YBOD top weight

[Pierre Farrugia]

Hello all,

From your experience is there an ideal weight to put in the YBOD pouch on top of the ABS case? What are the pros and cons of putting either too little or toomuch weight there?

[Andy Phillips]

Pierre,

This is where I am at right now, I have just bought a 3Kg soft weight for the top and will be trying this on Tuesday, together with moving the in-board weights to the top of the scrubber, plus adding weight pouches to move the weight forward on the harness.

Will let you know the result, but I can tell you my trim is way off and this is my first attempt to cure it. I spent the whole of the deco on the last dive trying to stay horizontal. All those people who have floaty feet, just buy a breather.

Andrew

[Pierre Farrugia]

Originally Posted by Andy Phillips

Pierre,

together with moving the in-board weights to the top of the scrubber

Andrew

Which weights are you refeering to ? I was considering in the future, when I find a good trim is to melt some lead in a block and fix it permanantly to the unit and rebove that bag!

[Phil Ennis]

Originally Posted by Pierre Farrugia

Which weights are you refeering to ? I was considering in the future, when I find a good trim is to melt some lead in a block and fix it permanantly to the unit and rebove that bag!

Hi Pierre,

I have an 8lb (just less than 4kg) in the head weight but when I have two bailout stages it is too heavy and would probably move 4lb.

You will end up playing about quite a bit. I also have a 2kg shot bag on top of the scrubber lid.

Have fun.

[Brass Monkey]

I use 1 Kg in the top and sometimes find myself in a slightly head down attitude. I think this has more to do with CL volume than anything else as when I get it just right (minimum loop) then I seem to have better trim. This really must be one of those issues that you have to sort out yourself though. I find it hard to believe that there will be a standard top weighting. I do like the idea of making a permanent weight instead of using the bag though.

Dave.

[Andy Phillips]

Originally Posted by Pierre Farrugia

Which weights are you refeering to ? I was considering in the future, when I find a good trim is to melt some lead in a block and fix it permanantly to the unit and rebove that bag!

Currently, I have a 2Kg weight in the bag on the top and 4Kg wedged in behined the two first stages. I intened to move those on top of the scrubber, wedged in behind the hoses to the handsets. Mark has tried this and found that it improved his trim. I also had 4Kg in blocks threaded onto the waist strap of the harness, these were quite near the back.

I found that I was very feet heavy on deco, it was infact very uncomfortable. If I relaxed and let my feet drop I rolled further than that and started to end up on my back.

So, I have added weight pockets, these are near the front, partly under the counter lungs, this should pull me forward a bit, plus increase the weight in the top to 3KG's. One thing that has also occured to me, and another reason why I have added weight pockets, I want to be able to remove the weights when I have to carry the unit around, your idea of a permenantly mounted weight would not be for me. The same goes for a back plate, I want to travel with the unit, I need to get the weight down for this, not increase it.

Andrew

[Rob Evans]

To summarise... take a bit of time to work out what works best for you. Bearing in mind most of us are ensconced in drysuits, our weighting requirements are going to be fairly different from yours (you BASTARD! )
Have a think about your in-water position on safety stops. If your back's curved - or worse, sore - you need more weight up top and less on the belt. Spread it between top pocket and the lid of the scrubber if you like, but the only real judge of what suits you is, of course, your good self. Have fun mate

[Mark Chase]

Hi M8

Presently I have 2.5KG on top of the box and 4 KG in soft shot weights stuffed in amongst the cables on top of the scrubber. Then I have 3KG in each of the weight pockets mounted on the harness so I am down to 12.5 KG in total. That said I struggled like hell to get down on the second dive (No stage) and had a few embarrassing moments with fins flapping in the air trying to duck dive.

Once in I could hover free at 2m no problem but boy is it hard to get down that first 2 m.

Trim is OK ish but I am moving to a 3KG on top of the unit for the next dive and might try a further 2kg on top of the scrubber if that doesn’t keep be horizontal during deco.

Like Andrew I am avoiding anything permanent or not easily available overseas as I will be travelling with the unit.

ATB

Mark Chase

[Decodiver]

Hi Pierre,

I am fortunate enough to need no weight at all with my unit whilst diving in a drysuit in the UK, I have 2 offboard 2 litres or 3 litres on the side of the case and stage-wise carry 5 litre steels. I also have a custom made backplate.

Recently whilst in the Solomon Islands I dived the unit without weight as well, wearing a 3mm full suit and using Ali 80 stages.

I would recommend you not remove the weight pocket as it is quite versatile for routing torch leads etc.

Also beware of loose shot weights inside the case, I once had a student on a mix course whose back came off his unit and 2 kilos of weight suddenly went south!!

Have fun

Dave Cooper

[Andy Phillips]

Yeh I was warned about the back coming off, can't for the life of me see how, and the buggers are wedged in there good n tight.

Andrew

Originally Posted by Decodiver

Hi Pierre,

I am fortunate enough to need no weight at all with my unit whilst diving in a drysuit in the UK, I have 2 offboard 2 litres or 3 litres on the side of the case and stage-wise carry 5 litre steels. I also have a custom made backplate.

Recently whilst in the Solomon Islands I dived the unit without weight as well, wearing a 3mm full suit and using Ali 80 stages.

I would recommend you not remove the weight pocket as it is quite versatile for routing torch leads etc.

Also beware of loose shot weights inside the case, I once had a student on a mix course whose back came off his unit and 2 kilos of weight suddenly went south!!

Have fun

Dave Cooper