Your views on weighting systems?

[John Gulliver]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (mikehammer66 @ June 19 2003,14:29)]John, How low to you carry the weights? It must be below the BC as you can remove them before going onto a RIB. How easy is it to get them on a gain once on the RIB? ANd if they are low how does that impact on your trim in the water?

The weightbelt part sits about where an ordinary weightbelt sits on my hips. The handle is just below the BC waist-belt. The trim is good. The harness is adjustable, so you can adjust the height to suit you. Putting the harness together again is a bit of a fiddle – you have to thread the wires through the plates and under the flaps – but when you've done it a few times it doesn't take more than a couple of minutes.

[daz]

<font color='#000080'>Mika,

My old harness is slightly different :- It is one of these,

http://www.beaversports.co.uk/catalog....lts.htm

I have removed the D rings because they were crap and they started to rust.

If you want to borrow it to try before Anglesey give me a shout.

Daz

[Mdemon]

I like your rant on the weight belt Dom, exactly my feelings on the subject. &nbsp;You might want to add the fact that a third of the dive fatalities 01-02 involved a rapid, uncontrolled ascent. &nbsp;Dumping your weight belt would cause just such an ascent. &nbsp;Being able to dump lead, especially when using a dry suit, seems to have no benefit other than in-water de-kitting for ribs etc., and I've never felt the need to do that either.

For the record, ALL my weight is bolted onto my twinset. &nbsp;It's heavy, but like wearing a rucksack - the weight's in the right place. &nbsp;Did a cracking dive in Brixham yesterday which involved an 800m walk fully kitted up along the breakwater. &nbsp;Absolutely no problem - and no weight belt digging into hips and sinking further down with every step...

MikeH, casting your own lead is as much a financial choice as anything. &nbsp;Lead is currently arount 40p per kilo at a scrapyard. &nbsp;Buying a filled harness will set you back around £80. &nbsp;There are other alternatives as well. &nbsp;Although my twinset has a fixed weight bolted to it, I have a lead fitting for a single between the wing and the cylinder. &nbsp;Prior to that, I used a 12Kg saddle weight strapped to the cylinder. &nbsp;Easy to make and cheap to do - there are many sites describing lead casting online.

HTH

[Dominic]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]I like your rant on the weight belt Dom, exactly my feelings on the subject.

Ta. I've been meaning to re-write some of it, as it could stand some polishing, but haven't got round to it yet..

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]You might want to add the fact that a third of the dive fatalities 01-02 involved a rapid, uncontrolled ascent.

Where do the figures come from? BSAC incident reports?

[Mdemon]

Yup. &nbsp;Haven't looked at the latest ones. &nbsp;

Got put off when I posted &quot;How do diver's die?&quot; on Handbag net only to get flamed by the wife of a Dr who'd been bent to hell and expected to croak. &nbsp;Not the nicest feeling in the world...

(As it happens, the story has a happy ending; the guy made a miraculous recovery and AFAIK recovered with little or no damage. &nbsp;Can't dive again though )

Needless to say I want my lead to stay ON! &nbsp;We have several back-ups for positive buoyancy but only one for negative. &nbsp;Hence playing with the drogues.

[daz]

<font color='#000080'>Yep at first glance appears controversial (non ditchable weights) !!

Only had one comment from a diver asking how I ditched my weights....

I prefer to know they are not going anywhere. &nbsp;Most problems can be resolved. &nbsp;Losing lead is a very difficult problem to remedy &nbsp;

Daz

[hideo]

hi,
 i like the idea of putting the weights on the backplate but, after having to heave a non-weighted twinset into a rib recently, and finding that difficult, i wonder if that setup is a bit too heavy for use on a rib?

admittedly, i was busy spewing the contents of my stomach over the side just before and immeditely after, but i'm sure that has nothing to do with my finding it very hard work. of course not.  

 so basically, do the people who have their weights on the backplate find this a problem?  thinking about it, i guess this would be the same for integrated weights?

hid.

[John Gulliver]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] (hideo @ June 20 2003,23:26)]thinking about it, i guess this would be the same for integrated weights?

hid.

Why? you can remove interated weights and hand them up to somebody in the RIB.

[hideo]

Originally Posted by [b

Quote[/b] ]Why? you can remove interated weights and hand them up to somebody in the RIB

that's very true, obviously i wasn't thinking about it!

[Steve L.]

Like Daz, I have a Beaver weight harness. The idea is excellent, especially if you are shore diving and walking around a lot. I was however a bit disappointed with the quality of the fittings on it. I too have removed most of the `D` rings as they`ve gone rusty, as have all of the metal drain hole rings on the removable weight pouches. Some of the loops for tucking the straps in were missing, and the actual threading arrangement of some of the straps were the wrong way around. I ended up cusomising it a bit, so it`s OK now.

I don`t think I`d go back to a normal weight belt as the harness also offers a lot of security from the buckle becoming accidentally undone.

As for moulding weights, for fluxing, you can use candle wax instead of beeswax.