dianab68•1d agoProlific Poster

Realized I was weighting my belt wrong after a dive in the Gulf

I've been commercial diving for about 6 years now, mostly inland and offshore stuff around Louisiana. Last month I was on a job in the Gulf near Grand Isle doing some pipeline inspection. We had a decent current running and I kept getting pushed around, so I added more weight to my belt thinking I needed more ballast. My buddy Steve who's been doing this 20 years watched me for one dive and asked if I ever tried putting the weight on my back instead of all up front. I told him no, I just always did it how I was taught in school. He let me borrow his harness setup with back weights and suddenly I was way more stable in the water, not fighting to stay level. All those years I thought more weight was the answer but it was really about where I put it. Has anyone else had that click moment with weight placement or is it just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesleyjohnson1d ago

Read something similar from a guy on a diving forum a while back talking about how shifting weight to the back improved his trim dramatically in currents. Makes sense when you think about it, having all the weight in front forces your legs up and throws off the center of gravity. Bet a lot of guys learn the hard way that weight placement matters more than the total pounds.

thead441d ago

Yeah but what specific gear setup did he run? Was he using a steel backplate and aluminum tanks or some other combo? I've been messing with moving my weights around too and noticed a huge difference just by sliding my tank bands down an inch or two. Curious if he was talking about a single tank rig or doubling up. Seems like the physics would change a lot between those setups.