Weight harness and standard BCD

Being of cetain shape, I have on several ocassions had slight difficulties
with weight belts (with the tendancy to slide down). Even when fastened
tightly on the surface they usually require readjustment at depth due to
suit compression etc.

Now that the other half has stated diving, she needs a weight system
(belt/harness/intergrated etc), so my idea is to pass on my weight belt
(containing lead shot pouches) to her, where she wont have the same problem
due to a womanly shape, and use a weight harness myself.

I have had a look at harnesses, and am not sure if using them with a
standard BCD would cause a problem, with the weight release being covered by
the BCD (such as http://www.divingdirectshop.co.uk/ac.../info_117.html)

Does anyone here use a harness instead of a weight belt with a regular BCD?
Have you had such a problem?

On Thu, 18 Mar 2004 15:35:55 -0000, "Paul"
<PauldottLindstrom@t-online.de> wrote:


>
>Some will say you can't easily use them if RIB diving coz rethreading the
>pockets when you get back into the boat with cold hands is a pain.
>
>I dive dry and pass my stabbie up first with an inflated dry suit and the
>whole harness comes off after without detaching the weight pockets.
>
>Paul
>
Probably depends on the design of the harness. There are issues with
the construction of the Northern Diver Harness, but the concept is
pretty fair, and the weight pockets reload very easily in to the
harness.

When RIB diving, I ask the boat crew to use the release handles on the
harness to pull the shot pouches out before I get back on board. Just
makes it a bit easier for a lazy b*stard, such as myself!

David

>
>Does anyone here use a harness instead of a weight belt with a regular BCD?
>Have you had such a problem?
>

I use a Bowstone Quick Release weight harness with a Buddy Pioneer TD
BCD for the same reasons as you- sick if getting out of the water only
to find the weight belt hanging around in a John Wayne stylee.

Without a doubt one of the best bits of dive kit I've bought.

www.bowstonediving.com

Apparently steer clear of the Beaver ones as they are as weak as
kittens and drop to bits if you sneeze.

Woz.

>
> Apparently steer clear of the Beaver ones as they are as weak as
> kittens and drop to bits if you sneeze.
>
I had one of the early Beaver ones, the weight pouches are held in only with
velcro flaps. With use the velcro wears out and then its a game of Russian
roulette as to when a pouch will leap out on its own.

Paul

I too have a shape problem, leading to weightbelts slipping off, so I
invested in a Bowstone harness - I just make sure it is low-slung, by
adjusting the shoulder straps, so the pockets are below the level of the
bottom of my BCD (Poseidon Powerlift) - the pocket handles are bright red,
with big yellow knobs on, so are easily seen and pointed out to your buddy
during surface checks.

Being a bloater, I need a lot of lead - usually 12Kg in the harness and
4-6kg trim weights in the BCD - the harness spreads the load out of the
water and makes things much more comfortable. I do worry a bit that there's
too much velcro on the pockets - it needs a damned good pull to dump the
weights, which might slow things down a bit if I was incapacitated and my
buddy needed to surface me quickly

Chris Q

"James" <jamesnopam@net.net> wrote in message
news:TNg6c.19673$UA3.455000290@news-text.cableinet.net...
> Being of cetain shape, I have on several ocassions had slight difficulties
> with weight belts (with the tendancy to slide down). Even when fastened
> tightly on the surface they usually require readjustment at depth due to
> suit compression etc.
>
> Now that the other half has stated diving, she needs a weight system
> (belt/harness/intergrated etc), so my idea is to pass on my weight belt
> (containing lead shot pouches) to her, where she wont have the same
problem
> due to a womanly shape, and use a weight harness myself.
>
> I have had a look at harnesses, and am not sure if using them with a
> standard BCD would cause a problem, with the weight release being covered
by
> the BCD (such as http://www.divingdirectshop.co.uk/ac.../info_117.html)
>
> Does anyone here use a harness instead of a weight belt with a regular
BCD?
> Have you had such a problem?
>
>

