Mares M.R.S.

Hi,

I'm looking for some gear tips please.

We just took our gear for the first dive after going "shopping". My buddy
and me have both Mares Morphos Twins with the integrated weight pockets. The
whole system is very comfy, but thank God that we did only try the gear in
very shallow water first.
First my buddy dropped one of the weight pockets before entering the water.
On reflection, he did realise though that he was bending down to close the
buckles of his fins and probably sqeezed the release button in the process.
Unlikely to be repeated in the water.

However, my problem was more serious. As I entered the water and we were to
go down, I realised that I probably didn't quite have enough weight. I
subsequently tried to dive head first down to 2m to see if I would sink
then. Except when I did that, I suddenly saw one of my pockets drop to the
ground right in front of me. Not funny. Lucky that it was so shallow and
that it happened in my field of vision, as the viz was below 5ft and I
woudn't have had a hope of finding it.

Later we were talking to some other divers and I heard that this is a common
problem. Not really surprised, as the mechanism seems a bit flimsy as well.
What I would like to know though is, somebody told me that it is possible to
mount something like an additional quickrelease strap to secure the weights.
Does anybody know about this?

Cheers,

Marcus

Marcus Viertel wrote:
>
> However, my problem was more serious. As I entered the water and we
> were to go down, I realised that I probably didn't quite have enough
> weight. I subsequently tried to dive head first down to 2m to see if
> I would sink then. Except when I did that, I suddenly saw one of my
> pockets drop to the ground right in front of me. Not funny. Lucky
> that it was so shallow and that it happened in my field of vision, as
> the viz was below 5ft and I woudn't have had a hope of finding it.

eeek!

I think you're right and you need to revise this system
seriously before taking it to sea.

Lost weights account for a good percentage of the serious
incidents in the reports every year while situations that
use dumpable weights are few and far between. You can only
separate me from my lead in the water if I'm RIB diving as
I consider this a life expectancy issue. Then there are
big metal clips that involve firm and deliberate actions.

My personal opinion is that you only dump weights at depth
to recover the body. If the other guy is still alive there
is always a better way.

nigelH

Safety suggests you should disperse your weight between the BC and still use a
weight belt. 50% of your weight should always be on you. Check out the new
SeaSoft Pro BC. Weight integrated and designed to be worn with a weight
belt...

"Mattm1158" wrote

> Safety suggests you should disperse your weight between the BC and still
use a
> weight belt. 50% of your weight should always be on you. Check out the
new
> SeaSoft Pro BC. Weight integrated and designed to be worn with a weight
> belt...

I can hardly wait to hear your justification for this one.

I'm a warm water diver. In my normal trim, with my preferred tanks, I'm
dead neutral with my stainless plate. How much weight do I need to move
from my plate to my weight belt to be safe and why.

Lee

"Lee Bell" <leebell@ix.remove.netcom.com> wrote in message
news:1vYcb.14432$ai7.4042@newsread1.news.atl.earth link.net...
> "Mattm1158" wrote
>
> > Safety suggests you should disperse your weight between the BC and still
> use a
> > weight belt. 50% of your weight should always be on you. Check out the
> new
> > SeaSoft Pro BC. Weight integrated and designed to be worn with a weight
> > belt...
>
> I can hardly wait to hear your justification for this one.
>
> I'm a warm water diver. In my normal trim, with my preferred tanks, I'm
> dead neutral with my stainless plate. How much weight do I need to move
> from my plate to my weight belt to be safe and why.

This is easily calculated using a formula I just thought up off the top of
my head.

Lets see... where X= time in thought process, Wm = amount of weight moved,
Wc = current weight on weightbelt, and Wp=current weight of backplate...

Wm= the limit as X approaches 0 of (X^(Wp-Wc))*(Wp+Wc)/((Wc-Wp)^(X+1))

Yep, I think that should pretty well do it.

>
> Lee
>
>

mattm1158@aol.comnojunk stopped playing nethack just long enough to say:
>Safety suggests you should disperse your weight between the BC and still use a
>weight belt. 50% of your weight should always be on you.

