Weight Belt AND (Less) Integrated Weight in BCD

[Crowley]

For basic recreational diving, the primary concern is that the weights you are wearing are ditch-able in case of emergency. The secondary (but most primary for diving successfully) concern is that you are wearing the correct amount of weight.

It can happen that a diver requires a lot of lead. This can be due to both physical characteristics and equipment configuration. In this case, wearing weights in only either pockets or weight belts can seriously impinge on proper buoyancy control and trim, and therefore distribution of lead between the two is advised. Weight on the belt can drag your legs down, and I've seen plenty of people wearing too much weight in their BCD pockets which has the opposite effect, and so therefore if you need to wear 10 kilos of weight, perhaps 6 in the jacket and 4 on the belt is a possibility - but there are too many variables to suggest that one way is better than the other.

There are a number of different systems - belts, harnessess, pockets, backplate and wings - etc. - available but there is no single correct way to position your weights. There are some configurations that may be helpful to some but not to others, and to some extent this is all a matter of trial and error and personal preference. Anybody who tells you that you must only wear weights either here or there is, quite simply, wrong.

Experiment - whether that be taking a buoyancy class or just fun-diving with a buddy in an easy location where you can try different weighting configurations - the final decision is yours alone. If you wear different systems, make sure your buddy knows how you are configured what to ditch first in an emergency. Don't make it too complicated. Many BCDs have "trim pockets"; experiment with moving your tank up or down an inch or so; you will know when you hit the sweet spot.

Cheers

C.

 

[Mike.D]

On my dive yesterday I had to doff my bp/w and adjust my crotch strap as it had pulled loose (should have checked that before i jumped in) and because i have not put all my weight on my tank straps/harness/pockets or whatever else you can add to your bcd, i found it so easy to doff, adjust and put back on my gear. No grabbing the tank with my knees or holding while swimming upside down. My gear simply floated infront of me (i was at 20m) while i adjusted it.
Had my weighting been all on my bcd like i had originally tried doing a few months ago im sure it would have been alot harder.

 

[Skittl1321]

I'm doing an AOW doffing drill in the pool with my (7-years-diving) Instructor, and when I take off my gear at the bottom of the pool, I have to hang on to the shoulder strap because I'm starting to float upside down because all the weight's in my BCD, and I'm positively buoyant in my wetsuit. I haven't learned to grab the tank with my knees yet, because I never had to do that before.

During the OW underwater take off/put gear back on drill, I had a very similar experience. It took me A LONG time to get the gear back on, and me flipping around was basically a cirque du soleil show. The instructor said he had never seen something so funny. Only one other girl in the class had as much trouble, so apparently no one else was as bouyant as we were.

But I agree with you- it made me think when I buy my own gear, I don't want a weight integrated BCD. If I do ever have to take it off, I want the weight on me- because I go shooting upward without my gear.

 

[rsingler]

But I agree with you- it made me think when I buy my own gear, I don't want a weight integrated BCD. If I do ever have to take it off, I want the weight on me- because I go shooting upward without my gear.

There's nothing wrong with my integrated BCD. I like it (fluffy/padded) because I'm usually humping a heavy tank up the stairs from the beach. I'll accept the need for an extra 2lb because it's floaty. And the advantage of splitting your weights is that BOTH you and your gear can be relatively neutrally buoyant. You can't do that as easily if your BC has no weight pockets.

So, I wouldn't NOT buy an integrated BCD - it's useful to be able to weight your jacket, especially if you are wearing an Aluminum tank. But then, as the fine posters have so elegantly explained (everybody who agrees with me is a FINE poster!) it's also useful to wear weight in other ways to make YOU neutral if you need to come out of your gear one day, as well as deal with trim issues. A weight-belt-only configuration can be just as limiting as integrated-weight-only. Let's just say that the manufacturers have given us some other options, but we don't have to give up one when we grab the other.

Yeah, I like my orange Scubapro Classic (no integrated weight pockets), but only in warm water with less need for weight. It's nice and funky to dive my 25 year old gear.

 

[Glenn08]

I wear most of my weight on a weight belt, and 2 lbs each ankle weights, NO extra weight on my BC. I added a buoyancy tank to my twin 50's, and lead to my weight belt, so that my rig and I are closer to neutral when separated. On the subject of how heavy a rig a diver can swim to the surface - what do you do once you get there ? If you are not positively buoyant, either by inflating your BC, or by dropping weight, you will not stay at the surface.

 

[DaleC]

If you don't have an integrated BC, put the BC designated weight on an extra cam band around the tank. Then you just slip it on and off each tank as you use them. Or buy some weight pockets that fit on the existing cam band.

I prefer a weight belt as that is what Mike Nelson would use. When in doubt, always ask yourself: WWMND?

 

[Steve_C]

Sorry! A little too cryptic for me. I had to Google "pocket shorts." Cool! I could try that instead of a weight belt. Don't know what it'll do to my trim, but I can try it. Yeah! I'll "do the gear thing!"

But then you confused me: "Put weights back in BCD"??

Did you try splitting but gave it up because having it all in your BCD is "not so bad"? Or do you split between your pocket shorts and your BCD?

Sorry. It was a terse comment. When diving my own gear which is 90% of the time I have a jacket BCD with integrated weights. I dive wet (3 suits depending on temp) and wear a pair of neoprene shorts with deep pockets over the wetsuit, Started doing this because I found putting stuff back in pockets sometimes a pain. So light, SMB, are carried in pockets. Objects in pocket are each clipped on to a 6 inch strap. My integrated BCD weights are in two pockets. These weight pockets also fit in my shorts pockets. So if I wanted to take off my BCD while at depth I would empty the short pockets which takes 2 seconds. Transfer the weight pockets from my BCD to my shorts. Do what I needed to do with the BCD be it reseat the tank or cut some line or whatever. Then transfer my weight pockets back to the BCD and continue with the dive.

This was in response to taking off BCD at depth.