I just hate wearing weight belts guys. The shits irritate my nerves in my hips.
What is the *lightest* weight belt you’ve worn? If your experience is with 12+ pound belts, I fully agree with you. They suck hard. Weight belts for a gender that usually doesn’t have curves and while wearing 14mm of highly compressible material where you’re supposed to tighten the thing is stupid. I only use 10 pounds when diving dry (with HP100 doubles), but I still use a DUI weight harness!
When diving wet with double AL80’s in salt water, I need 4 pounds. I usually use a really old ghetto weight harness for that, too! (It’s basically a pocket weight belt with shoulder straps.). But I have done a weight belt for that with much less issue. 2 X 2 pounders centered in the center of my back, it’s like a v-weight, but I can get it on any boat and use with rented tanks and not put in luggage.
And seriously, you really should only need a few pounds! Try a weight belt with such a small amount of weight, on your back, not your hips: it very well may work fine.
But if it doesn’t, then so what? Keep working the problem: there’s plenty of real, tested solutions. A half-dozen people have suggested harnesses. Like I said: full DUI harness for me for double-digit loads, and pocket belt with straps for travel.
V-weights exist for a reason. *Tail* weights are popular, too: they help to counteract the floaty. I’ve never used them: I’m not sure how they work when you’re trying to put your gear in a tank rack. (I do a lot of boat diving.) Weights in pockets on tank bands are an easy to move compromise.
Personally, I think putting weight on your BP waist strap is silly, not least because it’s annoying to deal with on a boat. It’s undeniably logical and convenient, but it makes trying to find your straps hard when cheek to jowl with the nearest diver and your doubles in a rack on a rolling boat... tricky. They tend to run away. But it’s only like 4 pounds: if it makes you happy, go for it.
That’s like a half-dozen tried and tested ways of adding weight. Only one is a weight belt. Keep working the problem.
