Weight-integrated BCD or belt?

[Thalassamania]

Might I share some ideas from the scientific diving community as regards weights and such.

Problems:

1) The conventional “airplane” type weight belt buckle”:

a) (especially when made from plastic) is, IMHO, an accident waiting to happen. Failures of this type of buckle are frequent enough that I, and many other Diving Safety Officers, have prohibited the use of this style buckle on a weightbelt.

b) requires a tread-through to don which can be difficult, at best, with gloves.

c) requires a tread-through to ditch, has often been seen to result in the belt hung up on some piece of gear, rather than beiung cleanly ditched, esp. with gloves.

d) requires being placed into a highly insecure mode whilst being adjusted for wet suit compression.

e) is easy to confuse with a buckle on a tank strap (conventional backpack or BP/W) and can not be differentiated solely by feel. The diver must trust to position of the body or rigorous application of a left hand release for the tank strap, right hand release for the weight belt protocol.

2) Integrated weight systems can place a diver in severe danger if, for any reason, he or she must remove the rig. If that occurs, the diver is positively buoyant and the divers gas supply is negative ly buoyant, a slip resulting in a loss of grip will, at best, result on a diver on the surface with his or her gas supply on the bottom and at worst ... well, think about being tangled in a net, having to remove your rig to untangle yourself, losing your grip on your rig and making a buoyant ascent into the net which is billowing over you.

Solutions:

1) There are two weight belt and buckle designs that solve the problems mentioned above:

a) Wire bail buckle with rubber belt. This is a great solution since the rubbber belt is self-compensating.

b) SeaQuest buckle and belt. Originally developed by a Graduate Student at Scripps, named (if I recall properly) Mark Olson, who was also a fine machinist and who went on to found Deep Sea Power and Light. This belt was first marketed by SeaQuest and is currently available from Trident Diving Supply. It is a positive closing, cam actuated buckle that can tightened easily and securely, yet can be only be released with a motion of pulling it away from your body. It’s really quite simple, inexpensive, and very ingenious. It’s a bit hard to explain, but well worth trying.

 

[drbill]

Although I haven't set myself up for this yet, I'm going towards half of my weight on my belt and half in integrated weights. That way if I need to ditch weights, I can ditch half of them and not go flying up to the surface!

 

[Racinbloke]

Weight belt hands down.

If I ever have a catastrophic wing failure I'll take my bp/w off and hook a small lift bag to it. away it goes to the surface and I can ascend slowly with my buddy.

No weight belt means I am going to the surface like it or not.

That would be a non-issue as long as you are using a balanced rig but with doubles early in a dive swimming it up could prove difficult.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Depends on what I'm using. I dive BPW now and when extra weight is necessary I use a belt. With my probe bc it's integrated and has rear pockets. I normally only use it for classes now so a belt is what I wear for demo purposes. If I do dive it then I'm diving steel tanks and with a 5 mil I put 2 in the rear pockets and 2's or maybe 3's in the ditchable pockets. Although I've never had to dump weights I don't want all of it to go if I do. BTW with my BPW I wear the belt UNDER my crotch strap.

 

[asaara]

I usually put the majority of my weights on the belt (when diving in cold water) and the smaller weights in the pockets, saves me from having to wear really huge bricks on my hips and across my back under the tank (not such an issue on boat dives, but quite unpleasant on shore dives). When I dive in warmer water, I leave the weight pockets at home so I don't lose them, and because I don't really need them, it won't kill me to put it all on my hips. (I'm rather floaty, and hoping the gods of neoprene compression will come to my aid should I lose my weight belt at depth in warmer water - haven't been anywhere I've dived without a wetsuit at all)

 

[lishen]

BTW with my BPW I wear the belt UNDER my crotch strap.

Seems dangerous, no? In an emergency that required you to ditch your weights/have someone else ditch your weights for you, it seems like your setup would cause the weight belt to get hung up. As part of your pre-dive safety check (BWRAF) you're suppose to check weights--make sure that its right hand release and that they're not caught up on anything so that they can be ditched instantly in case of an emergency.

 

[Thalassamania]

Seems dangerous, no? In an emergency that required you to ditch your weights/have someone else ditch your weights for you, it seems like your setup would cause the weight belt to get hung up. As part of your pre-dive safety check (BWRAF) you're suppose to check weights--make sure that its right hand release and that they're not caught up on anything so that they can be ditched instantly in case of an emergency.

Right hand release is a PADIsm that I never signed on to and neither did any sinister diver that I've ever met.

 

[lishen]

ok, well regardless of if you have a right hand or left hand release, isn't having your weight belt under your crotch strap a safety issue? I'm looking to move to BP/W for personal use (LDS still wants me in a vest bcd for classes) and was wondering where/how people wear their weight (if you need more than the backplate as in cold water diving), do you go for traditional weight belts or a harness type system (DUI Weight and Trim System).

 

[Thalassamania]

Now that's a thought provoking question. Habit says the belt goes on last. But as I think about it, the reason for wearing the belt is to remain neutral in case you need to take off your BC or BP/W.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

It may be dangerous if I was overweighted to begin with. However I have been working on dropping weights, moving them to different locations in order to come up with a balanced rig. I need to be able to swim it up from any depth in the event my bc fails. I certainly do not want someone coming up and dropping my weights at depth. I also do not want them coming off accidentally down there. The only place my weights should have to be dropped is on the surface. I use a belt with xs pockets that I can open and drop the weight if necessary.