Simple W/W harness for AL 80's

[nielsent]

That was sort of what i was thinking Jax!

 

[Dive-aholic]

Nielsent, you might note that people like Rob, who have their weights threaded, also tend to be local or drive to the cave locations.

If you are flying, you either mess with your straps to remove the weights before you go, and then mess with them again when you get somewhere, and remove them again . . . . .

Or, you put on the weight pouches as Rob suggested to me . . . It works great and I don't have to haul the weight around.

My newbie $.02 thoughts . . .

True, but it's only 4 lbs and I have traveled to Mexico with my rig and the trim weights and made the weight restrictions.

 

[Jax]

Nice . . . I had to carry one of my Jets around the airport because my two bags hit the 50# weight limit. Without weights.

 

[Dive-aholic]

Typical woman packing...

Ducks and runs away very quickly!!!

 

[Jax]

You'd better run, or I'm a-gonna smack you upside the head with my Jet! :scorned:

But I do need to do something about my packing . . .

 

[rhyno87]

Hey guys, I've been reading this thread very carefully and think the information you are passing along is great.

I'd like to ask a question in here to all of you if I could...

Looking at taking a SM course at the end of May from an instructor on the East coast of Canada and he mentioned the placement of tank weights, at first it was a bit strange but then started reading about it and found that it's quite common if you're using Al80's, which I own.

The question is: if I have a dry suit (4mm compressed Abyss), Nomad XT SM rig, two Al80's and a pair of Mares Avanti Super Channel Fins and I weigh in at 160-170 lbs at 6', how much lead SHOULD I be using? I realize that I will have to test it out to see what works, but based on you guy's past experience what comes to mind?

Also, if the number is low, would you adivse placing it on my back or as a weight belt.

I am planning on using this gear set up to do OW dives at first and I am looking to get into Wreck Penetration/cavern diving.

Thanks.

 

[atedeschi]

Hey guys, I've been reading this thread very carefully and think the information you are passing along is great.

I'd like to ask a question in here to all of you if I could...

Looking at taking a SM course at the end of May from an instructor on the East coast of Canada and he mentioned the placement of tank weights, at first it was a bit strange but then started reading about it and found that it's quite common if you're using Al80's, which I own.

The question is: if I have a dry suit (4mm compressed Abyss), Nomad XT SM rig, two Al80's and a pair of Mares Avanti Super Channel Fins and I weigh in at 160-170 lbs at 6', how much lead SHOULD I be using? I realize that I will have to test it out to see what works, but based on you guy's past experience what comes to mind?

Also, if the number is low, would you adivse placing it on my back or as a weight belt.

I am planning on using this gear set up to do OW dives at first and I am looking to get into Wreck Penetration/cavern diving.

Thanks.

What I typically do it get in water I can stand up in and deflate the air from my suit as much as I can but still be able to keep warm. I then take a big breath, hold it and with weight held near my chest, then exhale. If I float with a full breath and sink when I exhale its usually a pretty good starting point. If using AL80s I would put a 4lb weight on each tank, to weight them down when empty and keeping them from floating up. FWIW I use 12lbs with my compressed 2mm drysuit and LP85s in cold saltwater.

 

[Dive-aholic]

I weight my aluminum cylinders so they are close in weight to my steel cylinders. For me, that's 3lbs on each cylinder. I don't use any additional weight with steel or aluminum cylinders.

 

[rongoodman]

I guess I should give a progress report. I just returned from Playa last night, after two weeks, 11 actual days of cave diving. I did an upgrade with Protec from IANTD Intro to Full cave, followed by a 3 day Intro to Sidemount, and then 3 more days of guided dives. I had envisioned the SM course being an open water course, but since both students were cave divers, we did a cave diver's course, with the standard drills. No real tight restrictions, but plenty of minor ones. I especially liked touch and go exits when using SM, faster and less bumping around. Our air sharing in good viz through a longish slot turned into low/no viz, since we pretty much silted it out on the way in. The other student was a local instructor, and beautiful in the water from the first day. I had more of a struggle, but by the 3 days of guided dives, all in SM, I was doing better. I was using a Razor with the UTD wing, and 5mm Pinnacle Merino wet suit. The harness was fine, although we had some issues getting the waist D-rings forward far enough to keep the tails of the Al80s down. I'm not that big, and have limited waist real estate. The wing initially was quite difficult to dump, and we tried various things, but in the end, it was mostly just me getting used to it. The OPV is smaller than usual, and the little thin piece of string not always easy to find. We replaced that with a longer piece of cave line, with a little knob on the end, but mostly, I just learned to anticipate better. I saw a prototype of Steve's wing, which looks like it's going to work out well, with more lift, a standard OPV, and better integration with the Razor. It sounds like weeks now, rather than months, before it's available. I haven't been to the caves in Florida yet, so I have no opinion about SM there, but next year I doubt I will take anything except the Razor and wing when I return to Playa. I'll probably be wanting to add a stage by then, so I'll see how that adds in to the picture. Dives in SM included Carwash upstream(Room of Tears) and down, Minotaruo upstream, and Pet Cemetery toward the Blue Abyss, through the King Pong restriction.

 

[rhyno87]

Anthony/Rob, thanks for the reply. I'll be sure to add weight to my Al80's and do the breath hold at the surface technique.

Just out of curosity, do you guys put extra weight on a waist belt or in pouches on the back of the Nomad? Rob, I realize you don't carry extra weight but I'm sure some of your students have? If you do use a waist belt, does it get put on over top or under neath of the straps for the Nomad?

Thanks.