Weight belt or weight pockets?

[Tralfamadore]

The backplate is SS but it is a freedom plate so still not quite as heavy as a traditional backplate. I believe it is around 4 lbs. Still, the Knighthawk is extremely bulky and full of padding it must be incredibly buyoant. Just switching over to the webbing harness will make a big difference in the weight needed. I also use the Apeks xtx 100 regulator which conveniently weighs just slightly over 2.5 lbs. The reg is nearly enough weight to off set the buoyancy change in the aluminium tank at 50 bar.

I am only 5'10" and 160 lbs so I'm thinking 6.6 lbs divided between two trim pockets may do the trick.

 

[Marie13]

I have a Halcyon BP/W. I have a SS plate (6 lbs) and a weighted STA adapter (5 lbs). The ACB weight pockets on the waist belt are rated for 5 lb each, but I had 7 lbs in each today. I also had 4 lbs in each trim pocket (rated for 5 lbs each). That was the 1st dive. Still wasn't enough so on 2nd dive, I added 2 clip on weights of 2 lbs each. Turned out to be a bit too heavy, so I'll be taking 2 lbs off next time I dive. I only dive dry and I'm floaty as hell. I use AL80s.

No one I know locally uses a weight belt.

 

[2airishuman]

I use a rubber weight belt.

I hate, hate, hate weight belts. The ying and yang pull of the BC/Wing going one direction and the weight belt (or harness) going the other is more uncomfortable, the more weight you have to use. In addition, the diver becomes dangerously negative should they have to take off their BC. Lose your grasp and you're headed the wrong way. Put the weight on the BC/Wing and the diver stays buoyant.

Interesting post.

Typically, my kit is about 7 pounds negative, plus the weight of the gas, for singles, and more negative than that for doubles or the addition of stages. The most lead I ever use is 20 pounds, a little less actually since all my weights are somewhat under their marked mass. That would be with a two-piece 7mm wetsuit with integrated hood, and a steel cylinder that is -1 when empty. With that configuration, near the surface, the BP&W pulls down. At depth, it pulls up a little. I don't dive with a drysuit, but I would imagine that absent suit compression, the BP&W would pull down at all depths even if a weight belt were used.

I see the ideal situation as one where the diver and the kit are, to the extent feasible, close to neutrally buoyant.

Since I have the DSS backplate I have the option of the integrated weights. They make sense in some situations, but aren't ditchable.

 

[The Chairman]

I see the ideal situation as one where the diver and the kit are, to the extent feasible, close to neutrally buoyant.

You're treating a dynamic situation as if it were static. Buoyancy from thick wet suits change with depth. The air in your wet suit compresses the deeper you go, often losing 75% or more of it's surface buoyancy. The softer the wet-suit, the worse it reacts. Ergo, a neutrally buoyant diver at the surface, becomes extremely negative at 100 ft and the buoyancy shifts from the diver to the BC due to simple compression of the air cells. It's one reason why I hate exposure suits although you can add air to a dry suit as you descend.

So think about it... how does that change the ying/yang of buoyancy? The deeper I go, the more the disparity increases and the more uncomfortable I become if my weight is on me. Put the weight on the BC and I get more comfortable with depth, where most of my diving will occur. Yeah, I like integrated weights.

 

[2airishuman]

You're treating a dynamic situation as if it were static. Buoyancy from thick wet suits change with depth.

No, I get it. See:

... near the surface, the BP&W pulls down. At depth, it pulls up a little....

The deeper I go, the more the disparity increases and the more uncomfortable I become if my weight is on me. Put the weight on the BC and I get more comfortable with depth, where most of my diving will occur. Yeah, I like integrated weights.

I think that's interesting. There are a couple of places where you and I part ways on this.

It's pretty rare for me that I would carry enough lead that I would be significantly negative at depth without my kit, and I suspect that is true for many divers. Typically my kit is 7 pounds negative at the safety stop for warm-water dives. For cold deep dives where wetsuit compression is a big deal I'm going to be diving a twinset or with a (steel, negative) pony either of which make it more negative -- 17 negative for the twinset, 14 negative for the pony. The difference in wetsuit compression between the safety stop and, say, 100 feet, is maybe 16 pounds for me in a two piece 7mm freedive suit. So if I choose my weighting to be neutral with an empty BC at the safety stop, where my kit is 14 pounds negative (we'll use the pony config as an example), with wetsuit compression at 100 feet I'll have to add enough air to my BC to overcome 16 pounds of suit compression, bringing my kit to 2 pounds positive.

In warmer water the situation is similar because my kit is less negative (7 pounds) and my wetsuit is thinner.

The other piece of this is that I hated weight belts until I tried a rubber one, which stays put without being uncomfortably tight.

 

[The Chairman]

It's pretty rare for me that I would carry enough lead

It's rare for me to carry lead at all. Even rarer for me to dive a wet or dry suit.

 

[cipherbreak]

I have the Zeagle Zip Touch integrated pockets. I honestly think it is the perfect solution. The pockets attach to the backplate with plastic sex bolts, so they don't slide on the waist strap and stay back near the plate at the 4 / 8 o'clock position. They are very streamlined.

They hold up to 10 lbs each but tuck away nicely when using less. It's very easy to add lead and simple to drop it when needed.

I should make a video to show how nicely they work.

 

[sunnyboy]

To expand somewhat on my previous post (attaching hard weight to the backplate with bungees), I stared with a weight belt. Back then I needed a lot of weight and was considerably 'heavier'. I actually lost a weigh belt on a wreck in 92fsw. Fortunately I caught it on my fin tips and was able to put it back on, lying on top of the wreck.

I tried a lot of 'solutions' over the years and finally settled on (and loved) the DUI classic weight-and-trim harness. After losing weight I needed 20lbs (4x5lb) hard weight on my OC rig, and that was easy to carry in the harness pockets.

The RB only needed 2x5lb and eventually I got tired of the extra buckle and webbing for just 10lbs. That's when I tried the bungee tip with 2x4lb weights on the RB. (I knew 2x5 was just a bit overweighted so knew 2x4 would work). I loved the freedom not having the harness on the rebreather, so decided to try the same idea on my OC rig. Again, knowing I was just a bit overweighted for teaching, I bungeed 4x4lb hard weight to the backplate and have been diving it since last fall.