Losing your weight belt--Let us count the ways.....

[WetSEAL]

Here's a video showing a guy lose his weight belt at 100 ft deep:

I have a BC with integrated weights (Aqua Lung Sea Quest Pro QD), they are only held in by a bit of velcro and have giant handles to make them easy to rip out. I can imagine those handles getting potentially caught on something and ripped out by accident, or just the velcro getting weak and having them fall out by gravity. This could lead to an uncontrolled ascent resulting in arterial/pulmonary embolism and decompression sickness.

Given that there really doesn't seem to be any legitimate reasons for dumping weights except in pathological circumstances, I have to wonder about the logic of making weights SO easy to release...and I'm now wondering if I would be actually a lot safer to make those removable weights more permanently affixed. Thoughts?

 

[Steve_C]

Arrived in Key Largo and discovered that my weight pockets were back in my weight bag in Raleigh, NC. I had an Aeris BCD. Went over to the dive store in Key Largo and found what appeared to be identical Oceanic weight pockets. Fit great and same clips. Went out the next morning and did a giant stride into the water and looked down to see both pockets fluttering to the bottom. Water was only 20 or so feet deep so I swam down and got both and put them back in. Careful examination later showed the problem. The Oceanic pocket was identical except for one detail. The strap to the buckle was two inches longer. This allowed the pocket to move in my BCD when I did a giant stride and pop out.

So for 3 days of reef diving I did my giant strides holding the pockets and not the mask. worked ok. Only time the pockets ever released when they should not.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Just curious, is this secretly a weightbelt bashing thread?

I never lost one scuba diving.
When I took tech classes back in 2001-2002 we used weightbelts with two buckles for safety,..why?...I don’t know, that’s just the way it was then.
Also, rubber belts were not allowed because they have been known to rip in half if they get a nick on the edge. That has actually happened to me but I was freediving so it’s actually not a bunch of BS.
I still use a belt but have moved some weight onto my rig, including a 5 lb plate and the other part of that being a big steel tank. Now I only use 8 lbs or so on a belt wearing a 7 mil two piece wetsuit, but I only dive to 50-80 feet now so no problem with the wet/steel faux pas. I use a regular woven webbing belt with a good stainless buckle and have no problems.

 

[chillyinCanada]

WetSEAL, where on earth did you find that video!!

The guy never lost his gopro stick nor the shot!! Lol lol

 

[Chavodel8en]

Why?

I was told in training never to use my BC to bring objects up - use a lift bag. If I were to accidentally drop the belt, I would go rocketing to the surface.

I was new back then, so I was very cautious. Nowadays, noting the shallow depth (~30 feet) and the fact that I was planning to go right up, I would go ahead and bring it up using my BC.

 

[Stoo]

So sad this thread. I just lost my weightbelt of about 35 years. I was towplanning and I guess i hooked the buckle in the board. It took me a while to realize it was gone... We likely covered a mile before I knew it was gone.

I've spent a couple of hours looking but no luck. I reluctantly bought a new one last week. Oddly. it sinks me just as well as the old one.

 

[Storker]

WetSEAL, where on earth did you find that video!!

I may be going out on a limb here, but I'd guess YouTube

The guy never lost his gopro stick nor the shot!! Lol lol

Remembered to continue shooting, but forgot that he could deflate his BCD. I believe that my priorities would have been somewhat different, and that's why I always use a tether on my camera rig.

 

[Storker]

Given that there really doesn't seem to be any legitimate reasons for dumping weights except in pathological circumstances, I have to wonder about the logic of making weights SO easy to release...

No legitimate reasons? There are several fatalities partly or wholly caused by people not being able to become positively buoyant (on the surface, that is). Ditching weights is an easy way to become buoyant.

If I'm in a sticky situation on the surface, I hope that one of the first things I'll do is to remember to ditch. And since our Diving Association refunds ditched weights only on the condition that you submit a short report on the incident, it won't cost me a dime.

Edit: And besides, since I dive dry and carry some 15# on my belt, taking off the belt and handing it up to the boat tender makes it noticeably easier to climb aboard. That in itself is enough to make me want to carry removable weights.

 

[Searcaigh]

Back in the 90s I lost a weight belt when doing a giant stride off a boat in the Red Sea (Saudi).

There were spares on the boat so I still managed to dive, but we never found the weight belt under the boat (20m ish)

 

[CT-Rich]

I went to Grand Cayman in March and borrowed a weight belt with a nylon buckle. It was fine for a couple of days and one dive six or seven I did my giant slide and the belt went straight to the bottom 60’ away. The DM went and fetched it off the reef for me. The only belts the shop used for loaners had nylon buckles. The failed again doing an entry from the pier again and I swapped it for another one.

This was my first dive vacation and figured a weight belt would be hard to screw up. Next trip, I will bring one with a metal buckle. My Dacor buckle lasted from 1980 to 2017 without ever failing.