Dropping a weight pocket on a line—dumb idea?

[aquacat8]

You know you commonly read about divers being found with weights on, I think for a lot of us letting go of weights is a last resort, even though it is suggested in training.

 

[kelemvor]

Interesting... I wonder how the old pre BC guys did it, I think I remember them mentioning picking up rocks at the end of dives so they probably went light.

Look at photos and read about "old school" training. Most of them were incredible hulks and from what I understand, dive training focused on physical fitness type stuff a lot more than it does today.

They used to do all kinds of crazy stuff. The guy who introduced me to diving got certified in the 70's. They did a cave dive as one of his open water certification checkout dives....

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

It’s all about proper weighting.
If you’re in a 7mm then there should be no reason why anybody should ever struggle to stay on the surface, full tank or not. The no BC people don’t have such issues, it’s all about the weighting, but they do have depth/tank size limitations. They weight themselves much like a freediver would, much lighter than you’d think and they target a certain depth. And yes, sometimes that includes carrying rocks around.

 

[aquacat8]

It’s all about proper weighting.
If you’re in a 7mm then there should be no reason why anybody should ever struggle to stay on the surface, full tank or not. The no BC people don’t have such issues, it’s all about the weighting, but they do have depth/tank size limitations. They weight themselves much like a freediver would, much lighter than you’d think and they target a certain depth. And yes, sometimes that includes carrying rocks around.

I was thinking only of possibly struggling to get up from depth with a failed bc and a lot of compressed neoprene, then struggling to ascend slowly and safety stop as the suit expands, that’s why I thought of retaining control of a dropped weight with line.

 

[Mark IV]

... with a spare weight belt... I wonder how much extra weight can a diver swim up?

I've found entire weight belts (16# or so) on the bottom, a number of times, and while it was a bit of effort hauling them back to the boat, it wasn't a monumental effort, but I sure don't recommend diving with an extra belt full of weights (or any other part of thr OP's plan).
My suggestion:
A- fix your gear issues.
B- learn to dive.

 

[aquacat8]

My gear works fine, this is hypothetical. Hey you hurt my feelings!! Just playing with ideas here. Sheesh, the vintage guys are not afraid to do all kinds of goofy stuff with scuba gear. Did you swim that 16Lb weight belt up from depth feet with no BC?

 

[northernone]

I was thinking only of possibly struggling to get up from depth with a failed bc and a lot of compressed neoprene, then struggling to ascend slowly and safety stop as the suit expands, that’s why I thought of retaining control of a dropped weight with line.

Exactly right. It's physics. Balancing the various factors safely is as much a math equation as a practical exercise. If your thrust (finning up) is insufficient you'll need to drop something... I'd also prefer to drop it on a string and lay it on the hard bottom so I can use it later when I reach my safety stop and need it again.

Here's the simplified numbers of what I've practiced a few dozen times (often I dive with no bcd):

I can swim up comfortably 10 lbs thrust. I swim down comfortably 10 lbs thrust. That means I can be 10lbs negative at depth and 10 lbs positive at the safety stop. Holding a safety stop upside down swimming the whole time is uncomfortable. That's an extreme example. I doubt you need do ditch 20 lbs to counteract your bcd failure at depth.

Demanding on the amount of gas and neoprene you carry and what depth you dive the amount negative might be significant and you'll need redundant buoyancy (or a way to slow the ascent)


Here's a little background on how I'm thinking about this:

Calm and comfortable is my dive planning goal, my first redundant response needs to be able to be done both calm and comfortably. My 2nd is calm and uncomfortable. My 3rd is not calm and not comfortable. My 4th is survivable.

I think tying a weight to a string can be done calm and comfortably. I'd try it to be sure. So in my dive planning, that's a fine contingency plan. Is there a better one available?

Cheers,
Cameron

 

[taimen]

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

 

[aquacat8]

Wow, thanks @northernone! What a great informative answer!

 

[aquacat8]

Maybe carrying an open bottom lift bag would be a good BC backup...it would be easy to dump air from as ascending... or if holding a large SMB you could let it go on up. Too bad we can’t take on “water ballast” like a submarine.