If weight belt fell off?

[TSandM]

I agree with the belt under crotch strap idea. I'm much more worried about losing weight at depth than I am about making it optimally easy to get my weights off me. But I also dive a drysuit, so I have redundant buoyancy.

The only time I have lost a weight belt, it was with a plastic buckle. I promptly replaced every buckle I owned, on everything, with good quality metal buckles, and I have never had a buckle open on its own since. But I HAVE lost a five pound weight out of a pocket weight belt, which is one of the reasons I now use old-style hard weights threaded onto a belt.

Optimally weighted (and it's been checked repeatedly), I carry 20 lbs of weight on a belt. That would be a horrible amount of weight to lose at depth.

 

[TSandM]

I agree with the belt under crotch strap idea. I'm much more worried about losing weight at depth than I am about making it optimally easy to get my weights off me. But I also dive a drysuit, so I have redundant buoyancy.

The only time I have lost a weight belt, it was with a plastic buckle. I promptly replaced every buckle I owned, on everything, with good quality metal buckles, and I have never had a buckle open on its own since. But I HAVE lost a five pound weight out of a pocket weight belt, which is one of the reasons I now use old-style hard weights threaded onto a belt.

Optimally weighted (and it's been checked repeatedly), I carry 20 lbs of weight on a belt. That would be a horrible amount of weight to lose at depth.

 

[AndyDragon]

Hmm, not sure if I agree with the 'trapped' weight belt suggestions, but that's the nice thing about being in a free country!

I've never come close to loosing a belt except the first time I dove dry. The biggest issue with the plastic buckles is having the two ends mis-aligned which can cause the buckle to pop. I use the plastic buckles and never had one pop yet. Under the ice, going deep or in a wreck, I double-buckle my belt (I have two plastics buckles) and for other dives, I fold the first one under the second one and single-buckle.

 

[Gombessa]

The only time I have lost a weight belt, it was with a plastic buckle.

I, on the other hand, am the KING of weight-belt ejection. In my first 50 dives, I've lost a belt to kelp, I've lost one when deploying a hose for an air share, and I've lost one in class, while being videoed. Each and every time, the belt fell right out from under the crotch strap. I've also had one come loose during a surface swim (that time it did get caught on the crotch strap) and I didn't notice until I had picked up a few dozen yards of kelp streamers behind me.

A few things I picked up in my vast experience of belt-dropping: Orient the belt to have the buckle off to the left, so it's out of the way of anything else around your waist (like a BC buckle, tucked regulator hose, etc.). Use a stiff, metal buckle instead of plastic. If you need to, tighten the belt at depth. Cut off excess webbing.

Dropping a belt is no fun. If it's substantial weight, you just dump gas, flair, exhale, and for me, think "here we go again." Luckily, I've been dump-free for a year. But I'll keep crossing my fingers

 

[themagni]

You're in luck!

My old BC had problems with its weights, so I've got a lot of experience ditching weight at depth without advance warning. The real problem is that you're going to be going up in a hurry before you realize the problem is that your weights, are, in fact, 20 feet away from you and dropping fast. At the time, in that faulty BC, I carried 12 pounds in each pocket out of 36 total. (I have 10 in each pocket in my new wing.)

The first thing to remember is not to panic. If you're following the recreational limits, you won't have a deco obligation. Once you get to the surface, you're (probably) done for the day, but you'll be at the surface AND you know that you're not going to sink. That's a pretty good outcome considering you had an equipment failure at depth.

On the way up, the absolute most important thing is: Breathe and keep exhaling. If you stop exhaling / hold your breath, you're going to get very badly hurt. Remember this if nothing else - an empty lung is a happy lung. You're going to have plenty of air in about 10 seconds. (Seriously, just keep exhaling slowly like you practiced in the swimming ascent, and as long as your airway remains open, excess pressure will be vented.)

Once you realize you're aborting the dive, lie back as far as you can and spread eagle facing the surface. The drag will slow you down so you're not launching towards the surface. You're going to go up faster than recommended, the end. You can do your best to take the edge off, but your computer is going to have a FIT no matter what you do.

Get rid of as much air as you can as fast as you can. Dump your BC air with the pull valves and the exhaust. If you're diving dry, hold the exhaust valve up - in my case, that's my left wrist, and it'll dump out the air for you.

Now that you're on the surface, wait for your buddy. If you're really lucky, you'll see a marker pop up with a line tied to your weights. (or they may surface with them.) In my experience, I've had a ~25% recovery rate for the weights, the rest being left on Poseidon's altar.

 

[Teamcasa]

OK, confession time. I lost my weight belt once. Details are not important but my reaction may be.

I was 70 deep, near the bottom, when off it came. I immediately went head down, kicked like crazy while dumping all of my wing air and was fortunately able to grab it.

If I had not, or was not close enough to the bottom to grab hold of something, I believe (at least I hope I would) I would have gone back to horizontal, continue to kick and head for the nearest thing I could grab, kelp, rocks, or some other structure. I don't think I grab hold of my buddy and endanger them.

 

[LeadTurn_SD]

Good topic, and good replies.

Just wanted to add a vote for the traditional weightbelt for carrying weights, with good quality stainless buckle, and proper positioning of the buckle so that it is unlikely to be snagged and opened by any other strap or piece of equipment. If possible try to move some of the weights to your rig (tank bands, backplate, etc.), so that if you DO lose the belt, you have not lost ALL of your ballast.

Best wishes.

 

[jeckyll]

When I first started diving dry, I had several dives where the only reason I didn't lose the weight belt was the fact that I had it under my harness. (mind you, it was fine while diving, I was horizontal ). But I got tired of trying to hang onto it on exit.

DUI weight & trim system is much nicer. Yes, diving dry in cold water with AL tanks = weight.

 

[TheScubaBOB]

On my Wife's last Certification Dive I tagged along for the fun part where they dropped down the wall of a reef to just shy of 60ft. The instructor was leading, she followed him I was just to her left and slightly behind (not following but next to her), 2 more divers and a DM followed us.

Well she apparently put too much air in her BCD and started to shoot up quickly. I was closest so I reached out to grab her with one hand and grabbed my air release with the other. Unfortunately my hand caught the end of her weight belt and loosened the buckle!

She grabbed my arm with one hand and the buckle with the other so my dumping air arrested her ascent until the instructor turned around (only a matter of seconds) and realised what was happening. First he re-secured her weight belt then prompted her to release some air at which point I was able to let go and add a bouple of tiny bursts to my BCD.

I realise that I should have aimed for something other than the weight belt (trust me I was just aiming for anything on her and would have been happy if I got a leg) but I wonder, should I have not reached for her when I saw that she started the ascent (and no she wasn't panicked, in distress or trying to get to the surface she just hit the inflate button to hard).

So I guess this adds to the original question by asking what if you notice your buddy has a buoyancy issue (either dropped weights, stuck inflator, or mistake adding too much air)?

 

[wetnwonder]

Four words: weights under crotch strap.

Could you please elaborate with more specifics... I am just getting myself set up for drysuit diving, and this concept makes good sense. I just don't quite get the practical application.

Thank you.
WNW