Weight System and Distribution

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Permalink Reply by Yazid Bin Ismail on January 20, 2010 at 3:48am

Hey Caron,

Congrats on the new DS! Which make/model did u get?

I feel that 20lbs is WAY TOO MUCH weight. Did u exhaust all air out of the suit? Probably, there are some trapped air causing the additional buoyancy. For me, i used about 6-8 lbs initially, then managed to reduce to 4 lbs when diving on a single rig. Oh btw, my single rig is made up of an Alu bp & 30-lbs wing.

I have tried putting on weight belt but found it cumbersome mainly due to the restrictions caused by the harness waist buckle and crotch strap getting in the way. After that, i placed the weights on 2 trim pouches together with my lower tank strap. Really helps a lot in my trim and buoyancy control.

Hope this helps! Stay Safe Always!


Yazid.

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Permalink Reply by Caron Wong on January 20, 2010 at 5:50am

Hi Yazid,

Thanks for your quick reply. I've got a Whites Fusion Tech skin. It's quite comfortable and good movement underwater.

Actually, I have 3 dives so far. The maiden voyage of the suit is full of excitment, I started with 4lbs weight and kept adding till 10lbs to descend eventually. Yet, there was current and I also got another new fin b'coz of bigger size so the whole dive was a great learning lesson. In between, there were some rush ascend b'coz of air in suit, also I kept practising roll over and valve techniques.

2nd and 3rd dives, I got thicker undergarment, and I had increase weight till 14 lbs. I could descend and performed better this time on both valve control, weight and buoyancy. However, I still got a bit uncontrolled ascend when I ascended till 5 meters. I did fully released the air in my suit and also my bladder. However, I still ascended relatively quick. I thought that maybe undergarment + insufficient weight issues. I am not sure the suit was not over-inflated coz I got some tiny bruise marks on my arms and chest due to the squeeze of water.

I did discuss with others using neoprene, and shell drysuit divers. It seems they used at least 20lbs of weight and some are close to 30lbs. Thus I am thinking to test again with more weight like 20lbs to test if I can manage the ascend rate better. But I really don't want to put all the weight on my waist. I searched online and found someone using weight harness or another belt with weight pockets, but this will be quite clumsy and heavy on my waist.

Also, I find there's v-weight and tail weight but seems that are mainly for doubles but not singles.

I am now thinking to add two weight pockets to my existing harness / backplate system on both left and right side plus trim bags on the camband to distribute these 20lbs.

I am already using a SS plate which I don't need any weight at all when I dive with 3mm wetsuit.

Thanks again for your reply.

Have a nice day!

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Permalink Reply by Robert Golob on January 26, 2010 at 12:00pm

Hello Caron,

For my single rig, I've used the XS Scuba single weight pocket and have been pretty happy. Probably very similar to the "trim pouches" Yazid mentioned. The pockets can hold anything from 1~5lbs each.

I put one pocket on each side of the waist belt (as close as possible to the back plate on left side, and in front of my light can on the right side). The left pocket is held in place by my D-ring and the right pocket is held in place with an extra buckle I use to hold my can light on with. This placement has a way of placing the weight/pocket in the space between the side of your body and the wing, which keeps you clean and more streamlined for a lack of a better description. The rest of my weighting comes from a SS backplate, 6lb V-weight on my backplate, and steel 108 tank. The advantage to spreading the weight out around the whole rig is that it doesn't all end up on my waist belt.

http://www.xsscuba.com/weight_belts.html

Originally I tried the Halcyon weight pockets. While the D-ring on the left pocket is a nice feature, I found that I didn't like the pockets overall. I felt that the pockets were too big and bulky, and the weights had a tendency to move around a bit inside the pocket when you didn't need the max weight. I don't think you would want to go with the bigger 20lb ACB system because then you would have the problem you mentioned about too much weight on your waist.

http://www.halcyon.net/?q=bc/acb#

One issue really could be with your exhausting. I don't know what temps you regularly dive in, but for colder dives where you have several layers on, your drysuit will tend to hold more air in between the layers. In those situations, you have to try think ahead and exhaust early to keep your buoyancy in check. Plus it can take a while for all the air you need to dump to work its way through the suit to the exhaust valve. That's where exhausting a few times during a stop might be necessary.

I hope this is helpful! Happy diving!

Robert

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Permalink Reply by Lynne Flaherty on January 26, 2010 at 4:59pm

I carry 31 pounds of total ballast in Puget Sound (and yes, it's been weight-checked!). I put 20 lbs on a belt, and 6 pounds in camband weight pouches as already described, and I have a 5 lb stainless steel plate. The waist belt of my harness rides below the weight belt and there's no interference except occasionally with my argon bottle, if I don't get things set up just right.

It definitely takes a while to learn to dive a dry suit. You have to anticipate buoyancy changes much more carefully. In addition, the placement of the exhaust valve can impact how easily you can vent the suit -- if it's too far forward on the arm or chest, it can require breaking trim quite a bit to vent. When I was a new diver in a dry suit, I was frequently convinced there was something wrong with the valve. But there wasn't; it was just me.

