In a dilemna...

[nivla80]

I took my Eclipse for her very first dive in OW the past weekend... Some issues...

It's a SS BP, and i took down an additional 10 lbs, so in all, I have 16 lbs, since i donned a 7 MM F/J suit. Tried puttin the 10 lbs on the tank bands, and i was totally fighting to NOT flip belly-up...

Second dive, put them on my waist, on the harness, and it seemed to help quite a fair bit...

I tried the set-up in a pool, and found that i was overweighted while taking down 4 lbs, in a 3 mm full suit... Will probably shave it down to 2 lbs the next time i head to the pool.

I dive regularly in tropical waters, and while using an Oceanic Chute 3, I had to take down 12 lbs in a 3mm fullsuit. With this BP/W setup, i probably need to take down only 4 lbs. If I put them on the waist, I'm afraid that it'll have the belly-up phenomena again. Should I go with the Aluminium BP? But I'm not a fan of weights, since my DM course over the summer will involve a month of intensive diving.

My question now comes.. If the total amount of ditchable weights is less than the weight of the BP, will the belly-up tendency prevail?

Please help! I'm trying not to lean towards getting another plate... What should I do? =(

 

[TSandM]

I don't know what exactly you mean by belly-up -- Were you rolling to one side?

I dive with 2 lbs on the cambands with an Al80 and a SS BP and a 3 mil suit, and I don't have any tendency to roll over.

 

[nivla80]

Rolling to one side first, then totally facing the surface... Required effort to get into a face down orientation again..

 

[grazie42]

I think putting 10lbs on the cambands will make most people roll over.

16lbs, as you apparently found out, sounds way too much. That is what I use for my drysuit with heavy thermals here. 4lbs sounds about right.

I´m not sure why you don´t like using a weightbelt. At least one of the skill-demonstrations in your DM-class will involve removal/replacement of the weightbelt. As long as you keep your weights close to your body you shouldn´t have any problem with "turtleing"...

 

[Warren_L]

You might want to try a weighted steel tank adapter. It likely won't be 10 pounds, but that will shift some of the weight closer to your center of gravity so you won't have quite as much tendency to roll over.

 

[PfcAJ]

Practice will help you. I turtled my first time in BP/W. I taught myself how to compensate by balancing the air in the wing.

 

[neil]

Also, no matter how much weight you have on the cam bands, make sure it's tucked as close to the wing as you can get it.

 

[JessH]

Sounds like putting the weight in the back with an STA would cause the same problem. A weight belt or on the waist strap of your harness sounds like your best bet. What kind of tank are you diving? When I use heavy steel singles and a thick wetsuit they take a little more work to stay balanced since there is a lot of weight in back and a lot of buoyancy in front. Once I got used to it it was no longer a problem.

I put xs scuba weight pockets on the waist of my harness in order to hold weight. Lets me not need to use a weightbelt and while they aren't quick release style pockets it would be possible to open them and remove the weight in an emergency.

~Jess

 

[PerroneFord]

It's all a matter of practice. Really. I've done dives where I carry weights in my pockets for other divers and am mismatched side to side by 4 pounds or more. You just learn to adjust.

But 16 pounds does seem like an awful lot of weight.

 

[nivla80]

I'm mainly using Al 80's... I need 16 lbs when wearing a 7 mm F/J with a 5/3 hooded vest...

In summer however, I'll also be diving AL 80's, but this time in a 3mm, with the same 5/3 hooded vest, so I'm still figuring out my weight configurations