Dropping a weight pocket on a line—dumb idea?

[boulderjohn]

Let's talk about the most common method of doing a weight check. You get in water too deep to stand, dump all the air out of your BCD, and hold a normal (not big) breath. You should float at eye level. If you exhale, you should sink. With that in mind, a recreational, single tank diver should have no trouble staying at the surface without air in the BCD, unless that diver is significantly overweighted.

Now, if you are diving something like a two piece 7mm suit and lose all the air in the BCD at depth, you may find it hard to swim up to the surface because of suit compression. If so, you will need to dump some lead. If you have all your weight on a weight belt, that is not the best situation, but you will certainly get to the surface. That is one of the advantages of weight pockets--dropping just one of them should do the job.

If you cannot dump weight, you are getting into the same issue technical divers have. They often have to dive so much overweighted that they could not possibly swim to the surface in case of a wing failure, and they have no weight to dump. In that case, they will use redundant buoyancy. The most common form of that is a dry suit. Another way to do it is with a dual bladder wing.

 

[aquacat8]

Thanks @boulderjohn! I was thinking about suit compression... and then suit expansion. A 7mil can really experience a heck of a buoyancy shift. I do have weight pockets, and I was thinking maybe I could drop the insert from one, half my weight, on a line, temporarily, then haul it back up to slow/stop my ascent in the shallows. If I was calm and comfortable and had the time I might do that still.
But now that I’ve played with the weight belt in the pool I think I would be able to swim up until suit expansion kicked in to assist. Conversely, if I HAD to drop weight, maybe in a crazy downcurrent or like you said if I had some heavy steel tanks getting low or whatever, anyway if I wound up too positive in the shallows, I would swim down and do that upside down swimming safety stop.
Either way it gave me confidence swimming weight around in the pool, a great fun thing to do, thanks Scubaboard for the idea.

 

[aquacat8]

Or I could just dive in the Sunmer... come on Summer!!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Vintage guys didn't do 3-5 minute safety stops hovering neutrally with nearly empty tanks.

That’s true, the 15’ safety stop came later. However, with that plan in mind and the proper weighting it can be done.
Many times when I’m out puttering around in 30’-45’ of water doing a shore dive with a steel 72 and no BC I don’t worry about a safety stop either. A lot of times it’s an out and back following the contour of the bottom, so the 15’ part is kind of built into the dive anyway.

 

[aquacat8]

@Eric Sedletzky are you diving North like Fort Brag or Monterey? How do you choose your weight for No BC? I can imagine no BC with a diveskin but you must be diving in a thick wetsuit in CA!

 

[JamesBon92007]

My wing is like rilly rilly old ( “rilly” said in airhead valley girl voice) and I’ve thought about what I might do if it failed at depth when I’m wearing 7mil and over a hard bottom so not a total emergency but hard to swim up, and I thought maybe I could attach my reel to a pocket, drop it, and use it as an ascent line so I don’t rocket in the shallows, can stay down on a safety stop, and there or at the surface, haul it back up... is this a crazy thought?

Just in case you might be thinking about a new BC, Scuba.com has some Zeagle Express Tech Deluxe BCs that they are calling "demos." They are only $225. I bought one hoping it was a bit more compact than it is but I ended up needing to take a checked bag anyway. Mine came with a back pad and shoulder pads but that is not guaranteed to be included, and not needed unless you are hiking a long way with the tank on your back. I also got free shipping. The only thing I don't like about it (besides the room it takes up in my suitcase) is the waist straps--they are rather thin nylon and get tangled easily and have a side-release buckle instead of a regular quick-release buckle. I used an old black weight belt to replace my waist straps. It comes with a crotch strap and they have some "demo" weight pockets for $50 that are usually about $110. At least they had some demo pockets recently... Mine looked absolutely brand-new. I think the inflator hose is very well-designed and it even came with a LP hose to attach to my regulator. I made my own pocket to attach to the waist strap as theirs are rather pricey. I'm also planning on making my own weight pockets.

Zeagle Express Tech Deluxe BC Open Box/Demo/Like New

On my next dive trip I'm taking my homemade $10 BC so we'll see how that works, but that's another story.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

@Eric Sedletzky are you diving North like Fort Brag or Monterey? How do you choose your weight for No BC? I can imagine no BC with a diveskin but you must be diving in a thick wetsuit in CA!

I go to Monterey once in a great while, but it’s a three hour drive south and through the city.

I’m in Santa Rosa, about an hour north of the GG bridge, so most of my diving is in Sonoma County north of Jenner. Sometimes we’ll make a two hour drive and go up to Mendocino County (truly spectacular). We’ll dive just south of Ft. Bragg and around the town of Mendocino, Russian Gulch, Albion. There’s lots of very good shore diving around where I live.
It’s 7mm territory, the water is 48 to 53 generally, sometimes drops to 46 in spring and can go to 60 when there’s an El Nino event.
I have several nice custom wetsuits and I hate drysuits, so it’s wetsuits all the way for me.

 

[aquacat8]

@Eric Sedletzky I lived in Marin for many years, got certified in Novato. Do you go Ab diving? I read it was closed this year. How do the kelp forests look to you?

 

[Storker]

Or I could just dive in the Sunmer... come on Summer!!

Or you could go dry. Redundant buoyancy, and no shivering topside during the SI. Win-win!

 

[Mark IV]

.....On my next dive trip I'm taking my homemade $10 BC so we'll see how that works, but that's another story.

Yup, I'm in for that one !! (with pics, please! )