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Weight proportions

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C

carpy

Member
Nov 1, 2008
8
0
11
Hey all,
I just bought omer weight vest along with lead. I'm wondering what are the proper proportions between belt and vest. Heard somewhere about 60/40%(belt/vest). Any advices?
Best regards carpy
 
I experimented with this a fair bit and ended up with approx 1/3 in vest and 2/3 on the belt. There are a couple of Omer vests. The big one has weights front and back and the smaller one back only - I think. I mention this as the back only weight vests can't take as much lead as the front and back versions. I use a seac sub with weights front and back. Another slight complication is if you decide to wear ankle weights.

I use 6lb spread in all the pockets of my vest, 14lb of bullet weights mainly in 2 groups each side on my belt and for shallow indian work I add a couple of 3/4lb ankle weights.

Dave
 
10lbs in the jacket, 4-8lbs on the belt, 1/2lbs on each ankle for me.

Just try it and see what suits you I reckon.
 
Yes, that's the small Omer vest with all the weight in the back. Unless he's changed it that's the same one Magpie uses.

Dave
 
I guess one other thing to consider is ditching weight in an emergency. The belt would usually be the first & quickest thing to ditch. Some vests would likely come off easier than others. I think some can attach to the belt -- great if the vest drags the vest off too but not so great if the vest stops the belt dropping free over the diver.
 
Mines very similar to that Omer one but not quite the same. The simple ones have got to be attached to the belt somehow or they slide down and clonk you on the back of the head when you dive.

Some come with clips, but the better solution is a floating ball on the end of a short line. The line tucks under your belt and the ball stops it pulling through, but you can ditch the belt without it being attached to the vest.
 
Yes, I like the floating (or sinking) ball on a cord trapped under the belt idea. One of the French companies vests (gilets?) do that, Merou.
 
Not do disappoint you Mr. X, my friend, but just like everything that makes sense in the dive industry, Merou products are italian, not french (many people fall in the trap because of the french name, Merou, but it's just an Italian manufacturer with a french name, based in Naples Italy, not Naples Florida).

Back on topic, my 2 cents in the hat:
with a 5 mil suit for hunting in 0-10 meters (which I reckon is the average situation for UK spearos) I use 5 kilograms at the belt, 3 kilograms in the backpack and 2x half kilograms ankle weights.

I've noticed that if the backpack is heavier than the belt, then my shoulders and head tend to be too negative (sink), forcing me to keep a stiff neck while surface swimming. This is no good because neck and upper back muscles must be relaxed. Moreover, a habit of often keeping a stiff neck for hours in cold water will give some serious posture and pain problem in the long run.
Not science, just my experience.
 
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Reactions: Mr. X and Old Man Dave
That's just about the same as me and for the same reason. Your weights are kilos and mine still in real measurement (pounds) but other than that I use about 10% more overall it's distributed about the same. The 10% erxtra is probably explained by my morphology being a tad overweight and you being an Italian stallion .

Merou is French for grouper is it not?

Dave
 

Oooops, you're right I didn't mention my natural stallion weights I always keep UNDER my belt!....rofl

Yes, Merou is the french word for grouper.
 
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question:
isn-t weight on the belt enough for spearfeshing?
i understand that at one point the weights must be uniformly on the body, but didn-t some vest reduces the free movement under the water?
what i ask is....it-s worth???
one of the reason for I hate scuba is that i cannot move free under the water because of the BCD...
and as far as I can remember...for spearing, the freedom of moving under the water are v important....[at least in my case]
just wondering, nothing more
 

Vali, just try and see you will gain more freedom of movement with the more balanced ballast given by a backpack.
Backpacks (or vests or gilets) have basically 2 purposes:
1) relief the lower back from enduring all the weight (and the more you'll grow old, the more you will realize how it makes sense...)
2) a better balance in buoyancy, as a more streamlined distribution of ballast.

I use the Seatec backpack and it fits like a glove, I've never felt my free movement was impaired by it (to be honest, while I'm diving, I don't feel at all I'm wearing a backpack, provided it's not heavier than the belt as I explained in the post above).
 
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I found changing to a backpack gave me a much more comfortable angle in the water, both on the surface and on the bottom. Just seemed more natural.

I always have the 10lbs, 5kg on my back and often go as little as 2.5kg on the belt, but thats just what suits me.

Best to try it and see whats most comfortable for you I reckon, there's no set rules. Like Spag says, once the vest is on you don't know it's there in the water.
 
I would like to say I like my omer jacket, I have the one with many pockets.
I like the fact that I can use small comfortable bags of lead shot not only on my back but sides & chest too.
 
I have the Beuchat vest and it has the cords with plastic balls on the end that go under your weight belt to keep it in place.

So far I've been very happy with it for winter diving and shallow water spearfishing. If I go into deeper water I take the vest off and just use whats on my belt. In shallow water it makes life MUCH easier.

I don't use it in the summer when I only need a 3mm suit, but keep it ready for winter diving when I need my 6mm. I wear around 12 pounds on my belt and another 6 pounds I keep in the vest. I know I'm a bit heavy in the shallows, but it makes staying put much easier and I'm only a kick away form the surface.

I stopped using the vest for a while when I was playing around with FRC diving, but went back to using it for inhale diving. It puts less pressure on my lower back and balances me out better in the water.

I use C4 fins so have no need for ankle weights. For scuba diving I would wear Turtle, or Esclapez openheel, fins with my drysuit and never needed to use ankle weights as a result. In general I am not a fan of ankle weights for any type of diving. (YMMV)

Jon
 
Reactions: spaghetti
Where ankle weights really score is in shallow water "going indian". You are moving on the surface through patches of weed and around rocks looking for fish like our european bassand mullet. They are very nervous and like shallow water so you need to move slowly and quietly. Sinking your fins below the surface is vital if you're not going to spook the fish. Hence the need in this situation anyway for ankle weights.

Dave
 
Reactions: spaghetti
I also find they're vital for getting my legs to sit down when on aspetto. Otherwise it takes a load of effort to stop me fins waving around in the water behind me telling any fish not to come over this way.

Yes, I've tried just relaxing and all that but I must just have very bouyant feet or something!
 
Reactions: spaghetti
Indeed my use of ankleweights is more related to keep blades down to the ground while hunting aspetto style, rather than for ballast or finstroke dynamics reasons.
When I hunt aspetto, the blades tend to float and wave like a flag, alarming the fish: you have to adjust them, either by relaxing OR stiffening the legs. Ankleweights reduce this problem to zero, keeping fins down with no concern at all.

OT: Jon your quote about C4 fins thus no need of ankleweights is interesting: where you referring to finstroke dynamics rhather than ballast concerns? (My thought: ankleweights reduce fins' derailing, but C4's side rails do the same job with no added weight). BTW I read a comparative test on C4 Wahoo's with and without water rails: the difference in performance is enormous.
 
Perhaps C4s sink on their own?
I still use my 20 year old jet-fins for shallow water hunting as they definitely sink!
 
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