capacities for the B C.

[Jorgy]

Getting trim right is not the same for every person.....

I ended up with XS Scuba pockets on my top tank band because I need to move weight high up to offset my heavy SP Lighting Jet fins......otherwise I would rotate to the feet down position once I stopped fining……

I have seen others with ankle weights around the neck of the tank.......

Assuming your total weight is right then it is just a matter of getting it all in the right places........

Hope this helps......M

[paddler3d]

I may need to clarify what I meant.

I recently switched FROM an old jacket style bc, which squeezed me, to the Zeagle which does not squeeze me.

I dove the jacket bc in the south pacific for over 40 dives with a weight belt. It worked well in warm water diving however with the jacket bc on, along with 6.5 mm two piece I felt suffocated by all the gear, and so I bought the Lazer.

The Lazer does fit properly, the weights sit at my hips not below or forward.

The adjustment in diving from the shore in cold water instead of dropping out of my dingy into warm water is probably most of my issues.

I never had a problem with buoyancy control in warm water.

On the first dive with the new setup the tank was higher and it did seem a bit better, I may need to make more adjustment in that direction.

The idea of a weight belt and integrated weights on a bc does not seem to make any sense to me...

I had the problem with the sore back and hips with the Jacket bc and a weight belt. With the Lazer my back is sore, probably from schlepping all of the gear down to the beach and back...

The idea of adding some pockets to the shoulders or adding an ankle weight to the tank valve seem worth exploring, thanks to paddler3d and tmheimer for some good ideas!.

Thanks
Aikigal

When you were diving in the South Pacific in nice warm water were you using an AL tank? What tanks are you diving now? If you look at an AL pony or deco bottle, they tend to some of float valve down. Steel tanks don't do this nearly as much. Worth thinking about.

Make sure you've got as much weight in the tank pouches as you can. Should be close to 6#'s.

Monkey with the tank location.