I don't know about you, but I always have *100%* of my weight on me. I
find that if I leave 50% of it off, then I have trouble descending.

>Check out the new SeaSoft Pro BC. Weight integrated and designed to
>be worn with a weight belt...

Typical dive industry stupidity, trying to solve a problem that doesn't
exist. They obviously have to do that so that you won't go ballistic
when the integrated weights accidentally fall out (which they
inevitably will).

And just out of curiousity, what WIBC *cannot* be worn with a weight belt?

-JimG

--
Jim Greenlee (jkg@cc.gatech.edu) There once was a lady named Drew
College of Computing Whose limericks stopped at line two
Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA 30332 There once was a man named Verdun

<Jim.Greenlee@cc.gatech.edu> wrote in message
news:bl1rpk$rkj$1@news-int.gatech.edu...
> mattm1158@aol.comnojunk stopped playing nethack just long enough to say:
> >Safety suggests you should disperse your weight between the BC and still
use a
> >weight belt. 50% of your weight should always be on you.
>
> I don't know about you, but I always have *100%* of my weight on me. I
> find that if I leave 50% of it off, then I have trouble descending.

Damn, I wish I'd said that.

In article <qN0db.15345$ai7.11694@newsread1.news.atl.earthlin k.net>,
Lee Bell <leebell@ix.remove.netcom.com> wrote:

#Chris Guynn wrote in message:
#
#> Lets see... where X= time in thought process, Wm = amount of weight moved,
#> Wc = current weight on weightbelt, and Wp=current weight of backplate...
#> Wm= the limit as X approaches 0 of (X^(Wp-Wc))*(Wp+Wc)/((Wc-Wp)^(X+1))
#> Yep, I think that should pretty well do it.
#
#Sounds good to me. Unfortunately, I don't have that many fingers.
#
#

Sure you do

In article <bl0vtk$nr$1@kermit.esat.net>,
"Marcus Viertel" <mviertel@bluebottle.com> writes:

>We just took our gear for the first dive after going "shopping". My buddy
>and me have both Mares Morphos Twins with the integrated weight pockets. ...
...
>[i] tried to dive head first ...
>Except when I did that, I suddenly saw one of my pockets drop ...

You may have learned a valuable if expensive lession -- ask for advice
before you buy!

If you can get your money back, I recommend that you do so and buy
better gear. If you cannot get your money back, I still recommend
that you buy better gear.

If you *must* use a vest style BC, there are better options.
Looking at a web picture of the Mares Morphos Twins shows it to be
way over complicated. I'm suprised you fond it comfortable -- it made
me claustrophobic just looking at it. (Although some people might think
it is a great piece of bondage gear???)

In the opinion of many experienced divers, myself (modestly) included,
the best kit is a backplate/harnes/wing setup. Dive Rite, Halcyon and
others offer these. They give you the option of various places (waist,
sholder staps, cam band) to place weights to achive both proper bouyancy
and proper trim. You can choose the weight pockets that work for you
from various brands.

(Plates and harness are pretty much the same. I happen to like the
Halcyon Pioneer wings -- I understand that Dive Rite is now offering
a simlare wing and a lower price.)

If you really want to stay with a vest BC, there are others on this
group who will make suggestions.

--
Charlie Hammond -- Hewlett-Packard Company -- Ft Lauderdale FL USA
(hammond@not@peek.ssr.hp.com -- remove "@not" when replying)
All opinions expressed are my own and not necessarily my employer's.

<snip>
> If you really want to stay with a vest BC, there are others on this
> group who will make suggestions.
>

If it needs to be a BCD have a look at a BCD with back inflation, such
as the Seac Sub Pro 2000. A couple of guys in our club are using this
particular one and they're really happy with its' performance (and no
problems with weights dropping out of the pockets).

Another advantage is that they're also very reasonably priced.

--
Michael Wolf

-----

Cthulhu For President.
Why settle for the lesser evil?

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