deepseasupply tail weight review

[ian.smyth]

Hi all

Firstly thanks to Tobin for sending me the kit to have a play with. I got the tail weight pouch and some stage Wraps

http://www.deepseasupply.com/page24.html

http://www.deepseasupply.com/page18.html

First impressions where good, the kit looks well constructed and professional. I did think that the outer edges of the top of the tail pouch might benefit from some reinforcement as moderate usage over time might led these to fray.

I initially tried both solid and shot weight pouches but settled for shot as it seemed to fit the shape of the pouch better. Having managed to squeeze one 2kg bag in, I placed it onto the bolts of my twin set and proceeded to put it together. Getting the BP down was a little more difficult than I had expected. Basically the pouch stuffed with the shot bag was getting in the way and I had to squeeze the bag to get all the shot to the bottom.






Once this was done I still had to apply pressure to the Backplate before getting the wing nuts on, then it was just a matter of screwing them down. Looked good when I had finished as you can see.






I tried it with just a t-shit and jeans just to see if it was uncomfortable or not (for wetsuit diving) I could feel it but it wasn't bad at all and I'm sure once in the water with a wetsuit on it would be just fine. (No fooking chance I’m diving a wetsuit in this country!)

Saturday arrived and I was meeting up with some folks at Capernwray for a bit of play so decided to give it a go. Got my twins sorted with the pouch fitted then I noticed something that was a bit of a pain. I hadn't straightened out my crotch strap! When I was screwing the backplate down it had gotten sandwiched between the BP and the webbing of the pouch in such a way that the crotch strap was not free moving. No big deal just loosen the wing nut and adjusted the crotch strap - sorted! So got kitted up and humped the twin set on my back, again didn't feel a thing so went for a dive, where again the pouch wasn’t noticeable.


So what did I think..

I'd like to see it handle a little more than 2kg (if 2kg's all you need then cool, but I'm sh&t so need more), I guess the easiest way to do this would be to lengthen the pouch which would also resolve the minor issue of getting the BP on I suspect. NB I use Heisers so can afford the length not sure this would work on Fabers but it’s only 19.5cm in length.

As it stands for the $15/£8.50 its great valve compared to buying a lead tail weight (last time I heard £32 plus gods knows how P&P). If you dive twins on holiday then I'd said it's perfect, light and will take what every lead the centre has available.

Stage Wraps
Again the Stage wraps look well made are initially designed for Ali 80’s although you can unscrew the toggle device and shorten the bungee cord to suit your particular needs. These I thought would be great for those of us that suffer trying to grip the rubber bands on stages and having briefly given them a go they do indeed help. The toggle was easy to find and use. However as was pointed out you could just use some line to make a knot on the rubber bands to aid gripping. Not a lot more to say on these, good quality item.

Anyway just my thoughts, hope they’re of some use. Phill are you going to be getting any of these items in or will they be special request only?

P.S sorry about the pictures, punctuation etc..

EDIT:

I’d written this before WILBO was putting the order in but thought I should post anyways as it might provide some more info for folks.

http://www.direxplorers.com/dir-kit-...-weight-4.html

[RichClark]

Tobin certianly does make some nice and well thought out kit. Not surprised you're happy.

Cheers

Rich