Protect the suite against weights wearing

[Tord]

I got my Elios "New Diamond Mesh", and it looks ... amazing! And thats the way I want it to be, so when I tried it for the very first time this morning, and threw my 16 Kg weightbelt to my hips, I felt a thorn in my heart. I remembered my old suite, all worn out because of the lead. :waterwork
So I did a google for weight, suite, protection and so on, with no result. Then I thouht of you guys!. Any smart ideas to protect the suite from wearing the weightbelt??

 

[Huan]

Use a Baudrier the weight is distributed more evenly.

 

[foxfish]

A what Huan?

 

[Huan]

A baudrier , or in english weight harness.
There is a big weight on the back and two smaller ones on the front.
Two straps come over the shoulders and meet the belt in the front.
Have a look here to make your own.
http://www.spearboy.com/dossiers/dossier?id=29

 

[foxfish]

"O" one of those, thanks. I will have to make one this winter.

 

[Huan]

Have fun, I really like mine.
I bought it Paris on my Honeymoon.
You will find that you are able to dive more easily as the weight sits higher on your shoulders than a belt.
Also good if you have a bad back, and have problems with your suit wearing out round the middle

 

[spaghetti]

For those like me, no good with "Do It Yourself":
Ordered one of these Seatec vests for myself but it's just 4kg

But maybe Tord wants something to store more lead, and more protective for his smooth suit. Maybe this Omer (can store up to 12 kgs of lead):

 

[Pastor]

I bought it Paris on my Honeymoon.
You will find that you are able to dive more easily as the weight sits higher on your shoulders than a belt.

Oh right I see, it leaves your hips unrestricted, no wonder you bought one on honeymoon
And who said romance was dead rofl

 

[Tord]

The Omer Gilet looks good. And does the job against waring. Has anyone tried it with maxumim load (12 kg)?

 

[Huan]

Just be aware that the Omer vest has 3 closures, not the single buckle that the baudrier has, only a small point but in an emergency situation the Omer may not be as easy to drop.

 

[Tord]

You are correct Huan. I also saw the three closures, and thought about the safety. Maybe a baudrier is the right for me. (except the problem that I have to make one..)
Do you have any experience of having more weights on the baudrier? I saw the spearboy version had 7 kg, and I was thinking of having at least 50% of the weight away from a regular belt. Or let's say, 12 kg on baudrier and 4 on belt.

 

[spaghetti]

Yes indeed Huan, good point on safety. I would remark that all weight vests and baudriers in general are to use only in shallow water, say 0-10 meters deep, both for safety and buoyancy issues.
I still remember after years my club leader screaming to me:
"Never dive deep with those F----NG weight vests!"

 

[Pastor]

Has anyone seen that setup Giorgio Dapiran uses in one of his video's? Like a 5Kg weight on a bicycle inner tube and over his shoulders then wrapped around his weight belt front and back. Brilliant diver but that looked way dodgy to me.

 

[Huan]

Tord
I never had to use more than 2 additional weights with the Baudrier, and that was fishing very shallow water -5m or so.
I would say that if you made two back plates of thin construction you could screw/bolt them together and make a heavier weight if you needed to.
Have you seen the pendulum? where you have a heavy weight attached to a buoy you hold the weight and dive with it, when you are at the bottom you drop the weight and you should have enough weight to keep you neutral, then when you are at the surface you haul the weight back and get ready for the next drop.

 

[Tord]

Huan
Thanks for ideas about the Baudrier's two plates. How easy, or hard, is it to getrid of the Baudrier? In the back of my head, I see a movie-glimse of a fighterpilot with his 4 points( Secured with two straps over the shoulders, and two between the legs) securebelt, pressing a sort of button, where the four straps are joined together, and they all releases. A solution of that kind could work for divers aswell? The weight of the weightbelt should drag it of your body??
The pendulum I see can get very exhausting, specially when you hold your breath as short as I do..

 

[Huan]

The Baudrier is closed with the normal belt, the two shoulder straps only attach to the vest at the front.
I find mine easy to dump just open the belt and drop one shoulder the weight of the back plate will pull it off quite easily.
If you build one try it out when you first start.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I have never noticed any wetsuit wear from wearing a conventional weight belt. What am I doing differently?

 

[Huan]

Maybe your suit has a nylon lining Bill?
I have seen a lot of smoothskin and sharkskin suits damaged from weightbelts, particularly if guys throw the belts around and the lead gets little sharp edges.
Maybe you are just careful and wise

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Maybe your suit has a nylon lining Bill?
I have seen a lot of smoothskin and sharkskin suits damaged from weightbelts, particularly if guys throw the belts around and the lead gets little sharp edges.
Maybe you are just careful and wise

Hmmm. I think maybe I've always had nylon linings. My suits used to be plush, and now they are open-cell skin-in, but as far as I can recall, they always had nylon on the outsides. I guess I made a good choice without knowing why.