Anyone ever use rocks to weight themselves?

[David The Gnome]

I forgot to grab weights today while getting my tanks for this weekend. My BC has integrated weights so I've got weight "pouches" that you put the weights in and zip up. My solution, if no one has extra weights, is to fill these pouches with some rocks from the quarry. Anyone else ever ghetto-fied some weights for a dive?

 

[David The Gnome]

Ok, after reading some threads I've come to the conclusion that I need to use small dense rocks (pebbles) and fill the entire pouch with it. If both are full of pebbles it should be semi-even weight and enough to hold me down I hope.

 

[kent_1848]

I have used rocks to weigh down students who needed just a little extra weight, never just for the weight alone.

 

[David The Gnome]

Maybe I should go to Wal-Mart in the morning and find something to weight myself with. There's a dive shop locally but they won't be open until 10am and that's when I have to be at Joes.

 

[Cave Diver]

I've used them for a little extra ballast at the end of a dive before.

 

[kent_1848]

Maybe I should go to Wal-Mart in the morning and find something to weight myself with. There's a dive shop locally but they won't be open until 10am and that's when I have to be at Joes.

If you can find a sporting goods store, they probably have lead shot for reloading shotshells. It's possible Wal-Mart could have these as well. You could put those into ziplocks. There is also the possibility of lead bullets for muzzleloaders, but those are usually harder to come by than just lead shot.

 

[>--Zen-Archer-->]

I have used some rocks found at shallow depths because the walk back to the camp was too far for my sea pearls....

 

[herman]

Unless you need just a couple of pounds of weight, rocks are not going to cut it. Their density is not high enough -takes a large volume of rocks to equal 8-10 lbs lead. Your best bet is to find a tackle store and buy 4 to 16 oz fishing sinkers. The bell shaped "bank" sinkers work nicely as do 1 to 6 oz egg sinkers. Around here those weights cost around $0.10 an ounce- $1.60LB. Another option is to drop by a tire store and see if they will sell/give you used tire weights. These are mostly lead and would do pretty good. If you talk nice to the manager, many times they will give them to you. If you use tire weights I would suggest you wash them in some strong detergent to remove any grease or oil.

 

[mike_s]

If you can find a sporting goods store, they probably have lead shot for reloading shotshells. It's possible Wal-Mart could have these as well. You could put those into ziplocks. There is also the possibility of lead bullets for muzzleloaders, but those are usually harder to come by than just lead shot.

I don't reccomend this with lead shotgun pellets.. if the ziplocks breaks, you'll "sprinkle" small lead pellets in the water you are diving in. Fish will eat them thinking they are a small bug or something, which will give them lead poisoning issues. Anyone who catches the fish and eats it will have eaten a fish that has been contaminated.

Also besides fish, ducks and other birds are known to eat lead pellets, which will cause problems with their egg shells thinning. This is why duck hunters are required to use steel shot.

 

[David The Gnome]

What about ziplock bags full of sand?