Weight placement with doubles

[WhiteSands]

I've noticed that my balance is very sensitive to weight placement when diving with doubles. I test my balance by just relaxing and seeing what my body does in the water (if diving dry, I squeeze every bit of air out of the drysuit first).

When diving wet, I don't need any weights, and my balance is good. My natural position is just flat.

When diving dry with FE dry base, I hang 3x 2lb weights on the bottom bolt using cave line and my balance is good and neutral.

If I shift one of those weights to the upper bolt, my balance is totally off (I relax, and my body rotates till my head is down, feet up). I have to work hard to fight this.

Last week at the pool, I figured since I was diving in fresh water, I used only 2 weights on the bottom bolt. Again my balance was off (body rotates till head is down, feet up). I have to fight this all the way when doing all drills etc.

I can still stay in trim, but it is uncomfortable and harder as I have to fight the head heavy balance of my equipment. I don't know if it's caused because I only used 2 weights, or because there's a heavier manifold on the tank. But I can definitely feel the difference in balance.

Has anyone else encountered the same, and have found ways to overcome this? What I would like to find is a way to add any amount of weight and still be perfectly balanced in doubles. Thanks.

 

[Peter Guy]

What tanks are you using and how big are you?

 

[decompression]

First place to start is a balanced rig calculation then a buoyancy check. Make sure you are properly weighted first.

Then you can work on trim.
Are you using steels or Alum?
Manifold or independent?
Note where your tank bands are, on the tanks and the back plate.

All these things will affect your trim.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TSandM]

There's no way you are going to be able to add any amount of weight and put it anywhere you want, and still balance. Primarily, a set of doubles is heavy at the top, because of the manifold and regs. You have to put some weight on the bottom to balance that, unless your legs are long enough that your negative fins do some of it for you. (Mine are not.). The amount of weight is determined by the balance between the top heaviness of the tanks and the length of your body to the fins. Once you get the amount of weight on the tanks that you need to balance, you may still need more weight to hold a stop with empty tanks. In that case, you need to find a "neutral" place to put the rest of the weight.

If you have a setup that requires less weight than it takes to balance the tanks out, then no, you will never truly be in balance. I'm that way with the 72s we own. Even Bob Sherwood, widely acclaimed as a guru of trim, concluded I can't balance the danged things.

 

[WhiteSands]

What tanks are you using and how big are you?

They were rented Al80s, I'm 1.75m, I think about 5' 8"?

---------- Post added May 19th, 2015 at 12:05 PM ----------

First place to start is a balanced rig calculation then a buoyancy check. Make sure you are properly weighted first.

Then you can work on trim.
Are you using steels or Alum?
Manifold or independent?
Note where your tank bands are, on the tanks and the back plate.

All these things will affect your trim.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Ok, will try to do a weight check. Was using Alu tanks, manifolded. Tank bands are all the way up at the shoulder of the tank.

 

[OtherHalf]

Bands should be at the break on the tanks. Sounds like that is right. Were you using an aluminum or steel plate?

 

[ucfdiver]

I've noticed that my balance is very sensitive to weight placement when diving with doubles. I test my balance by just relaxing and seeing what my body does in the water (if diving dry, I squeeze every bit of air out of the drysuit first).

When diving wet, I don't need any weights, and my balance is good. My natural position is just flat.

When diving dry with FE dry base, I hang 3x 2lb weights on the bottom bolt using cave line and my balance is good and neutral.

If I shift one of those weights to the upper bolt, my balance is totally off (I relax, and my body rotates till my head is down, feet up). I have to work hard to fight this.

Last week at the pool, I figured since I was diving in fresh water, I used only 2 weights on the bottom bolt. Again my balance was off (body rotates till head is down, feet up). I have to fight this all the way when doing all drills etc.

I can still stay in trim, but it is uncomfortable and harder as I have to fight the head heavy balance of my equipment. I don't know if it's caused because I only used 2 weights, or because there's a heavier manifold on the tank. But I can definitely feel the difference in balance.

Has anyone else encountered the same, and have found ways to overcome this? What I would like to find is a way to add any amount of weight and still be perfectly balanced in doubles. Thanks.

Is your crotch strap too lose?

 

[tbone1004]

using al80's this is going to be worse since they want to float butt up naturally. Make sure the bands are all the way up and the harness is fit properly. Nothing wrong with needing tailweights, especially in a drysuit with al80's though I would suggest that finding alternative tanks will probably alleviate quite a bit of this issue.

 

[WhiteSands]

Just to add on to the subject of weighting. I've seen some divers (probably non-DIR) tie tank bands loaded with weights to their double tanks.

Is this a good idea?

These are some pros/cons I can think of, compared to what I am currently doing, i.e. tying weights with cave line and hanging them on the tank bolts.

Pros: Easier to load more weights without tight space constraints, position of weights infinitely adjustable to help with balance, can be easily removed without removing backplate/wing (e.g. for transport)

Cons: Remote possibility of tank bands coming off and you not knowing about it (but cave line could break too), doesn't look very good

 

[eelnoraa]

cave light method is only good for temporary usage like testing weight placement. For long term usage, I highly recommend using tail weight. Basically you cut a piece of v weight at the place you want, then hang it between the plate and the tank at the bottom bolt extending toward the bottom of the tank.