Losing integrated weights

[DivemasterDennis]

Belts can slip off too. The op's story, which is not unique, points out the importance of a pre-dive buddy check which should include the security of the weights however they are carried. I was on a dive in Cozumel when a member of the group lost a pocket at about 90 feet. I saw it drop, retrieved it and returned it to him. His buoyancy was minimally affected at that depth. The effect is more pronounced the shallower you are. I also have seen students lose an entire weight belt, bcause they do not wear it at their waist. Your people in particular seem to not know where their waist is.
DivemasterDennis

 

[tracydr]

One Grand for steel tanks? Holy smokes! I paid $175 each for two used HP 80s and I thought it was a little high from the LDS. My buddy got a steel 120 for around $85 off Craig's List. There's a lot of steel tanks around being used for paint ball that sell for cheap and just need hydro/vis.
Canada might be more but that much?

 

[themagni]

One Grand for steel tanks? Holy smokes! I paid $175 each for two used HP 80s and I thought it was a little high from the LDS. My buddy got a steel 120 for around $85 off Craig's List. There's a lot of steel tanks around being used for paint ball that sell for cheap and just need hydro/vis.
Canada might be more but that much?

Just checked. Used rental AL80s are being sold for $150 each by the FLDS. That's about par for the price here. Steel 80s run $500, 100s about $650.

Yeah, that's why we cross-border shop. I live on an island, so it costs me about $300 to go down to the US for a day.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Belts can slip off too. The op's story, which is not unique, points out the importance of a pre-dive buddy check which should include the security of the weights however they are carried. I was on a dive in Cozumel when a member of the group lost a pocket at about 90 feet. I saw it drop, retrieved it and returned it to him. His buoyancy was minimally affected at that depth. The effect is more pronounced the shallower you are. I also have seen students lose an entire weight belt, bcause they do not wear it at their waist. Your people in particular seem to not know where their waist is.
DivemasterDennis

YES belts can slip off, but... the REASON they slip off is almost always because of a bad design. They are not elastic, they slide around and suit compression requires that they be worn super tight at the surface and/or tightened at depth. With so many divers having "no waist" (meaning they are shaped more spherically than in an hourglass shape) there are only a couple of good options, integrated weights, weight harness or an elastic belt. I think the last option is often the best choice.

 

[ams511]

The first lesson I learned when actually scuba diving is always tighten your belt at depth.

 

[Bob DBF]

I was doing a swimming safety stop on my way back to the boat when I saw something odd on the bottom 20 something feet below. I swam down, saw that it was a weight pocket and picked it up as I always responsibly remove lead from the ecosystem and store it in my garage.

Back on the boat I ask if anyone lost a weight pocket. Throughout the evening I check with everyone about the weight and since everyone denied losing one I figured I'd be taking it home.

The next morning one of the guys came to me asking about the pocket. He said that on the way back to the boat he had a problem with rolling to one side but everything else was fine and did the safety stop without an issue. Since he did is safety stop without needing any more weight, he assumed he couldn't have lost any weight because he would have noticed.

I gave it back and suggested that he leave the weight on the boat and split the other pocket's weight between the two pockets and see how it works out.



Bob
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I may be old, but I'm not dead yet.

 

[dumpsterDiver]

The first lesson I learned when actually scuba diving is always tighten your belt at depth.

This is an unnecessary distraction if you have the right belt. Often, I am very busy when I reach the bottom and the last thing I want to do, is adjust my mask strap, or weight belt or... anything really..

 

[BRT]

It is easy to knock integrated weights, and I've lost them, but when your whole weight belt is heading for your ankles the possibility of losing 1 integrated weight looks better. Now I'm dividing my cold water weights between the integrated ones and the ones on a DUI harness as well as BCD trim weights. The DUI pockets are not coming out unless I want them to. The trim weights are not coming out at all and if I lose weight pocked I can probably deal with it.

 

[ams511]

This is an unnecessary distraction if you have the right belt. Often, I am very busy when I reach the bottom and the last thing I want to do, is adjust my mask strap, or weight belt or... anything really..

I know you are a big fan of rubber weight belts. Unfortunately, most dive shops only carry the nylon variety, so most new divers have never seen one. I only heard about rubber belts on Scubaboard and I was already a diver for over 10 years before hearing about them.

I used to have a depth compensating Scubapro Jet belt which worked well until the bungees broke. However, with a thick suit you still needed to adjust it a bit at depth.

 

[dive_turkey]

I know you are a big fan of rubber weight belts. Unfortunately, most dive shops only carry the nylon variety, so most new divers have never seen one. I only heard about rubber belts on Scubaboard and I was already a diver for over 10 years before hearing about them.

I used to have a depth compensating Scubapro Jet belt which worked well until the bungees broke. However, with a thick suit you still needed to adjust it a bit at depth.

I think we all know DumpsterDiver's opinion on rubber weight belts. Also, on his word and others, mine will be arriving from Mako this week!