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Permalink Reply by Richard on January 26, 2010 at 6:33pm

For Puget Sound (46-54F water seasonally) I am carrying a steel hp100, 6lb plate, 6lbs on the cam bands and 26lbs on the waist. 38lbs total ballast. I can go with 2 to 4lbs less but I won't loft my suit and I'll be freezing at the end of the dive.

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Permalink Reply by Caron Wong on January 27, 2010 at 9:32am

Richard:
Thanks for your sharing, wow, you have total 34-38lbs. You usually go shore dive or boat dive? In Hong Kong here, we normally go boat dive so heave weight maybe a bit challlenge especially when we ascend and get onto the boat.THanks indeed for your info.

Lynne:
I totally agree with you regarding the exhaust valve placement. I have 6 dives so far after I get my drysuit. The first 3, I did doubt if valve was working or not, I couldn't feel any air going out of my drysuit. Perhaps there were the reason I carried insufficient weight (around 10-12 lbs) so I didn't inflate much air to my suit. Hence this resulted not much air getting out of my suit. When I added more weight on my 4th-6th dive, I increase my weight to 18 lbs, I put 12 on my camband, 6 on upper and 6 on lower. Then I put another 6 lbs on my weight belt. It seems getting better and I can put my gas to my suit. Like you mentioned, I need to take extra care of my buoyancy. I hope will improve soon. Thanks for your sharing and experience.

Robert:
Wow, million thanks for your detailed info. It helps me a lot. I learn a lesson too! Very good idea and I can't wait to test out the configuration that you mentioned putting pockets on left & right on the waist belt. V-weight is not common here and this maybe a challenge for overseas diving trip. But I hope I will have chance to experience v weight in future. Some drysuit divers here are also using weight harness, but maybe I should try camband pocket with weight belt first. Much appreciated for your wonderful advice of early adoption of exhaust valve. I will bear in mind and practise more.

Cheers! Have a nice day everyone!

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Permalink Reply by Jake Virnig on January 27, 2010 at 11:41am

Wow. So much for size being an indicator of how much weight you need. Using a HP119 I have a 6lb plate, 2lb STA, 8lbs in the cambands, and 10lbs on a belt for 26lbs total. Some days in the dead of winter I add an extra layer and add 2 lbs.

Richard said:

For Puget Sound (46-54F water seasonally) I am carrying a steel hp100, 6lb plate, 6lbs on the cam bands and 26lbs on the waist. 38lbs total ballast. I can go with 2 to 4lbs less but I won't loft my suit and I'll be freezing at the end of the dive.

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Permalink Reply by Maciej Arkuszewski on January 27, 2010 at 3:18pm

Hey Caron.

Couple of weight distribution options for single tank that are out there:
- weighted STA (usually 6 lbs)
- heavier plate (I have seen them come in 14 lbs variety)
- plate weights (like ones here: https://www.deepseasupply.com/index.php?product=118)
- second weightbelt with weights strapped to the tank
- tank cam strap pouches
- harness waist pouches
- weightbelt obviously

Each of above has advantages and disadvantages and almost everyone has personal preference for one over the other. Big picture in mind is offloading your spine while still keeping configuration balanced and floatable.

Regards
Maciek

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Permalink Reply by Richard on January 27, 2010 at 9:51pm

Smaller people commonly take more lead in a drysuit in cold water, the surface area (and hence air) to total volume ratio is higher. If your only insulation is suit air; its way more buoyant than adipose tissue as well. Bones (Geoff Corveau) carries even more lead than me.

Jake Virnig said:

Wow. So much for size being an indicator of how much weight you need. Using a HP119 I have a 6lb plate, 2lb STA, 8lbs in the cambands, and 10lbs on a belt for 26lbs total. Some days in the dead of winter I add an extra layer and add 2 lbs.

Richard said:

For Puget Sound (46-54F water seasonally) I am carrying a steel hp100, 6lb plate, 6lbs on the cam bands and 26lbs on the waist. 38lbs total ballast. I can go with 2 to 4lbs less but I won't loft my suit and I'll be freezing at the end of the dive.

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Permalink Reply by Jake Virnig on January 28, 2010 at 7:18am

Is Bones still diving? I haven't seen him in probably 3 years. He was my buddy at one of Bob Bailey's big buddy dives, and a major reason I started looking into DIR style diving. I watched him perfectly trim and level 6 inches off the bottom, swim in under the Honey bear to look at the Octo, then back straight up and turn to me and point under the boat like "Ok your turn." Yeah right, while I'm hanging vertical upside down, trying not to cork. Be good to dive with him again now that I have a few hundred more dives than I did then.

Richard said:

Smaller people commonly take more lead in a drysuit in cold water, the surface area (and hence air) to total volume ratio is higher. If your only insulation is suit air; its way more buoyant than adipose tissue as well. Bones (Geoff Corveau) carries even more lead than me.

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Permalink Reply by Richard on January 28, 2010 at 7:48am

I don't think Bones is diving much anymore but can send you his email - maybe you can cajol him into getting out. Although I only have his work email and in this economy who knows if that's still valid. IIRC he used 27lbs of lead intergrated onto double hp130s, we jokingly refered to it as a Cove2 tech rig because it was too beastly to dive anywhere else with.

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