"James" <jamesnopam@net.net> wrote in message
news:TNg6c.19673$UA3.455000290@news-text.cableinet.net...
> Being of cetain shape, I have on several ocassions had slight difficulties
> with weight belts (with the tendancy to slide down). Even when fastened
> tightly on the surface they usually require readjustment at depth due to
> suit compression etc.
>
> Now that the other half has stated diving, she needs a weight system
> (belt/harness/intergrated etc), so my idea is to pass on my weight belt
> (containing lead shot pouches) to her, where she wont have the same
problem
> due to a womanly shape, and use a weight harness myself.
>
> I have had a look at harnesses, and am not sure if using them with a
> standard BCD would cause a problem, with the weight release being covered
by
> the BCD (such as http://www.divingdirectshop.co.uk/ac.../info_117.html)
>
> Does anyone here use a harness instead of a weight belt with a regular
BCD?
> Have you had such a problem?
>
>

What works very well for me is a system made by DUI ...I have the WT2. The
sizes tend to be a bit large.

http://www.dui-online.com/newsite/bc_wt.htm

No more sliding weights, perfect adjustment of trim. Works well with
wetsuit, drysuit, shorty or no suit. The pouches are easy to rethread, I can
do it even without my glasses.

I would not be surprised if something like this is available on your side of
the pond.

Rudy - Canada.

"R Benner" <bennerBOGUS@personainternet.com> wrote in message news:<105kb1u7prt2qa3@corp.supernews.com>...
>snip<
>
> What works very well for me is a system made by DUI ...I have the WT2. The
> sizes tend to be a bit large.
>
> http://www.dui-online.com/newsite/bc_wt.htm
>
> No more sliding weights, perfect adjustment of trim. Works well with
> wetsuit, drysuit, shorty or no suit. The pouches are easy to rethread, I can
> do it even without my glasses.
>
> I would not be surprised if something like this is available on your side of
> the pond.
>
> Rudy - Canada.

Rudy,

It's been reported by several users that the re-threading of the DUI
Weight and Trim CLASSIC system is a time-consuming and frustrating
effort. Is the WT2 system designed to re-thread more easily than the
Classic model, or do you just manage it better than most? :^)

Does it seem like an accidental release would be unlikely? In other
words, does it take a good, deliberate pull to release the weight
pouch cables?

Do you think the pouches can hold 40# as advertised? They look a
little small to me.

Dave C (Please note: the above email address is defunct.)

"Dave C" <dcalderbank@top.monad.net> wrote in message
news:a0a92a28.0403191026.342b9f@posting.google.com ...
> "R Benner" <bennerBOGUS@personainternet.com> wrote in message
news:<105kb1u7prt2qa3@corp.supernews.com>...
> >snip<
> Rudy,
>
> It's been reported by several users that the re-threading of the DUI
> Weight and Trim CLASSIC system is a time-consuming and frustrating
> effort. Is the WT2 system designed to re-thread more easily than the
> Classic model, or do you just manage it better than most? :^)
>
> Does it seem like an accidental release would be unlikely? In other
> words, does it take a good, deliberate pull to release the weight
> pouch cables?
>
> Do you think the pouches can hold 40# as advertised? They look a
> little small to me.
>
> Dave C (Please note: the above email address is defunct.)

The pouches are the same on both styles. My skill at rethreading improved
after I did it a few times. Its not a big deal. Learning to walk and talk at
the same time also took practice, I still have trouble with that after a few
pints. There is a video available on the website so you can see how easy it
is, even for me.

Yes, it takes a deliberate effort to release the pockets. Yes, they will
hold #40, but I doubt if they would hold more. There are 4 pockets in total.

You can ditch one side at a time.

I also have a bit of non-ditchable ballast on my plate/wing setup.

There are manuals available on the website (PDF format) in case you want to
have a closer look.

>The pouches are the same on both styles. My skill at rethreading improved
>after I did it a few times. Its not a big deal. Learning to walk and talk at
>the same time also took practice, I still have trouble with that after a few
>pints. There is a video available on the website so you can see how easy it
>is, even for me.
>
>Yes, it takes a deliberate effort to release the pockets. Yes, they will
>hold #40, but I doubt if they would hold more. There are 4 pockets in total.
>
>You can ditch one side at a time.
>
>I also have a bit of non-ditchable ballast on my plate/wing setup.
>
>There are manuals available on the website (PDF format) in case you want to
>have a closer look.
>
I can concur with that.. I used the DUI BCS for a long time, and from
the pictures this looks to have the same/similar release system. I
dived with it for three years and never once had a problem.
Re-threading is a pain at the beginning, because it is a new system,
but after a short time I was doing it without any problems (Had to
remove every dive as I was RIB diving and we had to hand weights up).

Never had any problems with them releasing, and yes - it does require
a good deliberate pull to operate..

rich